Clara Barton Birthplace Museum

Purpose: Sustaining Cultural Heritage The Clara Barton Birthplace Museum requires a historic structures report to support preservation of the extant properties, and associated educational and interpretive plans to reinvent the 80-year-old museum program for the twenty-first century. A study of the farmhouse and historic barns will allow for the long-term preservation and conservation of the properties and will assist in creating an interpretive plan for both buildings. In this project, the museum will hire an architect to perform a comprehensive survey to determine the properties' structural evolution, integrity, and history of ownership, as well as the materials used in construction. The architect's report will include recommendations for restoration and continued preservation and will identify how spaces in the building might be used for collections care or programming. A museum educator will research and develop storyboards that use the collection to tell the story of Clara Barton in her childhood home. In consultation with the architect, the educator will consider use of the building's interior spaces for exhibits, offices, and classrooms, and will develop a traffic pattern for tours through the home.