Period rooms

Portals into the past

The museum’s period rooms are an immersive experience, where you will be surrounded by outstanding examples of American decorative arts and design. Many contain authentic historic panelling and fittings shipped directly from the United States. Perhaps one of the best examples of this approach is Deer Park Parlor of 1790–1820, which has woodwork and measurements from Deer Park House, a farmhouse in Baltimore County, Maryland. Some of the rooms, like the New Orleans Bedroom, depict a recreated bedroom that showcases original furniture from a Louisiana plantation house on the eve of the American Civil War. Another example is the adobe-style rooms of the Southwest, which were painstakingly created following directions from expert scholars in the region.

There are fifteen period rooms to explore when you visit the museum, along with American heritage galleries, the folk art gallery, and our temporary special exhibition Myths and Memories: Renaissance Maps.

Step into the Stencilled Bedroom

This is the Stencilled Bedroom – c.1830. At first glance this child’s bedroom in Connecticut appears peaceful and calm, but look a little closer and you will see the engines of the Industrial Revolution turning at full speed….