Closed until the new year

During the last two weeks of December, we don’t plan to post to the blog because of the holidays and vacation.  This is an incredibly busy time for many historic sites, who are holding some of the biggest events of the year while trying to fill the work schedule with people who aren’t taking vacation (so they won’t have time to read this blog anyway!).  Hope all of you make it through the month still enjoying the holidays (by mid-December, I couldn’t stand seeing any more green and red) and keep your site safe–don’t use candles, fires, or other open flames!

See you in the new year when we begin posting again.

National Trust Awards Grants to African American Historic Places

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is pleased to announce that it has awarded a total of $60,000 in grants to four projects to improve the interpretation of African American historic places. These four projects will help raise awareness of African American sites and their significance in American history and provide model programs for other historic sites across the country. Developed as collaborative projects between historic sites and universities, the four projects are:

• Building Freedom in the Territorial West by the Montana Heritage Commission and Washington State University to interpret Virginia City’s historic African American community through the life of Sarah Gammon Bickford, a former slave who arrived in Montana in 1871 and eventually became

Montpelier to Continue to Revitalize Farm Complex for Teaching Facility

The Montpelier Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced today plans to restore and revitalize the barns that are part of the “William duPont Farm Complex” at James Madison’s Montpelier, a National Trust Historic Site. Upon completion, the cluster of historic buildings will house a U.S. Constitution teaching facility.

“The revitalization plan emphasizes preservation and reuse,” said Michael C. Quinn, president of The Montpelier Foundation. “Structurally sound buildings will be restored, while heavily deteriorated ones will be carefully deconstructed with sound materials identified and saved for reuse.”

The long-range plan for the U.S. Constitution teaching facility includes

Attingham Summer School offers unique education to historic sites

The Attingham Summer School consists of three packed weeks studying the life, design, and culture of English country houses from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries taught on site by many of the leading experts in the field.  Curators and historians will benefit greatly from the experience but it has much to offer educators and art conservators.  By visiting more than two dozen diverse sites and meeting so many leaders in the historic house field in England, you gain a tremendous exposure to the ways historic sites are managed by other organizations–which ultimately helps you think about your own site in a new way.  The deadline to apply is January 31, 2010 and scholarships are available.  Learn more at americanfriendsofattingham.org.

Interpreting Servants in Historic House Museums

Voices from the Back Stairs by Jennifer Pustz (2009).

Just released by Northern Illinois University Press is Voices from the Back Stairs:  Interpreting Servants’ Lives at Historic House Museums by Jennifer Pustz.  Jennifer is currently the museum historian for Historic New England and was formerly at Brucemore, a National Trust Historic Site, where she developed many of the interpretive programs focused on servants.  This book is based on her work at Brucemore as well as a national survey of historic house museums and became her doctoral dissertation at the University of Iowa.

Voices provides a quick overview of the history of domestic servants from 1880 to 1920 and then explores in-depth how historic house museums are interpreting this history.  Most sites had servants during their interpretive period and most sites mention them, but only superficially.  Even though servants worked in nearly every room of the house and outdoors as well, they are usually only discussed in the kitchen.  Ethnicity, working conditions, and relationships with employers are serious issues in homes with domestic servants at the turn of the century, yet very few sites are willing to discuss them.  As Jennifer summarizes on page 73:

The presence of domestic servants in house museum interpretation continues to increase, although for many sites they continue to be background characters.  The inclusion of domestic servants is a nod to the new social history’s emphasis on race, class, and gender; however, much house museum interpretation does not significantly address many of the complex issues a more nuanced representation of domestic life would require.  While there is evidence that some aspects of discussing domestic service create resistance in interpreters or visitors, lack of resources seems to be a much greater hindrance to developing these programs.  Even staff members with advanced degrees in history do not guarantee that tours will be able to incorporate a full and complex view of a house’s social dynamics.  At sites with small staffs, keeping the doors open and the structures stable are the most important parts of their jobs.  The most successful and thorough domestic service interpretations, thus far, have been developed at larger sites.  The have also taken shape over substantial periods of time.

So what do I think?  You’ll find my comments on the back cover:

Voices from the Back Stairs will be a great benefit to curators and educators who work at historic sites.  It not only provides the latest scholarship on domestic servants but many practical techniques for improving the interpretation of their work and lives.