Re-Interpreting Dumbarton House

FAIN: GE-228523-15

National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (Washington, DC 20007-3071)
Karen L. Daly (Project Director: August 2014 to June 2016)

Planning for the reinterpretation of period rooms and exhibition galleries in Dumbarton House, a Federal home in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C.

Dumbarton House is part of the early history of Washington, D.C., specifically Joseph Nourse, first Register of the Treasury who assisted Alexander Hamilton in organizing the new nation's financial system in 1800. An advisory team of scholars and community members will refine humanities themes, design interpretive formats in the re-installed first-floor period rooms and second floor galleries, and recommend programming. Formative evaluation will guide final selections of themes and implementation. We will test these themes during the project: "Building a New Nation: Civil service during the forming of the Early Republic and connections to today's Capital experience," "Becoming Washingtonians: Social life during the time period of the Nourse Family's residence and development of Washington society," and "Women and Historic Preservation: The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, the historic preservation movement, and preservation at Dumbarton House."