"New Audiences for Old Houses: Building a Future with the Past"

On Friday, September 28, 2007, over 150 museum professionals, graduate students, and historic house supporters assembled at the Boston Athenaeum to hear presentations on the state of historic house museums in the United States and the United Kingdom. The symposium focused on audience cultivation and development in historic houses, which our speakers examined through historical and contemporary perspectives. The history of historic houses provided useful examples of the institutional changes that affect and are affected by new audiences, while contemporary case studies highlighted practical solutions to declining attendance, from strengthened educational outreach programs to site reinterpretation based on revised historical thinking.

To view the reports/papers presented at the symposium, please click on the lecture titles below.

Speakers & Lecture Titles:

This event was also sponsored in part by grants from The Humanities Foundation at Boston University and The National Trust for Historic Preservation.