Authenticity in historic house museums : the Maltese scenario

Abstract

Historic house museums may be presented in a variety of ways from frozen moment-in-time installations, to displays for artistic treasures, to a venue for innovative interpretation. They offer a rich, complex and varied scenario where curators make the most of the surviving resources. Some may focus on the display of collections with a deeply-rooted historical association with the house, others might introduce or reproduce objects, others still decide do away with furnishings and exploit other media for pedagogic reasons. Curatorial decisions regarding which of these strategies are followed have to navigate through complex theoretical challenges with the aim of presenting historic house museums in a faithful and authentic manner. This brings us to the question being investigated in this research, what makes an authentic display in a historic house museum. Working in a historic house museum has increasingly made the author curious. How can a historic house museum be authentic? What does it mean? Is it the accurate and truthful appearance, faithful historic fabric and collections, or narrating facts and episodes which took place in a space that need to be displayed? How can all these different historic house museums be presented as an authentic experience? A placement at Kensington Palace was revealing as to how one can create different authentic experiences, yet this had to be investigated against a wider theoretical context. Research focused on interpretation-based arguments developed from the application of academic theory which were placed against an investigation of the local context. Results suggest that notwithstanding the uniqueness of each historic house museum, different authentic experiences can be created. This can be achieved by adherence to certain fundamental principles including sound research and a transparent and honest interpretive decisions towards the final presentation of authenticity in historic house museums.