A historic house museum is a house that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of standards, including those of the International Council of Museums.
The International Council of Museums define a museum as: "A museum as a non profit-making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purpose of study, education and enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment." [1]
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Also known as a ‘memory museum’, which is a term used to suggest that historic house museum contains a collection of the traces of memory of the people who once lived there. It is often made up of the inhabitants’ belongings and objects – this approach is mostly concerned with authenticity. Some museums are organised around the person who lived there or the social role the house had. Other historic house museums may be partially or completely reconstructed in order to tell the story of a particular area, social-class or historical period. The ‘narrative’ of the people who lived there guides this approach, and dictates the manner in which it is completed. In each kind of museum visitors learn about the previous inhabitants through an explanation and exploration of Social History.
The idea of a historic house museum derives from a branch of history called Social History that is solely based on people and their way of living.[2] It became very popular in the mid-twentieth century among scholars whom were interested in the history of people, as opposed to political and economical issues. Social history remains an influential branch of history. Philip J. Ethington is a Professor of history and political science, further adds to social history and its relationship to locations by saying –
Following this historical movement, the concept of ‘Open Air Museums’ became prominent.[4] These particular types of museums had interpreters in costume re-enact the lives of communities in earlier eras, which would then be performed to modern audiences. They often occupied large wooden architecture buildings or outdoor sites and landscapes, that were true to the era adding to authenticity.
Collective memory is sometimes used in the resurrection of historic house museums – However not all historic house museums use this approach. The notion of Collective Memory originated from philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwachs, in ‘La memoire collective’ (‘On Collective Memory’, 1950). This extended thesis examines the role of people and place, and how collective memory is not only associated with the individual but is a shared experience. It also focused on the way individual memory is influenced by social structures, as a way of continuing socialisation by producing memory as collective experience.
An example of a site that utilises collective memory is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan. It was restored and is based on the dialectics of memory, however it also has the inclusion of joyous festivals to mask the turmoil. The ‘Hiroshima Traces’ (1999) text takes a look the importance of collective memory and how it is embedded in culture and place. Thus, collective memory does not only reside in a house or building, but it also resonates in outdoor space – particularly when a monumental event has occurred, such as war.
According to the National Register of Historic Places for a building to become a historic house, an individual must nominate the building, site or space and provide sufficient documentation to justify reasoning. Following this, a four step criteria must be followed:
A degree of authenticity is also to be considered in the restoration and creation of a historic house museum. The space must be authentic in terms of truly replicating and representing the way it once stood in its original form and appear to be untouched and left in time. There are three steps when declaring if a space is authentic [7]
The first historical house museum was called ‘Skansen’ – “Scandinavian Ethnographical Collection”. Located in Sweden, it was a compilation of various objects collected by ethnographer Arthur Hazelius. It is also known as the worlds most famous and first ever ‘open-air museum’. [8] Hazelius had a profound love and interest of Swedish culture, and also constructed the Nordiska Museet which was another museum housing objects native to Sweden.
‘Sir John Soane’s Museum’ is a historic house museum that has for many years been refurbished and renovated. It too is a collection of objects, however unlike the ‘Skansen’ and ‘Nordiska Museet’ in Sweden, it is full of the architects models, drawings and artworks of his projects. Over the years there has been an extensive re-arrangement and assortment of objects to either create narrative or to enhance the existing architecture and light within the space. Soane also attempted to use his museum to re-define architecture, however with his compilation of artistic objects he failed to deter architecture from art. This museum is an example of one created by an individual inhabitants memory and architectural properties. [9]
Located in The Rocks district of Sydney, this house museum is made up of four terraces that have had over 100 families inhabit the site. Mainly working-class families lived there as it was close to the wharfs. At its present state, the museum tells the story of three families in the first three terraces, and the fourth is made into a corner shop with objects and food from the era – it is also made into an office administration area.
It has been restored and refurbished by the ‘Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales’ into different time periods based on photographs of the deceased inhabitants and on memories of the once residents (In particular ‘collective memory’). Each terrace and rooms have been made to represent a particular family based on their ethnicity, social class and time that they occupied the terrace.
This particular house has been made to replicate that of a Victorian period house. It is also made up of the original 19th century authentic furnishings from the era. It is an example of a historic house museum that is based on the aesthetics of a previous time period and not on human inhabitation.
There are a number of organisations around the world that dedicate themselves in the preservation, restoration and resurrection of historic house museums, they include: