MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Dear house museum professionals and lovers,

Welcome to the website for ICOM-DEMHIST – the International Committee for Historic House Museums.  Our DEMHIST community includes over 400 house museum professionals, students, and institutions from all over the world working together to promote house museums, to learn from, and to inspire each other to make this world a better place.

At historic house museums and as museum professionals we have strong tools to accomplish this aim. Although we mostly deal with micro history and the micro stories within our collections and museums, concurrently, these are a reflection of macro history and stories. The lives and houses of our predecessors make us aware that we are sustainable chains on the long continuum of time and space and that we can, and must, take responsibility for the future.

At DEMHIST we welcome house museum professionals or students, whether director, curator, educator, researcher, conservator, freelancer, or volunteer. Whatever your connection, please feel free to join us. As an international committee we are a network of different cultures, with differing perspectives, circumstances, ways of working. One of our main goals is to create a dialogue for a better understanding of each other. We all share our passion for our museums and for our work. We all share our mutual goal for the betterment of house museums and to increase their presence and impact in today’s world.

We are facing challenging times; not only the covid-19 Pandemic but also climate crisis and societal changes demand our creativity and effort. I strongly believe that these challenges can help us to become even more sustainable institutions. House museums can play an important role as a source of inspiration and lead by example with innovative solutions. If we know where we come from, we know where to go.

At DEMHIST we are currently working on a strategic plan to take us into the next stage of our development. We are very curious to hear your ideas about that. Let us know what you think would help us to develop and grow as committee, to reach out to new members and communities, to provide learning tools, to gain in-depth knowledge benefiting all members. We welcome your suggestions.

If you have other ideas you would like to share or to propose, such as a conference, a training course, a national meeting or committee, or any other activity – please feel free to reach out to me or to one of my fellow board members. We are here to support you.

We are a network, we welcome you to become part of this network and make it yours too.  

Welcome to DEMHIST!

Yvonne Ploum
Demhist Chair
y.ploum@erfgoedacademie.nl