A Brief History of the Museum

The Nichols House Museum occupies an impressive four-story town house, one of the earliest Beacon Hill structures, constructed in 1804. In 1885, Dr. Arthur Nichols purchased the house for his wife and daughters. Their eldest daughter Rose Standish Nichols, noted landscape architect, writer and suffragist, inherited the house. Miss Nichols owned and cared for the house from 1935 until her death in 1960. Since 1961 the Nichols House Museum has been open to the public as an historic house museum reflecting the domestic life of a typical family of Beacon Hill at the turn of the last century. The house is furnished with priceless possessions accumulated over several generations. The collection includes fine European and American wooden furniture from the 17th-19th centuries, ancestral portraits, Flemish tapestries, oriental rugs, European and Asian art, and works by America's foremost sculptor of the 19th century, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Open year-round, the Nichols House Museum welcomes a growing number of international and domestic guests. It provides an active schedule of lectures, programs, and special events for its membership and the community. The Nichols House welcomes a variety of educational groups for tours and programs. These have included after-school Girl Scout troops working on badges, students from nearby colleges and universities, design students, and adult learners who visit the museum under the aegis of the Road Scholar program.

E-Newsletters

Notes from The Nichols House
A publication of the Nichols House Museum
Click below to view one of our most recent newsletters.

Annual Reports

Nichols House Museum Annual Report
A publication of the Nichols House Museum
Click below to view our most recent Annual Report.
2011-2012 Annual Report
28 pages
Click here for PDF version
2010-2011 Annual Report
23 pages
Click here for PDF version

Staff

  • Flavia Cigliano, Executive Director
  • William H. Pear II, Historian
  • Maureen Regan, Development Specialist
  • Ashley Jahrling, Assistant to the Director
  • Julia H. Gleason, Visitor Services

Internship Opportunities

The Nichols House Museum offers unpaid spring, summer, and fall internship positions to undergraduate and graduate students studying American history, library science, education, museum studies, and related fields. Internships offer valuable, wide-ranging museum experience to students looking to explore the museum field. Interns will assist museum staff with: public tours, collections management, archival research, special events, and additional projects that can be tailored to the intern's specific interests. Internships can be taken for course credit. For spring internships, please apply by December 1; summer internships, by April 1; and for fall internships by July 1.

To apply, please send resume and cover letter to:

Flavia Cigliano
Executive Director
Nichols House Museum
55 Mount Vernon Street
Boston, MA 02108
info@nicholshousemuseum.org