How about Gamble House making it transition to the next generation of home museum experiences?
It’s a really exciting time for home museums in communities like this, as many of us understand the way people want to experience historic home museums that have changed over time. This is something museums are also paying more attention to, and we don’t want that [hear]”I’ve been there, I’ve seen it. I don’t need to go back.” We think broadly about the stories we tell, the diversity of the stories we tell, and the audiences we want to engage.
I think there is often a feeling that this may not be a place where they are welcome or feel trapped in a guided tour. There are options, [such as] Self-guided tour. Thinking that people want to experience places like this in different ways, and it’s a great time to try that. Coming out of the pandemic, people were able to see that they could do so that they could experience different things, things they hadn’t necessarily imagined. The outdoors has been revitalized a bit more in the past few years. This was happening in the pre-pandemic period, so it was well restricted. [There’s an] Walking tour of the outdoors and the new garden behind the library. It is a wonderful place to take refuge.
So how do you find the perfect point between a site being historically accurate but not too trapped in amber?
Through all of your practices. This campus in itself is really cool. Sometimes places need certain types of fences for security or access, but this place is open for people to come at any time of the day. My boys went to the preschool right next door and after school they want to run with their friends. As a museum professional, I’ve always expected someone to come up and say, “It’s closed, you don’t have to be in that area.” We were respectful of space, of course, but it’s open. I had such a museum envy. Here they are closed, and still have a constant flow of visitors to enjoy the house, sit in the gardens, play with their children, and walk their dogs. It is a great view and a gateway to people. We want to be part of the community. We are not closed to that.
As the conversation develops to focus on inclusion, it appears that this could be a difficult problem for homes that were built by wealthy white industrialists. How do you update the narrative and engage a wider audience?
We need to be more present in our community and learn more about what our community thinks of us.
So how do you do it and what does the process look like?
Evaluations that take place outside in the community and internally with the people who walk the earth. The board saw this as an area to grow in, we need more data on public perception and public interest to know what people have to say so that we can have that data to deal with.
The home museums that seem to be the most experimental and push forward are those associated with the modern movement in the United States or that’s a misconception – that modern homes like Neutra VDL House or MAK Center in Schindler’s house Is it best suited to deal with contemporary design?
I don’t know if this is the case. This is a really interesting question but I think a lot of them are facing similar issues that we do. I didn’t see it related to the period of time the house was built. Every two years, there is a display element in the Gamble House, [such as] shiguchi gallery.
You seem comfortable using the term “home museum,” but what are some of the pros and cons of this phrase?
It looks formal – ‘Historical Home Museum’ – but I like that ‘Home’ is in it too. Or just call it “Museum”. There are a lot of thoughts and opinions about this word as well. We can name things any way we can, it’s [about] What kind of experience do people have when they come.