A generational shift is occurring at historic house museums as board members and volunteers retire while few young people step forward to take their place. These landmarks are also plagued by serious deferred maintenance, and many have no endowment funds. What will happen to these sites in the next ten years, and what can be done to assure their continued preservation for generations to come? In New Solutions for House Museums Harris examines possible options and provides a decision-making methodology as well as a dozen case studies of house museums that have made a successful transition to a new owner or user.
Donna Ann Harris is a native New Yorker who has been living in Philadelphia off and on for more than 15 years. Donna has worked in the historic preservation field for more than twenty five years and credits her parents for this career choice. Both she and her brother were taken all over New England and the Mid Atlantic states as youngsters on family vacations that inevitably wound up at historic sites and house museums.
After graduating from college, she started her museum career at the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island (before it was restored). She became interested in the work of architect Ernest Flagg and began doing walking tours of his buildings in her home town. This work brought her to the attention of a small group of people eager to form a local historic preservation organization and Donna quickly became involved as an incorporator of the Preservation League of Staten Island and wrote the organization's bylaws. With her growing interest in preserving buildings, Donna attended graduate school in historic preservation, and has been working in the field ever since.
Her book New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long Term Preservation of America's Historic Houses, is an outgrowth of a project suggested by the American Association for State and Local History. This project, to provide a guide for historic site stewards who were struggling or could no longer care for their historic site, is meant to provide alternatives and options to make sure that these landmark buildings are preserved. Her book, published under the AASLH joint publishing agreement with AltaMira Press, has generated considerable discussion and reviews in academic and preservation circles. To learn more visit Donna's web site www.heritageconsultinginc.com.
