[Keith Norrington]

As you can well imagine, there are MANY ideas being offered as to what should be done with the HSM laundry house. First of all, it practically needs to be REbuilt, as there is much rotten wood involved and in one room part of the floor is missing. Time is of the essence!

If we ever return the mansion kitchen (currently the gift shop) to a display area, one possibility under discussion is to move the gift shop to the laundry house. I favor this most of all. I also like Jimmy's idea to have a small orientation theatre for visitors upon arrival, as well as hosting small group events. I just don't see two rooms featuring exhibits on where laundry was done being of much interest to visitors- when that space can be utilized for so much more. I hope that the museum NEVER becomes a "push button place" with high tech screens and electronic hardware in each room. In my opinion this will detract too much from the experience of what the museum is all about - transporting the visitor back to an 1890's Victorian era mansion.

Of course, one of the big issues with having more buildings is that we have fewer volunteers to staff them! But, the Howard is the little museum that CAN and DOES --- and we'll find some way to make it work!