WITHIN THESE WALLS. . ._

Look through this doorway

into a 240-year-old house,

where you’ll meet ordinary

people who spent their

everyday lives in these rooms.

Through their stories you’ll

learn more about the house

and its inhabitants’

connections to changes and

events in the nation’s history.

On the following pages,

take a closer look at the

development of Within These

Walls…, a Museum exhibition

that inspires visitors to see

history from a different

vantage point—a history that

begins at home.

Annual Report 2001 7

he process of developing Within These Walls…

could be compared to assembling the pieces of a

puzzle. Museum curators combined traditional his-

torical research methods with scientific analysis to

uncover intriguing information about the house

and the nearly 100 people who called it home.

Saved from demolition in 1963, the 2½-story

timber-framed dwelling was carefully disman-

tled and moved from Ipswich, Massachusetts, to the Smithsonian,

where it first went on display in 1967. At the time, its frame was

exposed to explain 18th-century New England building

techniques. The house was removed from exhibition in 1982.

When curators began to plan a new exhibition around the

Museum’s largest object, they took a different approach. Instead of

interpreting the house as an architectural artifact, they decided to show

how it has changed over time through the stories of five families who

lived in it. The exhibition, which opened on May 15, 2001, invites visi-

tors to look into parts of three rooms and an entrance hall, each

furnished with objects that suggest the household activities carried out

in these spaces.

The project team for Within These Walls… included co-curators Lonn

Taylor, Shelley Nickles, and William Yeingst, exhibition designer Nigel

Briggs, and project director Susan Myers.

Architectural features suggested that the original house, builtfor Abraham Choate’s family in the 1760s, had two parts. The

rear section is an older dwelling built around1710 that was joined to the newer front section of thehouse to create more space. Experts on timber fram-ing and dendochronology—the science of datingtimbers by tree-ring growth—helped to date thehouse. Tool marks found on the front section indicatethat the timber was pre-cut in a framing yard andmarked with Roman numerals to guide workers whoassembled it. The framing of the older section wasmost likely hand-hewn. A dendochronologistcompared core samples of wood from the framingwith dated samples from trees in New England. Thistechnology established that the timber from the olderpart of the house was cut in the fall of 1709, while thenewer section was cut between 1767 and 1769.

The structure speaks

T

FROM ABOVE LEFT: 16 ElmStreet, Ipswich,Massachusetts, 1963, thecenterpiece of WithinThese Walls…; HouseDetective brochure; co-curator Lonn Taylor(right) with architecturalhistorian Myron Stachiw;carpenter’s marks on thehouse’s timber framingOPPOSITE: The front hall asit would have appearedduring the RevolutionaryWar

8 National Museum of American History, Behring Center

Analysis of paint samples from the house offered cluesabout its chronology, its original appearance, and its vari-

ous owners. A preservation paint specialist worked forseveral days to find and collect tiny paint chips from

throughout the house. Under a micro-scope, seven to nine layers of paint were

evident. Spectroscopic analysis provided a chemicalbreakdown showing that Abraham Choate used anexpensive bright green, or verdigris, paint on theentrance hall and staircase. This finding corroboratedpublic records and confirmed the family’s economicstatus.

Another paint specialist used the information aboutpaint colors to re-create the interiors for the exhibition.Mixing earth pigments with linseed oil, he developed aformula based on 18th- and 19th-century paint. Thesecolors—including the Choates’ bright green—wereapplied with re-created period tools for authenticity.

Layers of history

Two reproduction wallpapers displayed in the exhibition were made using verydifferent techniques. In the Choates’ paneled and wallpapered parlor, thehandmade block-printed paper is reproduced from a pattern chosen from thecollection of historic wallpapers at the Society for the Preservation of New

England Antiquities (SPNEA). This wallpaper, known to have beenused in Ipswich in the 1760s, contributes to the elegant surround-ings where the family received their guests. The Lynch family’shallway, an interactive section of the exhibition, called for wallpa-per that visitors could touch, and technology offered a viableoption. The exhibition designer scanned a photograph of an appro-priate pattern in the SPNEA collection and used image-editingsoftware to create missing and damaged parts of the pattern tomake a full repeat. The 18-by-24-inch segments were printed witha special inkjet process and hungwith traditional methods. Thiswallpaper is well suited for ahands-on area because it can bereplaced easily when worn.

Wallpaper made to order

FROM ABOVE LEFT:Removing paint samplesfor analysis; painting inauthentic period colorswith an 18th-centuryround brush; co-curatorWilliam Yeingst; theChoate family’s parlor

Annual Report 2001 9

Within These Walls... curators selected more than 100 objects that link thehouse and its occupants to American history. Objects were drawn from the

Museum’s collections, purchased, and lent by residents of Ipswich. Atea table in the Choates’ parlor was important to the social ritualsof well-to-do families in the 1760s. Near the Dodge family’sentrance hall, objects from the Revolutionary War period—includ-

ing a rare regimental coat—recall the struggles and sacrifices of thetime. The child’s cradle quilt exhibited near the Caldwells’ par-

lor was sold at an antislavery fair in 1836 to support theabolitionist cause. A toy horse and jaunting cart, in theLynch family’s section, was an Irish immigrant’s cherishedkeepsake in her new home. On the home front in theScotts’ kitchen, everyday objects were part of the wareffort—canning equipment, blackout shades, and a

Life within these walls

Reconstructing the storiesExceptional stories about ordinary lives emerged as cura-

tors gathered information about the house’s inhabitants.

Documents, photographs, maps, and other source material

yielded clues to the lives of five families chosen for the

exhibition: the Choates, prosperous American colonists;

the Dodges, Revolutionary War patriots; the Caldwells, anti-

slavery activists; the Lynches, an Irish immigrant worker

and her daughter; and the Scotts, a woman and her grand-

son on the home front during World War II.

• Abraham Dodge’s will—which leaves the services of

his African American servant, Chance, to his wife—shows

that even though Chance was free, he remained an

indentured servant.

• A newspaper notice from 1839 announces a meeting

of the Ipswich Female Antislavery Society at the

Caldwells’ home, providing an insight into women’s

roles as social reformers.

• Photographs and maps documented the

neighborhood’s transition to a textile manufacturing district by

the 1870s, explaining why the house was divided into

apartments for immigrants working in the mills.

• The curators were fortunate to locate the last surviving resident of

the house—Mary Scott’s grandson Richard Lynch. His recollections

provided valuable information about life in the house during the 1940s.

FROM BELOW: RichardLynch, resident from1941 to 1945, in theScott family kitchen;Lynch’s grandmotherMary Scott and pagesfrom her diary of life onthe home front; aRevolutionary War coat,1777–79; an English dollfrom the 1700s

10 National Museum of American History, Behring Center

Creating the exhibitionThe exhibition design team faced some chal-

lenges and opportunities:

• Respect for the house’s

integrity. Since the house is part

of the Museum’s collection,

noninvasive and reversible dis-

play methods were required.

For its 1967 display, the house

had been stripped to its

framework, so the plans to

re-create the exterior and

interior posed a challenge. As

a solution, designer Nigel Briggs

devised a revolutionary stud and

bracket system in order not to drill

into the frame.

• Creative solutions. An aluminum

framework was constructed to suggest

the missing portions of the house,

including a two-story lean-to with a

parlor below and a chamber above. The open

framework also gives visitors the feeling of

walking through the house.

• Visitor involvement. The exhibition design

incorporates interactive segments that engage

visitors in period life. There are touchable mod-

els and reproductions, audio programs that

evoke the atmosphere of the time,

interactive question-and-answer

“clues” about the house, and an

activity in the Lynch family sec-

tion where visitors can lift a

heavy pail of water and wring

out laundry.

Exhibition designer NigelBriggs (RIGHT) and thedesign team bring thehouse back to life as theyreconstruct the housewith its aluminumframework.

Engaging people in historyEducational opportunities—including public and school

programs, a publication, and an award-winning website—

complement Within These Walls.... Anticipating that the

exhibition would inspire visitors to find out more about their

own homes, Museum educators produced House Detective, a

free brochure about researching a house’s history. Programs

such as regular demonstrations of lace making and quilting

bring everyday activities to life. During the summer of 2001, a

World War II–style victory garden thrived outside the Museum,

and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival linked the exhibition to

the festival’s program on the

building arts. The Within These

Walls... website features a virtual

exhibition, a teacher’s guide to

using the site with students, and

a “Go Back in Time” activity

(americanhistory.si.edu/house).

Annual Report 2001 11

Within These Walls… is sponsored by the National Association of Realtors in a15-year partnership with the Museum. Other support for the exhibition is pro-vided by Discover Card and the David Greenewalt Charitable Trust.

According to John McDonagh, theMuseum’s chief campaign and developmentofficer, “The strategic partnership betweenthe Museum and the National Association ofRealtors, sponsor of Within These Walls...,symbolizes shared goals for public education:The Museum teaches history through the livesof ordinary people, and NAR raises publicawareness about homeownership and its rolein the American Dream.”

Sponsors

ABOVE: Co-curator ShelleyNickles helps a youngvisitor do laundry the18th-century way at theopening celebration. LEFT: Visitors enjoy plantsfrom the victory gardenand try some handplaning.

BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT:Spencer Crew, Museumdirector; RobertGoldberg, senior vp ofmarketing and businessdevelopment, NAR;Richard Mendenhall,NAR president (2001)