Heurich Happenings

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. 
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. 
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.

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!

Liberty Apple Cider is back and the new vintage of Liberty is DRY-HOPPED with Citra, Mosaic, and Nelson* hops for the 1st time in over a century, bringing the recreation that much closer to full historical hoppy accuracy. Celebrate with Heurich House and ANXO at the official release party in the museum’s biergarten on Saturday, June 24th from 5-8pm.

This summer, join the Heurich House Museum and our community partners for a monthly story and craft time in the Castle Garden.

This year’s theme is “Immigrant Stories.” Together we’ll explore the history of people who have migrated to our country, while discussing what immigration looks like today in our own city. The hour will start with a read aloud of a book exploring our theme and will conclude with a craft activity!

"For professional development each month, I tour a historic house in the DMV and reflect on the institution’s strengths, weaknesses, and other takeaways that I can integrate into my own work at the Heurich House."
I started the research journey with some foundational goals: our work would be focused on people and their unique life journeys, it would be documented and cited to ensure accuracy, and the process would be ongoing - often including more questions than answers.

"It was so exciting to be in a room where the typical barriers between presenters and audience were broken down, history and performance art blended together, and we all learned more about the historical precedence for, and current application of, Black queer groundbreaking in DC."