The people who work at museums have choices to make about what stories are told, what artifacts are displayed, and how people tour the spaces. Over the past 75 years,  Macculloch Hall Historical Museum has looked different. Click through the slides below to see past and present ways visitors saw the museum.

The front of the Museum as it looked just after it opened to the public in 1950. 

Photo Caption: Exterior of Macculloch Hall, 1955, Photograph, Photo: N.L. Silverstein

Today the exterior of the house looks similar. The grounds have been updated and the signage directs visitors into the house. 

 Since the construction of the house in 1810, the bricks were covered with a whitewash. In the 1950's the whitewash was removed in an effort to be more "historic". However research shows, that the bricks should not be exposed as they are today. Preservationists and historians occasionally need to make interpretative choices about a space or an object that later evidence determines was incorrect. 

The Center Hall is the main front entrance to the Museum. When the Museum opened it was decorated lavishly.

Today, the Center Hall interprets the artwork of Thomas Nast. Nast lived across the street and Todd collected art, documents, and artifacts related to the political cartoonist.

The Museum has continued to grow the collection of Nast artwork. This gallery changes regularly throughout the year to showcase different periods in history and topics that Nast commented on in political cartoons.

If you walked into the Museum today, how do you think you would feel different than if you walked in the 1950s?

A large portion of the furniture in the Museum came from W. Parsons Todd's collection of historic artifacts. The furniture is from the same time period as the Maccullochs, it just didn't belong to them. 

Today, the Drawing Room includes portraits of George and Louisa Macculloch over the fireplace.

A music stand belonging to the Post family, the last descendants to live in the house, and a harp sit in the room. The Museum interprets the ways the family used the Drawing Room for entertainment, gathering, and ceremonies. 

A Drawing Room is like a living room. How is the Drawing Room at Macculloch Hall the same or different from a living room at your home?

When the Museum opened, the Dining Room was set as if the Maccullochs were coming back for dinner any moment. 

Prominently on display in this room are ceramic dishes and a rug. W. Parsons Todd collected extensively in these areas, giving the museum large collections of both. 

Today the Dining Room has been pared down from the formal room of the past, to focus on stories associated with the artifacts in the room, such as the chairs. The chairs can illustrate changes in styles over periods of time. 

Also on display are two paintings of historic Morristown, again showing the change over time in the community. 

How does the change in how a room is arranged impact your understanding of the history of the room?

Standards for Interpreting Macculloch Hall Historical Museum: Then and Now

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework

National Core Arts Standards