The book is a volume in the American Association for State and Local History Book Series and will be of interest to museum professionals as well as anyone who enjoys visiting historic house musems. (Utah Historical Quarterly Vol.71 No. 3 Summer 2003 )
For those of us involved in interpreting house museums, this is the selection to make. . . . We now have a new body of guidance and encouragement as we work to locate a vital cutural niche for house museums in the twenty-first century. It is clear that if house museums are to remain viable, we must be able to assert their relevance and purpose to new audiences in a new century. Donnelly calls it a ‘fundamental question of survival’. . . . Interpreting Historic House Museums highlights how crucial it will be to create and sustain a network of communication between people working with historic house museums in order to ‘meet with vigor the interpretive challenges that lie ahead.”’ (Patricia West The Public Historian )
A collection of essays that achieves a balance between theories and their practical applications . . . Interpreting Historic House Museums covers a lot of territory and brings the profession up to speed on recent interpretive innovations. . . . The essays are thought-provoking and vivid illustrations of a variety of tours and educational programs. Interpreting Historic House Museums demonstrates just how diverse and exciting the stories of historic house museums can be. (Jennifer Pustz The Annals Of Iowa, Vol. 62, No. 2, Spring 2003 )
Lively and relevant…a compendium of bright ideas for enlivening house museums…[has] novel contributions to the house museum literature. (Linda Young Historic Environment, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2003 )
This book is a really practical resource for anyone involved in the interpretation of historic houses. It reminds us of the need to look at familiar issues with new perspectives and new methods to meet the sophisticated demands of today’s visitors. The discussion of contemporary issues and successful programmes, practical guidelines and information make this a useful book for both students and practising professionals. (Ruth Taylor Interpretation, Vol. 8, Nr. 3, Autumn 2003 )
Donnelly’s edited volume, Interpreting Historic House Museums, will no doubt become a valuable tool for historic house museum staff. . . I would recommend this book to museum studies students and to anyone considering establishing a historic house museum. . . the practical guidelines are useful and relevant. (Museums Australia Magazine )
For those of us involved in interpreting house museums, this is the selection to make. . . . We now have a new body of guidance and encouragement as we work to locate a vital cutural niche for house museums in the twenty-first century. It is clear that if house museums are to remain viable, we must be able to assert their relevance and purpose to new audiences in a new century. Donnelly calls it a ‘fundamental question of survival’. . . . Interpreting Historic House Museums highlights how crucial it will be to create and sustain a network of communication between people working with historic house museums in order to ‘meet with vigor the interpretive challenges that lie ahead.’ (Patricia West The Public Historian )
Rich in case studies, this booklike the symposia that spawned ittargets ‘the small, understaffed, and underfunded’ institution. It holds useful information for house museums of all types, however, while its integrative approach to interpretation renders many of its lessons pertinent to an assortment of historic sites. (Mary Munsell Abroe Journal Of The Illinois State Historical Society )
The advice presented in these essays is less prescriptive than eminently practical, and clearly understands the realities likely to be met by those working with house museums. (Te AraMuseums Aotearoa )
Jessica Foy Donnelly was curator of collections at the McFaddin-Ward House for twelve years, during which time she co-edited American Home Life, 1880-1930: A Social History of Spaces and Services and The Arts and the American Home, 1890-1930. She is currently working on various house museum projects and previously worked for Old Salem, Inc., in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She received her B.A. in American studies and English from Salem College in Winston-Salem, and her M.A. in history museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program of the State University of New York at Oneonta.
Times are changing at historic house museums and no one is more aware of this than the fourteen contributors to Interpreting Historic House Museums. These respected museum professionals consider the history of house museums and the need to look at familiar issues from new perspectives and using new methods. If your site isn’t using a comprehensive interpretive plan, how can you create one? While doing so, how do you address contemporary issues like race and gender? Don’t forget the physical either–does your property need a landscape plan as well as a furnishings plan? And, when your visitors arrive to see all your hard work, how accessible is your property? If the answer is not very, what can and should you be doing to address that? Once inside, how good are your tours and guides, and does your furnishings plan allow visitors to maximize their experiences in areas without guides? Interpreting Historic House Museums captures the big picture and the important details. Its discussion of contemporary issues and successful programs, its practical guidelines and information, up-to-date references, and lively illustrations will make it useful and relevant for both students and practicing professionals.
The book is a volume in the American Association for State and Local History Book Series and will be of interest to museum professionals as well as anyone who enjoys visiting historic house musems.
For those of us involved in interpreting house museums, this is the selection to make. . . . We now have a new body of guidance and encouragement as we work to locate a vital cutural niche for house museums in the twenty-first century. It is clear that if house museums are to remain viable, we must be able to assert their relevance and purpose to new audiences in a new century. Donnelly calls it a ‘fundamental question of survival’. . . . Interpreting Historic House Museums highlights how crucial it will be to create and sustain a network of communication between people working with historic house museums in order to ‘meet with vigor the interpretive challenges that lie ahead.”’
A collection of essays that achieves a balance between theories and their practical applications . . . Interpreting Historic House Museums covers a lot of territory and brings the profession up to speed on recent interpretive innovations. . . . The essays are thought-provoking and vivid illustrations of a variety of tours and educational programs. Interpreting Historic House Museums demonstrates just how diverse and exciting the stories of historic house museums can be.
Lively and relevant…a compendium of bright ideas for enlivening house museums…[has] novel contributions to the house museum literature.
This book is a really practical resource for anyone involved in the interpretation of historic houses. It reminds us of the need to look at familiar issues with new perspectives and new methods to meet the sophisticated demands of today’s visitors. The discussion of contemporary issues and successful programmes, practical guidelines and information make this a useful book for both students and practising professionals.
Donnelly’s edited volume, Interpreting Historic House Museums, will no doubt become a valuable tool for historic house museum staff. . . I would recommend this book to museum studies students and to anyone considering establishing a historic house museum. . . the practical guidelines are useful and relevant.
For those of us involved in interpreting house museums, this is the selection to make. . . . We now have a new body of guidance and encouragement as we work to locate a vital cutural niche for house museums in the twenty-first century. It is clear that if house museums are to remain viable, we must be able to assert their relevance and purpose to new audiences in a new century. Donnelly calls it a ‘fundamental question of survival’. . . . Interpreting Historic House Museums highlights how crucial it will be to create and sustain a network of communication between people working with historic house museums in order to ‘meet with vigor the interpretive challenges that lie ahead.’
Rich in case studies, this booklike the symposia that spawned ittargets ‘the small, understaffed, and underfunded’ institution. It holds useful information for house museums of all types, however, while its integrative approach to interpretation renders many of its lessons pertinent to an assortment of historic sites.
The advice presented in these essays is less prescriptive than eminently practical, and clearly understands the realities likely to be met by those working with house museums.
Interpreting Historic House Museums 
New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation of America’s Historic Houses
Taking care of an old house isnt easy, and being a responsible steward of a historic house museum is particularly challenging. In this thoughtful book, Donna Harris offers advice that can help boards and staff ask tough questions–and, if necessary, make tough decisions–to ensure a viable future for the historic resources they manage. (Richard Moe )
Donna Ann Harris brings unique insights to a critical problem facing advocates of historic preservation: the proliferation of house museums, too often under-funded and under-staffed. Through penetrating analysis of actual as well as hypothetical cases, she outlines how transitions to new uses and new owners can best achieve the desired result of saving the building itself. This book should be required reading for anyone even remotely connected with running a house museum. (DeLong, David G. )
Harris’ message is prudent and pragmatic and the operating circumstances surrounding her case studies of house museums that have successfully made the transition to a new owner or a new use will be very familiar to many small museum operators… (Journal Of Museums Aotearoa )
This publication brings together a number of workable solutions for a contemporary issue of concern….Timely, concise, practical, well researched….and written in everyday language, this is a handy management tool. (Museums Australia Magazine, November 2008 )
Harris’s book is organized in a very clear fashion….At every step, the author displays an emphatic objectivity….Harris comes well positioned to write such a book….Donna Harris has done a great service for historic house museums and the people who are passionate about them. (The Public Historian, September 5, 2008 )
In this book, Donna Ann Harris, a preservation consultant with more than 20 years of experience, provides a critical resource for boards, staff, and volunteers at historic house museums, who need to consider whether creative alternatives to the house museum model may allow them to better realize their fundamental obligationthe preservation of the house. (Michelle McClellan The Journal Of Heritage Stewardship, University of Michigan, Winter 2009 )
I would certainly recommend this book to my colleagues in the historic house museum community who may be facing house museum sustainability challenges, and who may be able to use the contents and insights offered in this book as a source of inspiration, and/or as a catalyst for moving their institution forward in pursuit of a successful alternative. (Terry Dickinson )
A generational shift is occurring at historic house museums as board members and volunteers retire while few young people step forward to take their place. These landmarks are also plagued by serious deferred maintenance, and many have no endowment funds. What will happen to these sites in the next ten years, and what can be done to assure their continued preservation for generations to come? In New Solutions for House Museums Harris examines possible options and provides a decision-making methodology as well as a dozen case studies of house museums that have made a successful transition to a new owner or user.
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