shatterCABINET
Historic House Trust of New York City in partnership with The Chipstone Foundation
Executive Summary: The shatterCABINET program is a six-month process that provides a safe
space for four Historic House Trust (HHT) properties to investigate substantive changes to their
present visitor experience. The goal of shatterCABINET is to foster innovation and new
stewardship models that can suggest ways in which historic house museums can engage new
audiences, realize more tactile and expressive uses of collections, and provide for wider historic
narratives. The mid-process meetings, outlined below, between HHT and the historic house
museums reveal extensive re-consideration of foundational concepts such as visitor access,
collections use, community engagement, and communications.
1. Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum (BPMM): BPMM has been investigating several strategic
opportunities:
a. An extensive demographic study of areas close to the house museum have
revealed large populations of, as yet, un-tapped potential visitors. One in
particular is Co-op City with a population of over 50,000 residents. Innovative
ideas are targeting these multi-ethnic, economically diverse populations.
b. BPMM is investigating the expansion of their interpretation to better reveal
periods of occupation that include the use of the house as NYC Mayoral residence
of LaGuardia, and its use as the “Sunshine School for the Blind.” This wider
interpretive narrative will engage a wider spectrum of audiences than visit today.
c. Discussions continue relative to the access and use of the collections furnishings
to produce a more immersive and tactile experience. Removing barriers, possible
use of selected furnishings and possible opening of denied spaces will all expand
the visitor experience.
2. Dyckman Farmhouse Museum (DFM): Following the Chipstone retreat, the DFM
organized a series of internal meetings to discuss the potential changes to the visitor
experience and interpretation. There are several aspects of the shatterCABINET process
that are being investigated:
a. Presently the interpretation of the DFM is narrowly defined as Dutch Colonial with
a small discussion of the slavery issue. Complete re-assessment of the historic
interpretation to include a much wider spectrum of inhabitants’ stories. After an
extensive demographic study of the community surrounding the DFM, all text and
publications are to be translated into Spanish and other forms of communication
(social media and printed press) will move toward Spanish language inclusion.
b. The physical environment of the DFM is presently a series of traditional period
rooms with barriers at the doors, which limits the visitor to “stage set”
experiences. The barriers are to be removed; the rooms and contents are to
become a mixture of reproductions and originals, which will allow for a total
tactile, immersive experience.
c. The DFM staff has been expanded to include Spanish-speaking educators.
d. The DFM is initiating a Contemporary Art Program that will seek communitybased artists to re-interpret the stories of the inhabitants. The goal is to
implement strong contemporary connections to the primarily Dominican
Immigrant populations that surround the DFM.
3. Old Stone House (OSH): OSH rests in a dramatically changing urban environment. The
historic site is a reconstruction with no collections. The Chipstone retreat, particularly
the presentations from the Hull House and 6018 NORTH, revealed their intense interest in
social issues and the changing demographics of the community. Based upon a series of
internal conversations, OSH has targeted several actions:
a. Demographic study of the fluctuations of immigrant populations surrounding the
historic site. Using this data, OSH is planning a series of community-based efforts,
which will lead to a naturalization ceremony hosted on its site.
b. OSH has actively pursued contemporary immigrant oral histories from area
residents and will document them in a resulting theater piece presented on the
site.
c. OSH is also expanding their programing to include contemporary art happenings
that will overlap the historic narrative of the site with relevant current events.
4. Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum (WFM): WFM is the oldest historic house site in NYC and
contains a moderate amount of collections items. It is located about 2 hours away from
Times Square, thus making it difficult as a tourist attraction. It, however, is booked solid
with school children visits throughout the school year. The Chipstone retreat revealed
their interest in re-imagining the visitor experience in a more tactile and immersive
manner. Several areas of investigation are occurring:
a. Demographic research into the surrounding community, which is revealing a large
Jamaican immigrant population. This knowledge is helping to guide interpretation
and experience changes.
b. WFM has investigated the return of any loaned collections items that are housed
in the historic structure so that they might be able to create an immersive, tactile
experience for the school visits (rather than the traditional period room layout at
present).
c. WFM is also investigating the expansion of the historic narrative to include
marginalized populations and draw strong connections to the diverse student
visitors now attending.