Heurich Happenings

The mission of the Heurich Urban Manufacturing Incubator is to provide economic opportunities to our local small-scale manufacturing communities through: appropriate interventions in business life cycles, collective action, and social enterprises

This year each meet-up will focus on a different topic and be hosted by a member of the group! The host will pose a series of discussion questions and share their experience on the topic. Of course, all discussions are welcome and encouraged even if they are not on topic! 

We are always trying to learn more about how people would have actually experienced life and work in the home. In general, people’s reactions to Amelia's role often varies, but sometimes visitors express negative comments about her management style. In these cases, I encourage people to think of her role in a more nuanced way and consider the implications this has for the memory of women in power. At the symposium, it was exciting to hear other scholars’ research. There were so many different approaches to looking at food spaces and how people act (and interact) in them. Their reactions and questions about our work at the museum were thought provoking - only emphasizing my feeling that there’s always more research to do!

This May, during AAPI Heritage month, artist Xena Ni will transform the Heurich House Museum into a portal to the future with her interactive art installation, Good Fortunes. Travel to the future with visionary Asian Americans and return with reasons for hope in the present. Good Fortunes is the second installment of the We Should Talk series, a participatory installation that invites you to join visionary Asian American womxn in imagining and shaping the future, created by Philippa Pham Hughes, Adele Yiseol Kenworthy, and Xena Ni. 

On Sunday, April 21st from 12-3pm in the Heurich House Museum’s garden, meet with experts from DC’s cultural institutions and become part of preserving our city’s history. 

AOI and the Heurich House Museum are partnering with 11 of DC’s history archives to provide advice about how to donate and preserve your items and stories for future generations. Become part of preserving our city’s history - bring photos* of your treasures, objects, and heirlooms, to share.

On Wednesday, April 24th from 4:00-8:00pm, celebrate 5 years of our biergarten, 1921, and 130 years of the Heurich House! In the backyard of the historic house, decorate your own garden-themed cupcake, make a birthday card, and learn how you can help support the museum for another 130 years!

Exhibits are not stagnant. During an exhibit, collections are sometimes taken off display and replaced with others from the collection’s storage. There are several reasons why museums rotate objects in exhibits, but removing an object from display can feel like the museum is taking away the public’s access, especially for long-running exhibits where it is accepted that you could come back any time to see the same exhibit. But the Heurich House Museum has important reasons why we have rotated objects off display.

As the city blooms for the National Cherry Blossom festival from March 20th to April 14th, celebrate “City in Bloom” in the museum’s biergarten. Our Castle Garden is an oasis from the city featuring dozens of species that bloom all year round - to celebrate the start of spring, enjoy botanical crafts, curated decor, Japanese art, games, and a specially curated bar menu. 

On March 1, 2024 from 6-8pm, celebrate the 90th anniversary of the end of Prohibition in DC with a tour, tasting, and opportunity to meet the people that make DC’s local craft beverages. Celebrate the city’s history of bootlegging with Jordan Cotton, owner of DC’s rum distiller, Cotton & Reed, and visit the kitchen to taste a limited-edition cask from Bluejacket brewery. 

 

On Friday, February 2nd from 5:00 - 8:00 pm during First Friday Dupont, join us for the first Heurich (Open) House of 2024 featuring work by graduate architecture students from George Washington University Corcoran School of the Arts & Design. Connect with the students, who together with the Heurich House Museum’s education and preservation teams, will challenge how we interpret and interact with design.

 

In 2024, the Heurich Mansion turns 130! Celebrating our last decade and looking towards our 130th anniversary, we’re introducing 130 celebratory individual memberships which includes a limited-edition Senate Beer magnum bottle.

On Saturday, October 21st from 12-4pm join the Heurich House Museum and DC’s Historic Preservation Office (DC HPO) for History in a Bottle: How Historic German Immigrants Used Beer to Claim Citizenship in Washington, DC.

On Friday, October 13th from 6-10pm, join the Heurich House Museum (and Michael) to explore the history of superstitions and learn about Spiritualism through stories of the Heurich family.

A new community gathering in the city: DC’s Emerging Humanities Professionals Meet-up Group!

Museums protect, preserve, and interpret their collections for their communities and future generations. In a house museum like ours, the house itself is part of the collection. On Friday, August 25th from 4:00 - 8:00 pm, join our Collections Manager, Kim Totten, and CEO, Kim Bender for an open house and explore our newest acquisitions. 

"Living in DC means ample opportunities to visit all sorts of museums. Working in the museum field gives me even more reasons to explore the city’s historic offerings. Part of my job over the past few months has been to tour various house museums with the goal of learning about education, visitor engagement, and interpretation at the Heurich House’s contemporaries."

I joined the Heurich House Museum (HHM) team in January as a public programs consultant evaluating all programming from the past 10 years, determining what to keep and what had run its course. By the end of Spring 2023, I would deliver a program plan with clear outlined goals and launch two pilot programs. For me, joining HHM was an opportunity to engage within the DC community and really make an impact. I was excited for this challenge!