Historic House Museums in the United States and the United Kingdom

Historic House Museums in the United States and the United Kingdom: A History addresses the phenomenon of historic houses as a distinct species of museum. Everyone understands the special nature of an art museum, a national museum, or a science museum, but ‘house museum’ nearly always requires clarification. In the US it’s almost synonymous with historic preservation; in the UK, it’s simply unfamiliar, the very idea being conflated with stately homes and the National Trust. By analyzing the motivation of the founders, and subsequent keepers, of house museums, the author identifies a typology that casts light on what they were intended to represent and their significance (or lack of it) today.