Architecture as artifact: Period rooms at MESDA (Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts)

Stepping into a period room raises innumerable questions. To what extent does the room reflect its original dimensions and organization? How much of the architecture is original? To what extent are the architectural finishes, including paint schemes, original or accurately re-created? How did the room fit into a planned series of spaces, and how does that context help us better understand the museum interpretation? Do the cherished artifacts that fill a period room reflect the various activities under-taken there in the period? Who had access to this space and who did not? These are but a few of the questions that continue to animate the interpretation of the period rooms at MESDA, which are without parallel as the richest array of architectural interiors from the early American South.