House Opens Window on American History

An ambitious, personal history of America, as told through occupants of a single Colonial-era house, opens Wednesday at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The centerpiece of the permanent exhibit, the museum’s largest, is a 21/2-story, Georgian-style, timber-framed house built for a merchant in the 1760s in Ipswich, Mass., and occupied until 1961. The Smithsonian acquired the house in 1963, but it has been off display since 1982.

Visitors can peer through windows, doors and wall openings of the house and see an 18th century parlor set for tea, a 19th century laundry and a 1940s kitchen, among other scenes. The home had nearly 100 occupants over the years. Those whose lives are featured include a veteran of the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill, an African American servant, antislavery activists, Irish immigrant renters and a family whose two sons fought in World War II.

Next Saturday there will be demonstrations of 18th century crafts, plastering, quilting and canning. Called “Within These Walls ...,” the exhibit is at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. and is open, along with the rest of the museum, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Admission is free. Telephone (202) 357-2700, Internet https://americanhistory.si.edu/house.