Historic house museums

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 defines 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." Houses are transformed into museums for a number of different reasons. For example, the homes of famous writers are frequently turned into writer's home museums to support literary tourism.

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. It became very popular in the mid-twentieth century among scholars who 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. 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.

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