Historic house museums can be found in nearly every city in the United States and Canada. These are the homes of the earliest settlers, statesmen, frontiersmen, great writers, artists, architects, and industrial magnates. These are the places, carefully saved and preserved, that represent a cultural heritage. Despite their popularity, it is not uncommon to find museums that are in poor repair, their collections neglected and their staffs grossly overworked. Many are run by well-meaning and hard-working volunteers who have little or no professional training. Often they survive on shoestring budgets and are able to present only limited programs. Serving both as a hands-on guide and reference, this book examines these problems, offering practical advice and solutions which can be easily implemented. Its useful "lessons" include governance, where to find help, care of collections, conservation, security, and interpretation--all designed to increase the professionalism of the historic house museum.

Italian Opera in the 18th and 19th centuries was an experience unequaled anywhere else in the world. The unique emotion, flavor, and passion that existed have yet to be attained in any other country. Opera houses in Italy are the birthplace of this great art form. They represent its beauty and richness. More than just concrete, stone, glass, and wood, they are alive, each with a character and history of its own. This work recreates the social, political, architectural, and performance histories of each house by including eyewitness accounts from Italian newspapers, journals, and books of the time. It covers more than 50 Italian opera houses and festivals, organized by their city of origin and geographic region. Each chapter is a journey back in time, beginning with the first theaters and performances in the city and concluding with an architectural description of the principal theater and a practical information guide for visitors (including hotel recommendations). The operatic activities of the main theater, including inaugurations, important performances, and world premieres, are also covered. A photospread, along with brief descriptions of opera-related sites, including the birthplaces, dwellings, and museums of Italy's greatest composers, give an even more complete portrait of the art.

This book offers an account of neo-Renaissance taste and style in Italy during the second half of the nineteenth century. By the time Italy had developed its obsession with the neo-Renaissance in the 1870s, collectors and scholars in the rest of Europe had been excited by Renaissance taste and style for several decades. In Italy the Renaissance was promptly reconceptualised, in a forced alignment with the accepted historical version of its birth and development, and its help enlisted in the search for an Italian national identity. But what represented this neo-Renaissance in Italy, and what aided its diffusion? In an attempt to answer these questions this book explores the many areas marked by neo-Renaissance taste. It traces its diffusion and development from the institutions which instructed its chief exponents, to architecture and exhibitions and the publications which disseminated neo-Renaissance designs so effectively.

This book is a lush and beautiful memoir of a very special house and a superb recreation of a bygone era.

Drawing from innovative organizations across the United States, Reimagining Historic House Museums is an indispensable source of field-tested tools and techniques drawn from such wide-ranging sources as non-profit management, business strategy, and software development. It also profiles historic sites that are using new models to engage with their communities to become more relevant, are adopting creative forms of interpretation and programming, and earning income to become more financially sustainable. The book is a combination of a museum conference, a hands-on workshop, and toolbox. It contains five main parts: Fundamentals and Essentials Audiences Different Approaches to Familiar Topics Methods Imagining New Kinds of House Museums This authoritative guide from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) will help house museum boards, directors, and staff seeking a path forward in rapidly changing times. Graduate programs in public history, museum studies, curatorial studies, and historic preservation will discover models and approaches that will provoke lively discussions about the issues facing the field.

The first comprehensive guide to America's historic house museums, this directory moves beyond merely listing institutions to providing information about interpretive themes, historical and architectural significance, collections, and cultural and social importance, along with programming events and facility information. Useful cross-reference guides provide quick and easy ways of locating information on almost 2500 museums. A multi-functional reference for museum professionals, local historians, historic preservationists or anyone interested in America's historic house museums.