Historic house museums (HHMs) are contradictory spaces, private places made public. They (often) combine the real with the reproduction. Drawing from object reverence, taxonomy, and tableaux over a century and a half of practice, the American HHM arrives in the present as a Frankenstein's monster of nostalgia. Chamounix Mansion has been a youth hostel since 1964. It has also been a historic house museum, though when it became one and when—if—it ever stopped being one is an open question. Chamounix is a space where the past, present, and future all share space, as guests move through historic spaces, have conversations about anything or nothing at all, and plan their next day, their next destination, their next major life move. It is a place that seems fertile for meaning-making. It also provides a fascinating case study of what HHMs have been and what they might become. The Friends of Chamounix Mansion employed the methods of other HHMs as it tried to achieve recognition as an HHM in the 1960s, but by the 1980s, they began claiming the hostel’s usage as another form of authenticity. As HHMs face a variety of challenges today, and seek to make meaning with visitors and neighbors alike, the example of Chamounix Mansion offers a case study of how embracing usage might offer new directions for meaning-making. / History

Historic buildings live a double life between climate-adapted largely-passive structures and draughty, poorly-maintained ones. Preservation professionals argue that preserving these structures is more resource effective than constructing new buildings, and that pre-electricity structures were built to take advantage of climate and geography, using passive technologies to perform efficiently. Modern technologies have also been adopted- electrical lights, air conditioning, fire alarms - as a natural progression of inhabitation. Yet in historic house museums, there is still the promise of historic representation, one unmarred by ‘inauthentic’ additions. If modern and past technological changes have been accepted and integrated, how is the historic house museum not a ‘living building culture’? And if house museums are indeed a living building culture, why not allow a more flexible representation of our historic properties if they are interpreted with integrity and honesty? The EPA estimates that buildings represent 65% of the U.S. electricity use, and predictions estimate 80% of the 2030 building stock exists today. If we truly plan to reduce our energy consumption, we must confront the reality that existing buildings are a significant contributor to our output. If, as curators, it is our hope for historic buildings to represent preservation, then we must admit that in preserving the past for the future, we must begin by preserving our future. This thesis analyses the opportunities and risks for historic house museums to respect their historic interpretation but adapt to changing conditions. Examples of energy efficiency strategies both historic and current, will be examined in historic structures, illustrating that caretakers of historic buildings are making value judgments about the future of their property, in terms of environmental, fiscal and historical sustainability. This thesis includes the analysis of a case study historic house museum in Austin, Texas, the French Legation Museum, which is used as a base model for estimating energy efficiency gains from the adoption of some low-energy technologies. Calculations based on this information indicate which integrations and additions could offer the greatest return on investment for this historic building to operate as or more efficiently than a modern code construction without visible or egregious alteration to the historic fabric. / text

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This study explores the use of gardens and agricultural spaces at historic house museums, and the potential these spaces have for supporting positive change. At the turn of the twenty-first century, house museums grappled with a crisis of limited funding and ever shrinking visitor capacity, which continues to affect the success of these spaces today. I argue that garden spaces can provide interpretive revitalization, community relevancy, and increased income for historic house museums that can positively support a house museum. By surveying house museums throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I show that garden spaces provide a tool for house museums to gain stability amidst crisis. / History

This thesis provides an analysis of Shirley Plantation’s operation as a historic house museum from 1894 to the present period, and the Carter family’s dedication to keeping the estate within the family. The first chapter examines Shirley Plantation’s beginnings as a historic house museum as operated by two Carter women, Alice Carter Bransford and Marion Carter Oliver, who inherited the property in the late nineteenth century. The second chapter explores Shirley Plantation’s development as a popular historic site during the mid-twentieth century to the early part of the twenty-first century, and compares the site’s development to the interpretative changes that had been occurring at Colonial Williamsburg. The third chapter analyzes and critiques Shirley Plantation’s present interpretative focus as a historic site, with the fourth chapter offering suggestions for developing an exhibition that interprets the history of slavery at the plantation.

Although a sizable subcategory of the nonprofit museum sector, historic house museums have received limited attention in discussions of best practices, most notably in topics of administration, funding, and risk management. Historic house museums serve as a cornerstone of American and international cultural tourism for their accessibility and low, or free, attendance costs. This research argues for historic house museum operations, rather than its period of restorative preservation, as the focus of inquiry. The subjects of this research are three sites that were the products of late nineteenth-century industrialization in the American Midwest, a region under-studied in current literature. Past scholarship on historic houses has been dedicated to preservation methodology and interpretation. No study of house museums attends to business and legal concerns as well as architectural history and preservation. Utilizing archives, interviews, and financial documents in the analysis of three case studies, I argue that historic house museums provide an illuminating lens onto issues of professional practice facing museums in the twenty-first century. This dissertation focuses on three historic house museums constructed after the 1876 Centennial and before the turn of the twentieth century. Chapter One offers the history of the Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee, a German Renaissance Revival structure built in 1892 for brewing magnate Captain Frederick Pabst, and provides a discussion of community funding and post-recession heritage tourism. Chapter Two details the story of the Driehaus Museum in Chicago, a Renaissance Revival mansion built in 1883 for banker Samuel Nickerson and now funded primarily by investor Richard Driehaus. This chapter illuminates the issues of single-donor funding, the problematization of definitions of the historic house museum, and modern development of private art collections. Chapter Three is dedicated to the Samuel Cupples House in St. Louis, a Richardsonian Romanesque residence constructed in 1890 for manufacturing magnate Samuel Cupples and now owned by Saint Louis University, and delves into topics of institutional stewardship and university management of cultural resources. The conclusion proposes a diversification of scholarship concerning historic house museums that embraces financial management to ensure operational sustainability.

Historic house museums have been the subject of very little structured research. As ideal learning environments for young children they have the potential to facilitate very special educational interactions, yet children's experiences in house museums remain relatively unexplored, with very little professional analysis of the nature, the value or the impact of school visits. As museums, historic houses are educational institutions, yet with limited professional expertise and restricted resources as commonplace, many house museums provide very little in the way of structured educational experiences for schools. This study aims to increase our understanding of educational encounters in house museums. Using Falk and Dierking's Interactive Experience Model this thesis explores the personal, physical and social contexts of young children's visits to house museums. It follows the progress of children aged 5-8 years, as they participate in class visits to two very different kinds of house museum. A structured, age-appropriate education program implemented at Calthorpes' House is compared to the approach taken at Blundells' Cottage, where a lack of resources and professional expertise has resulted in unstructured school visits, typical of amateur house museums throughout Australia. The study directly compares these structured and non-structured museum visits to determine the immediate and long term value of constructed learning experiences in historic houses. The thesis concludes that the structure of a school visit has a significant influence on the museum experience. Research revealed that structured education programs prepare children better for their visit, allow for more successful interactive experiences on site, encourage enjoyable social interactions and result in more detailed museum memories. Finally this thesis outlines implications for house museums as a result of this research and makes recommendations to assist under-resourced house museums provide more structured, more informed educational interactions for schools.

The study conducted was An Appreciative Inquiry approach into the post-merger Campbell Collections at UKZN. The study was meant to explore and discover the value of the Campbell Collections in the new merged institution, which is the University of KwaZulu- Natal. The study was appreciative in nature, and it took the complete interconnected elements that affect the system into consideration. Every year since 2004, when the University of Natal and the University of Durban Westville were officially declared as merged, there have been various changes that took place. The merger is one huge change project that the universities engaged in. Thus the concepts ‘merger’ and ‘change’ were used inter-changeably in the study. The background on the merger was brought into perspective, and an in-depth literature review on Appreciative Inquiry was conducted. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) introduced to the study a research perspective that was very different in focus from more traditional approaches. AI is a highly participative, systemwide approach that seeks to identify and enhance the life-giving forces. It concentrates on things we want to increase to add value, and it is a radical approach to understanding the social world. It concentrates on exploring ideas that people have about what is valuable in what they do and then tries to work out ways in which this can be built on. The emphasis is strong on appreciating the activities and responses of people, rather than focusing on their problems. Appreciative Inquiry is declared to be a strong pillar of research which looks to build a productive link between people and the substance of what they talk about as past and present capacities. In general AI studies are carried out through the use of 4-D Cycles. The 4-Ds represent: discovery; dream; design and destiny. This study was conducted through the application of only two Ds which are discovery and dream phases. The questions used in data gathering were crafted based on affirmative topics to meet the principles of AI. The interview technique was employed and carried out in the form of individual/one-one interviews as well as through focus groups. All Campbell Collections’ staff members were invited to participate in the study, and a few former staff members were also part of the study. The strategic decisions made about whom to invite to take part in a study were based on their experience, familiarity, and understanding of Campbell Collections and the merger. The study findings revealed the strengths and value of Campbell Collections as well as the impact of the merger, mainly in terms of decisions taken at the University’s executive level. One limitation of the study was that it was bound to Campbell Collections; therefore, the information generated could not be generalised and remained specific to the particular case studied. However, the same research can be studied further to evaluate the entire postmerger system of the University. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

The goals of the report were to present: 1) the rich historical, cultural, and George A. Ball estate environmental education Incorporating thisheritage; context of environmental education at the Oakhurst Historic House and Environmental Center; and 4) design guidelines for the physical manifestation of site experiences which will occur to meet environmental education objectives.Chapters One and Two begin with the history of the Ball Brothers in Muncie and their development of Minnetrista Boulevard. Oakhurst, the George A. Ball estate, is discussed at greater length including its architectural history and physical setting and development over the years to its probable future as the Oakhurst Historic House and Environmental Center.Chapter Three discusses the opportunity to facilitate use of the Oakhurst Historic House and Environmental Center by special populations, such as the elderly, the young, and the handicapped and their special characteristics, needs, and interpretive orientations. Chapter Four discusses environmental education and suggests three approaches while Chapter Five details specific activities incorporating the three methods of environmental education. Chapters Six and Seven discuss appropriate methods of interpreting historic landscapes for educational purposes and suggest design guidelines for the physical development of the property as the Oakhurst Historic House and Environmental Center. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The topic of this creative project is a historic garden created in Muncie, Indiana, in the second decade of the 20th. century. The garden is presently in a state of decay. This study has traced the garden's history, examined its significance and described its present condition in order to outline a restoration proposal. The proposal has aimed at reestablishing the original formal organization of the garden, reconstructing the former planting scheme and suggesting a future use for the property.In addition, this study has briefly discussed the importance and unique difficulties associated with the preservation of historic gardens in comparison with the preservation of buildings and works of art. / Department of Architecture