The book, "The Participatory Museum" by Nina Simon has some great examples of low cost interactives that can be adapted to this situation.
Off the top of my head, I would suggest really well written interpretive labels that include discussion questions- to get guests to interact with each other, supplemented with video or content on a touch screen or tablet (if this is something you can afford).  
Also, it will help if visitors are engaged through a number of their senses- touch and smell are two easy, generally affordable ones.
- Casandra

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 7, 2012, at 1:26 PM, Jacqueline Bershad <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hello-
> 
> I would appreciate suggestions for examples of successful exhibits within historic house museums. 
> 
> I am working with Elfreth's Alley Museum which is a very small house set on a 18c street in Philadelphia. It is currently furnished to reflect the life of the two women dressmakers who lived there in the 1770's. Typically guests are taken through the house by a docent.
> 
> We are working on developing an exhibit that would co-exist in the furnished rooms and provide sufficient interaction for visitors to go through without a docent.
> 
> We are focusing on the concept of "home" including issues of home ownership (the two ladies owned the house), work from home (they received clients in the front room), family and privacy (for the bedroom), and food (for the kitchen).
> 
> We are particularly interested in participatory devices to relate these issues to visitors.
> 
> As always we are very limited on cash and staff...
> 
> Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas and experiences.
> 
> Jacqueline
> 
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