Wylie House

Our visits to the Wylie house have been unlike prior visits in that objects were placed in contexts of how they would or might have been used. Beds were in bedrooms, the kitchen was arranged so you could cook a meal, and rugs rolled out neatly on the floor. Everything is in great condition and gives visitors insights into what life may have been like.

It is interesting to note what is normal now that even the wealthiest people in the Wylies’ time did not have. For example, the house would not have had heating or air conditioning. It didn’t have televisions or even running water. At first, I did not even recognize the kitchen as a kitchen because there was no sink to be seen.

I wonder what the Wylies would think if they returned to the house now. Would they be happy that their house and some of their belongings and ways of life are being preserved and communicated to the public around the university they contributed so much to? Would they be honored that there are still people who care so much about what happened in their lives? Would they be disgusted and confused at how out of place and different everything was and how much everything had changed? Would they not care about the changes and demand we leave so they could move back in, having missed the house and good old Bloomington so very much?

This place made me think about what I would want people to see if I had a home that was preserved for decades or centuries after my death. I would not want everything to be so very neat, but maybe not as messy as my room is in real life—that could pose a hazard to visitors walking through. The things I would want people to see would be difficult to show without people there.

When people see my house, I want them to see an oven used to bake cookies for friends who are having bad days. I would want them to see Christmas lights hung up all year to make the corners a bit brighter. I would want them to see places of rest, places of work, and places of deep conversations had late at night. I would want them to see couches worn from movie nights with friends and carpets stained from many messy childhoods.

Then again, I don’t plan to live in a “mansion on a hill.”

When I think of what I would want people to see, I fear a house museum wouldn’t cut it. Perhaps a scrapbook would be a better, yet not perfect, representation.

I wonder how our positions and values in life change how we want to be remembered. I wonder if the Wylies would feel the same.

The Wylie house is lovely. The furniture is beautiful and the period pieces are very interesting and educational. I very much enjoyed visiting that house, knowing that my own will never be used in that way.