What makes a house museum successful? Historic house museums are a vital integration of basic education for students throughout the country. These museums' fiscal well being must be sustained if they are to educate children and adults alike. By conducting case studies of two historic house museums' operational and development strategies, their successes and challenges are explored.
This research considers the testimonies of key house museum constituents including staff, current and former board members, and volunteers of a house museum located in a large Midwestern city, and one in a small rural Mid-Atlantic Southern city. Primary document sources and published accounts were also analyzed as data. Through these interviews, patterns of performance are identified and each institution's histories are told. By discussing each museum's relationship to supporting organization and operational context areas of success and challenge are explored. By ensuring participant testimonies and institutional identities would remain anonymous, they were offered opportunities to candidly recount their stories and consider why their museums were successful and in what areas they might need improvement.
Research data findings revealed current and past strategies for corporate sponsorship, foundation support, grants, individual donations, memberships, rental fees, government support, and public recognition.
After analysis of findings, they were contextually interwoven to construct an overall picture of what a historical house museum is and might be in the United States. This research demonstrates how two house museums were successful in sustaining their educational and cultural missions, and explored their importance, successes and potential vitality for sustaining institutions with value to future generations.