Category Archives: Objects

What Six Historic House Museums Taught Me About Place

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Whenever I travel, I try to visit historic sites that interpret women’s history. This summer, while traveling through New England, I had the opportunity to visit six historic house museums associated with remarkable women: the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, the Emily Dickinson Museum, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, the House of the Seven Gables, Historic Deerfield’s Frary House, and the Florence Griswold Museum.

Years of visiting historic sites have led me to pay as much attention to how museums interpret history as to the history itself. I rarely experience these tours simply as a visitor. I find myself paying attention to the choices guides make, the stories they emphasize, the evidence they use, and the ways they connect people to place. Each museum approached interpretation differently, reflecting its own mission, history, and collections.

The Dickinson Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The Emily Dickinson Homestead was one of the strongest examples. Rather than treating the house as the place where Dickinson happened to live, the guide used each room to explore her intellectual life. Her poetry, education, family relationships, and creative choices were woven together through the spaces of the house. By the end of the tour, I wanted to read more Emily Dickinson—not because I felt I should, but because the interpretation had made me curious about the remarkable mind behind the poems.

Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House took a similarly thoughtful approach while reaching a different conclusion. Instead of focusing exclusively on Louisa, the tour revealed an entire household alive with writing, theater, art, education, reform, and conversation. The house demonstrated that Little Women did not emerge from the imagination of an isolated writer but from the creative life of an extraordinary family. The rooms themselves became evidence of that larger story.

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Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House: Revealing More Than Little Women

Louisa May Alcott’s desk in her bedroom at Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts. Courtesy of Orchard House.

Many visitors come to Orchard House because they love Little Women. The museum embraces that connection. As it notes on its website, visitors often remark that a tour is “like a walk through Little Women!” It is easy to understand why. The house inspired the setting of the March family home, and many of the people who lived there found their way into Louisa May Alcott’s novel.

After touring Orchard House, however, I came away with a different realization. The house certainly rewards visitors who come looking for Little Women. But its greatest contribution is something deeper: it reveals the creative world that shaped Louisa May Alcott as a writer.

That distinction became clear as the tour unfolded. Rather than treating Louisa as the sole focus, the guide introduced each member of the Alcott family through the rooms they occupied and the activities that took place there. Instead of presenting a series of biographical sketches, the house gradually revealed a household alive with writing, theater, art, education, reform, conversation, and, at times, financial struggle.

By the end of the tour, Little Women seemed less like the work of an isolated author than the literary expression of a remarkable family’s shared experiences. The rooms themselves reveal the different ways creativity found expression within the Alcott family. The dining room and parlor evoke oldest daughter Anna’s family theatricals, younger sister May’s rooms preserve the work of an aspiring artist, and Louisa’s bedroom centers on the desk where she wrote much of Little Women. Together, these rooms reveal a household where writing, art, and performance were all part of everyday life.

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The Emily Dickinson Museum: A House That Reveals a Poet

Emily Dickinson’s writing table, preserved in her bedroom at the Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Before visiting the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, I knew surprisingly little about Emily Dickinson. The Museum encompasses two historic houses: the restored Homestead, where Dickinson was born, died, and wrote most of her poetry, and the unrestored Evergreens, the neighboring home of her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their family. Although the Museum includes both houses, it was the Homestead that demonstrated how a historic house can become the key to understanding a poet.

I knew Emily Dickinson was one of America’s greatest poets, that she published very little during her lifetime, and that she lived much of her adult life in relative seclusion. I was also familiar with a few of the recurring stories surrounding her life—her correspondence with Thomas Wentworth Higginson, her close relationship with her sister-in-law Susan Gilbert Dickinson, and the questions surrounding her withdrawal from society. Beyond that, she remained something of a mystery. What I did not expect was that the house itself would become the key to understanding her.

Many literary house museums preserve the places where authors lived and worked. The Emily Dickinson Homestead does something more ambitious. Rather than treating the Homestead simply as the place where Emily Dickinson lived, the guide used the house as a framework for understanding the person behind the poet. Each room served as a setting for exploring a different aspect of her life. This was done not through dates and events alone, but through her own poetry, her education, her family relationships, her intellectual curiosity, and her creative choices. In doing so, the house became not simply the setting for Dickinson’s story but an essential part of telling it.

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The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center: What Only A Writer’s House Can Reveal

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s writing desk in her Hartford home.

When we visit the home of a famous writer, what are we hoping to discover? The works have already been written. Their biographies have been published. Their letters have been collected. So what can walking through the rooms where they lived add to our understanding?

Those questions were on my mind as I visited the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The Center asks visitors to look beyond Uncle Tom’s Cabin and consider how Harriet Beecher Stowe became one of the nineteenth century’s most influential antislavery writers. It is an ambitious interpretive approach, one that emphasizes the firsthand accounts of enslaved and formerly enslaved people, abolitionist networks, and the many individuals whose experiences, testimony, and activism shaped Stowe’s writing.

As I reflected on the tour afterward, however, I found myself asking a different question: What can a historic house contribute to this story that no biography, lecture, or documentary can?

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Who Does What? Clarifying Roles for Nonprofit Boards and Staff

One of the most common challenges for nonprofit organizations—whether museums, historic sites, or community groups—is understanding who does what when it comes to decision-making, planning, and day-to-day operations.

Board members sometimes worry they are getting too involved in management or don’t know enough about what’s going on. Staff members, on the other hand, can feel their authority is being questioned when board members step into operational details. Yet when everyone understands their distinct responsibilities, organizations thrive.

We would never expect a new volunteer to suddenly step into a historic house and deliver a flawless tour. They need orientation, resources, and time to develop their skills before they feel confident leading visitors.

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Discover Projection Mapping: A New Way to Engage Museum Visitors

As museums continue to evolve, so do the tools we use to connect with our audiences. Projection mapping is creating new opportunities to bring stories and objects to life. Although it’s been used for decades, it is increasingly adopted by museums and historic sites. I’m excited to share my new video, now available on YouTube, where I explore some fascinating projection mapping experiences in museums that I encountered while on the road this past year.

In this video, I take you through the basics of projection mapping, explaining how it works and offering real-world examples of its use in museums and historic sites in England, Italy, and the United States. From the virtual ledger of servants at Kensington Palace to the immersive storytelling at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, projection mapping is proving to be a versatile tool for creating memorable and educational museum experiences.

Whether you’re familiar with projection mapping from iconic attractions like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, or this concept is new to you, the video is designed to inspire museum professionals to think creatively about how to integrate this technology into exhibitions, tours, and programs. I’ll also show how more advanced applications, like the complex presentations at the Handel Hendrix House, are pushing the boundaries of how we engage with historical spaces and objects.

Projection mapping is about more than just projecting images—it’s about creating interactive, immersive environments that deepen the visitor’s connection with museum collections.

Check out the video now and see how your museum can harness the power of projection mapping to enhance visitor engagement and interpretation. Just be aware that it’s a handcrafted video that took me two days to edit and narrate, but it’s a topic better explained in a video than in text.

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/c3WX7kdD0Jg

I look forward to your comments and learning how you might use projection mapping in your own work!

Decolonization in London Museums: A Firsthand Look at Progress and Challenges

During my recent visit to several London museums, I was struck by the growing emphasis on decolonization. As a museum professional, I’ve been following this movement for some time, but seeing these efforts firsthand inspired me to reflect on the challenges and progress being made. Some London museums are actively re-examining their collections and narratives, working to address the complex legacies of colonialism in tangible ways, and both Royal Collections and the National Trust have staff members specifically focused on this issue. But others have a long way to go.

If you’re not familiar with decolonization, it’s the process of rethinking and revising interpretations that have historically favored the perspective of a dominant power, such as an imperial empire over a colonized nation (like Great Britain and India). However, decolonization goes beyond the empire-colony dynamic, addressing any situation where one perspective is elevated due to power imbalances. For instance, terms like “prehistory” suggest a time without history, labeling settlers as “pioneers” overlooks the people who were already living in those areas, and describing conquering armies bringing “civilization” implies they were superior to the existing cultures. Words shape our perceptions and carry significant consequences, influencing relationships across race, gender, and other social divides. Decolonization helps us recognize and correct these biases, leading to more inclusive and accurate narratives.

For an example of a museum waiting to undertake a re-examination of its exhibitions, consider Osborne House (operated by English Heritage), the country palace of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The displays in and around the Durbar Room discuss Britain’s relationship with India. The exhibitions include a panel about Maharaja Duleep Singh and that “his properties and treasures, including the Koh-i-Noor diamond, had to be surrendered in return for a pension from the British Government” and feature gifts sent from India to Queen Victoria to “show their loyalty to the queen.” The history is far more complex and this exhibition emphasizes only the British perspective and continues a mythology of India’s grateful subservience to the Queen.

1. Re-examining Collections

Many London museums are conducting in-depth reviews of their collections to identify items acquired during the colonial era. This process includes acknowledging the contexts in which objects were collected, often under unequal power dynamics. They are being more transparent about the provenance of key objects but contested ownership isn’t addressed publicly. Some examples:

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On the Road: Hitting Triples with a Single Artwork

Entrance hall, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City.

At the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, a monumental bright white sculpture of an Indian slouched on a horse fills the end of the entrance hall. James Earle Fraser created “The End of the Trail” for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, earning him a Gold Medal. It also became a popular image that signaled the end of a free people.

The Museum acquired the plaster statue from Tulare County (California) Historical Society, where it sat outside in a city park deteriorating for nearly 50 years. Now the restored statue is the centerpiece of this large museum and they’ve used this one object to hit a triple with visitors, to borrow a phrase from baseball.

Along with a typical label describing the sculpture’s creation, acquisition, and significance, it includes a Native American View in a second label of equal length by Dr. R. David Edmunds, a Cherokee. He states that the sculpture represents the popular view of “a nineteenth century Indian warrior defeated and bound for oblivion—frozen in time. By the 1890s, Native Americans knew their trail had become steep and rocky, but they believed it would continue.” The label continues to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by Native Americans in the 20th century and that “being Indian has never been cast in stone. Today, Native Americans proudly ride forward on a trail into the future.”

Labels for “The End of The Trail” by James Earle Fraser, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City.

The use of labels to provide multiple perspectives is not uncommon in art museums, but I haven’t seen it used enough in history museums. They are ideal places to show that events, places, and eras are experienced differently by different people. It’s an easy way to enrich interpretation without the need to create entirely new exhibitions or special events on women, African Americans, or Native Americans.

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National Archives Should Allow Photography in Exhibits IMHO

No photography allowed in the exhibits at the National Archives?

No photography allowed in the exhibits at the National Archives?

Last weekend I went to see “Spirited Republic,” a temporary exhibit at the National Archives about the history of alcohol in the United States.  I’m interested in the history of food and knew the Archives would dig up some interesting materials. It was a worthwhile visit but ugh, right at the entrance is a sign declaring “no photography.”  This isn’t unusual for temporary exhibits because they may contain materials that are protected by copyright or have objects on loan.  In this exhibit, however, everything was drawn from the collections of the Archives or had fallen out of copyright.  If I went around the building to the Research Room, I could retrieve any of the items on display and make photographs without question.  Secondly, most of the items are historic governmental or administrative documents, which don’t encourage selfies or other distractions.  Photographs would most likely be taken by people who were really interested in the subject and wanted an image for reference.  If they’re worried about light damage, people can be warned not to take flash photos (and studies by conservators show that flash photography has to reach excessive levels to cause significant damage, so this is usually an unfounded concern).  If they’re worried about security, everyone has already been screened in the usual DC way and guards are posted throughout the exhibit.  Finally, photography is one of the only areas of creative activity that’s growing in the US (bucking the declines in sewing, painting, pottery, or music according to studies by the National Endowment for the Arts) and the Archives has a rich trove of content for inspiration (and it helps publicize their exhibits and collections). The “no photography” makes absolutely no sense at the National Archives.  Instead, the National Archives should assume that  photography will be allowed unless there are specific and legitimate reasons not to do so.  Just follow the same rules as in your Research Rooms.

Prohibitions on photography isn’t the only stumbling block to public access and historical interpretation at the National Archives–I’m sensing a growing use of Continue reading →

Historic House Museums a Special Focus for the Public Historian

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum by Brandon Bartoszek

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum by Brandon Bartoszek

The May 2015 issue of the Public Historian was just released and provides a dozen articles related to historic house museums.  Lisa Junkin Lopez, associate director of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and guest editor of this special issue, provides the criteria that helped her select the articles and her vision of historic house museums:

Though a number of sites have turned to revenue-generating activities like weddings and farmers’ markets to stay afloat, rigorous historical content has not necessarily been quashed in favor of parlor room cocktail hours and heirloom tomato beds. Many sites have recommitted to the project of excavating their own histories, digging deeper to find relevance with contemporary audiences and identifying new methods for engagement along the way.

The individual essays are case studies of various projects at historic house museums, but many question and even break the basic assumptions of museum practices and historic preservation standards.  This shift will need to be watched because Continue reading →