Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Five generations of the Macculloch - Miller - Post family lived at Macculloch Hall. From 1810-1947, this family experienced and participated the events of American history. Learn more about the descendants who lived at Maculloch Hall and their accomplishments by exploring the timeline below.

1812-1949: Who is living at Macculloch Hall?

While he never lived at Macculloch Hall, W. Parsons Todd is an important part of the Museum's history. Click through the slideshow images below to learn more about him. 

W. Parsons Todd

School desks at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Student Engagement: Preserving Your School's History

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.

Interpreting Macculloch Hall Historical Museum: Then and Now

Pick one of the rooms from the previous activity and compare and contrast them in the Venn Diagram below. Students can write directly on the Venn Diagram using the text tools or download and print a PDF of the page to complete with a pencil. 

Student Engagement: Compare and Contrast MHHM Rooms 

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum has hundreds of objects in the collection. They cannot display all of them at once. It is the job of museum staff to pick the objects that tell relevant and engaging stories about the history associated with the house and those who lived in it. Click through the slideshow to learn about some of the key artifacts on display at the museum.

Key Objects in the Collection

Center Hall, Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Student Engagement: Create your Own Museum Exhibit

Think about the role museums have to educate the public on the history of a community as you answer the following questions. 

Reflection and Discussion Questions

Established in 1950, Macculloch Hall Historical Museum has served as Morristown's community museum for 75 years. But how does one family's home go from a place to live to a museum for all? This Resource Kit explores the history of the building, the people who lived in the home, and how a museum was created. Students have the opportunity to research and design their own museum exhibit about their school's history

Educator Overview_ From Home to Museum.pdf

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum Website

From Home to Museum: How do you Make a Museum?

U.S. History

Social Studies

Visual Arts

The Arts

Careers

Careers in Museums

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?

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

From Home to Museum: How do you Make a Museum?

Interpreting Macculloch Hall Historical Museum: Then and Now

Guiding Question

House Exterior: 1950s