Below is the preface to my master’s dissertation, titled: “In Pursuit of Historical Character Conservation: A Critical Exploration of Collections & Narratives in Homes-Become-Museums.”

(A full PDF of the work is available upon request.)

Preface

What makes a house a home? There is an enigmatic, indefinable sense of place, of ownership, and of identity steeped in the word home. Nostalgia may be a familiar feeling when it comes to these places, and their stimmung—resonance, tonality, mood—may remain steadfast in one’s mind, but homes are as permanent as time itself. Flecks of dust in a stream of afternoon light settle on the back of an armchair, discoloring its textile imperceptibly; a nursery crib is disassembled and replaced with a bed; an inherited dining room table goes out of fashion, and the heirloom is donated to make room for something edgier. Generations pass through these spaces, shaping and being shaped by their home, which itself ages in step with its inhabitants. Yet for countless individuals, a sense of home neither starts nor ends at its physical makeup—architecture and furnishings hardly communicate the profound sentimentality that underpins the phenomenon of home. In a way, a home’s character can be thought of as a constellation, a figural, story-rich composition of interrelated parts—the building, the objects within, the people who return to it, and their lives which add meaning to memory.