Historic house museums

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Historic house museums are structures once intended for human inhabitation, but which have been transformed into museums, following internationally recognized standards, such as those formulated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Should the historic house structure contain furnishings, it is essential that these furnishings be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and use in a home. Other objects and/or types of display, particularly if more than half of the showroom floor space, might disqualify the structure from being called a "historic house museum." If conforming to museum standards, such a structure more rightly would be called a museum located in a historic house, or structure.

[edit] Why are historic house museums so special?

Historic house museums are particularly adept at expressing local history and culture in many forms, and may use many ways of telling these stories. Although focusing on the people once living in the house is an obvious choice, it is not the only, nor even the best, way to take advantage of all the stories that the home and its furnishings may have to tell. Other interesting stories might be local economic and social factors, such as the rise, or fall, of local fortunes due to the presence of physical factors exploited, such as mineral deposits, or rich soil. Local identity, social, gender and race narratives also are well expressed in this kind of museum. In addition, historic house museums often offer cultural activities, such as exhibits and children's projects, that are catered directly to the community's needs.

When the museum preserves not only the original objects found in the house, but also presents them to the public, as the original family members intended them to be, then it also can be a fascinating and authentic "magic window" into the past. A vast gamma of choices from things original to the house, original to the period (but not necessarily to that particular house), little to heavily restored, and, finally, to things built today following designs of the chosen period -- all clearly identified -- help the museum professional transmit important messages to the visitors.

Visitors, in turn, bring their own personal experiences to the tour of the home. This helps put them at ease in the house museum surroundings, and fosters a personal bond with the experiences of those who once lived, breathed, cried, laughed and loved in those very rooms, and with whom the visitor may share a local, national, or international identity and values.

To make even more vivid these shared human experiences, historic house museums using reproduction items may even allow visitors to touch and use the displayed objects to make the experience even more interactive, something that a conscientous conservation of original objects for future generations obviously does not allow. Others may use "living history" actors and displays (for example, leaving a kitchen with pots and pans scattered about, as if the cook has stepped out only for a moment).

All these approaches have important stories to tell, and one is not better than the other. What is important is "transparency," that is, that the museum communicates clearly to the visitor what kind of exhibit is being seen, so that reproductions are not confused with originals, and so forth.