Historic house museum
A museum based in a historic residence that preserves or interprets the building, its former occupants, and its domestic or social history.
Period room: A room furnished to represent a particular historical period, style, or way of life. Period rooms recreate the domestic settings that house museums interpret.
Historic building conservation: The care and repair of historic buildings to retain their cultural significance and physical fabric. House museums must balance visitor access with the protection of fragile interiors.
Authenticity (heritage): The credibility and genuineness attributed to cultural heritage, including its materials, meanings, and presentation. Furnishings, reconstructions, and restoration determine what visitors perceive as authentic.
Mount Vernon: The Virginia plantation estate that was the home of George Washington and is now a historic site. Its preservation presents both Washington’s life and the history of plantation slavery.
Historic site: A place preserved or interpreted for its historical, cultural, or archaeological significance. House museums are one kind of historic site, while others center landscapes or events.
Historic preservation: The protection and maintenance of buildings, sites, and landscapes valued for their historical or cultural significance. Preservation keeps the residence itself available as evidence and public heritage.
Collections management: The policies and practices for documenting, storing, caring for, and using museum collections. Furniture and personal objects need records and care that support their interpretation in place.
Difficult heritage: Heritage associated with painful, contested, or morally troubling histories. Some residences preserve histories of enslavement, exclusion, or political violence.
Anne Frank House: The Amsterdam museum preserving the hiding place where Anne Frank and others lived during the Holocaust. Its rooms interpret a residence as evidence of persecution and wartime hiding.
Open-air museum: A museum presenting buildings and collections across an outdoor site, often with structures relocated or reconstructed. Open-air museums typically assemble multiple buildings rather than interpret one historic residence.