Historic house museums are the focus of an ideological tension between preservation and interpretation within the public history community. At a time where many house museums are failing, preservationists advocate for solutions to the house museum dilemma focused on saving the building. Historians and other museum professionals point to the importance of the value of the collections, memories, and documents preserved within the house as critical tools for understanding and teaching American history. Of specific focus in this thesis is the role gender influence played in the formation of historic house museums and how an examination of its continuing effect on agency within heritage sites creates access points for cutting-edge public history and interpretation. This is done through a case study of the history of the Jacobsburg Historical Society's Boulton Historic Site in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The site was the location of the Boulton Gun Works, built in 1812 by the Henry family, manufacturers of the Pennsylvania Longrifle and key members of the early industrial community of Jacobsburg, located just north of the Moravian community of Nazareth. / History