Family “museum” at home
Family historians note that homes and attics can feel like museums of their own. Alma Orum describes her family saving a ball gown, an air raid warden’s helmet, and other objects so they could “start [their] own ‘museum,’” where each person could see “the history of our own family” and “the vital history of our time” (Orum 1957, 270–71).
GALLERY
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Everyday objects as “ethnographic”
When visitors see tools, clothing, toys, maps, and photographs in the Farmington Historical Museum, those everyday things become “ethnographic” objects that stand for stories and communities once they are selected and put on display. Exhibits do not just reflect culture; they help produce it (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1998, 7-8).
A town scale family museum
The Farmington Historical Museum works like a family museum at the scale of a town, built from things that families have saved and chosen to share with their neighbors. What gets donated and what is shown “produces” heritage for the present and shapes how Farmington understands itself and whose stories are remembered (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1998).