Author: Sereen Suleiman
Over the winter break, I read an article titled “Defining ‘Authenticity’ in Renovating a Historic House Museum” from the September/October issue of SAA’s Archival Outlook. It discussed how archivist Bridget Lawlor was determining how to best renovate the Drucker House in Claremont, California into a museum. The house was formerly owned by management expert Peter Drucker. People were fascinated by Drucker for his humbleness, his wisdom, and most importantly, the sheer simplicity in which he lived his life.
In May 2015, the Drucker Family sold their house to the Drucker Graduate Institute at Claremont Graduate University, with the institute having the hopes of converting the house into a museum. Overseeing the project was Lawlor, who was the archivist for the Drucker Institute. The main challenge she faced was figuring out which items to keep for display. To answer this question, Lawlor resorted to authenticity.
During the process of completing the Drucker House Museum, Lawlor contemplated how authenticity can best be represented. On the one hand, authenticity for house museums can be depicted through the items and artifacts housed within. On the other hand, the ambiance that portrays what a person was like, especially a charismatic person like Drucker, also provides an authentic feel.
To develop the authenticity of the museum, Lawlor collaborated with different groups of people, mainly stakeholders and designers (Note: Collaboration and teamwork are essential aspects to archival and information science professionals. Establishing healthy relationships with stakeholders is crucial to strategic planning.). For example, Lawlor needed to obtain funds from her organization, Drucker Institute, to properly renovate the museum.
By the end of it all, Lawlor came to a profound conclusion, one that I believe will have everlasting ramifications for preserving authenticity within archives in the future:
“Drucker House is not meant to recreate a particular moment in time, but to be a teaching tool to aid visitors in the understanding of Drucker’s work.”
Archives are not just simply collections of artifacts. They are representations of the stories of people, culture, and places. Archivists are meant to be preservers and educators for their respective archives and must adapt their specific archives in a way that will best tell the stories of those people, cultures, and places.