Dumbarton House's collection includes over 1,000 original, unique and interesting pieces including furniture, paintings, textiles, silver, and ceramics, consists primarily, but not exclusively, of objects dating from the Federal period of U.S. history (approximately 1790-1830). There are a few pieces from the earlier Chippendale period, such as a large English Chippendale linen press that belonged to the Lewis-Washington family, as well as a few examples of Louis XVI French furniture, reflecting the late 18th- and early 19th-century taste in America. However, the works of American cabinetmakers from the New England states to South Carolina, comprise the major portion of the Dumbarton House furniture collection.

IN PROGRESS! The Dumbarton House Historic Furnishings Plan is the product of a five-year process that attempts to more accurately interpret Dumbarton House to its earliest period, when the Joseph Nourse family lived here (1804-1813). Authored by Ellen Donald, independent author and scholar, with contributions from Brian Lang, associate curator of decorative arts at the Columbia Museum of Art, and edited by Dumbarton House Museum Curator Scott Scholz, the Dumbarton House Historic Furnishings Plan presents research findings about the Joseph Nourse household and other similar households in the area from the perspective of how these early Americans lived. Were the Nourse family members socialites? Did they continuously buy furnishings and decorative elements for their home to make sure they were of the latest fashion or were they content with what they had? How did they use their house--for frequent social events or more as a place for family? These are just a few of the many questions this document seeks to answer. Over the next few months, as final editing is completed, the entire Dumbarton House Historic Furnishings Plan will be published here online with the hopes that it will advance scholarly understanding of one family's life in early nineteenth-century Georgetown and the newly established District of Columbia .
Chapter 1 [pdf] Chapter 2 [pdf]

ONGOING! The collections of the historic properties owned or administrated by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (The NSCDA) are constantly being updated, and are being added online to American Heritage's National Portal to Historic Collections.

A highlight of the permanent collection of early American paintings on display at Dumbarton House is a portrait of the children of Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the U.S. Navy. The portrait was painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1791. The background scene depicts Georgetown as an early tobacco port, only 40 years after it was incorporated as a city.

The Dumbarton House manuscript and document collection includes one of five original known copies of the Articles of Confederation, as well as papers, journals, account books, ledgers, and letters documenting nearly 300 years of Nourse family life. The collection is carefully stored and indexed, and documents pertaining to the Nourse occupation of the house have been transcribed.

In addition to our permanent collection, we also offer a series of temporary exhibits that feature topics relevant to additional interpretation of the museum.