History of HAHS
The Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program grew out of a 1993 initiative proposed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to reach out to those stewarding historic sites throughout the country and to provide information on preservation and collaborative opportunities. The Trust sought to connect with places that were not directly under its portfolio of historic sites but that were, nonetheless, doing the important work of preserving America’s cultural and built heritage. They believed that organizations could be linked thematically, and then work together to share experiences and find solutions to common challenges, to achieve long-term results.
With initial support from the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund, the Historic Sites Department at the National Trust completed a feasibility study in 1997 and began the pilot phase of the HAHS program in the fall of 1999. In support of that effort, the Henry Luce Foundation awarded the National Trust a substantial grant to establish the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios test group. This 18-month initiative focused on identifying and helping select American art-related historic sites preserve, document and interpret their buildings and collections.
Art breaks the barriers of language, race and creed. It is an international language.
– Mabel D’Amico
The Trust already owned and operated the property of one American artist: Chesterwood, the home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French in Stockbridge, MA. Alongside Chesterwood, a group of art-related historic sites was identified, an initial coalition of twenty sites was formed, and the network officially launched in 2000.
HAHS was designed as a fee-based membership program, to which sites would apply and be accepted through peer review. From its beginning, the program’s core goals have been to encourage peer collaboration and professional development; increased visibility through cross-promotional marketing and publicity; and access to professional information, technical workshops and dialogue.
In the ensuing twenty-five years, HAHS has grown to include more than sixty sites across the country, each of which commemorates an artist (or a group of artists) and preserves and interprets their working environment. Now an ongoing program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, HAHS has expanded its work to include grants and professional development workshops for its membership, as well as diverse public programming and international collaborations.

HAHS Now
Today, Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios, is an ever-growing, high-performing, dynamic coalition of public sites that were all once the homes and studios of American artists. Together, they tell a unique and site-specific story of our nation’s art history by preserving and interpreting the personal places where art was made and serving as generators of new ideas, experiences, and artistic legacies.
These places and artistic legacies are shared with more than one and a half million visitors annually, inspiring audiences through access to on-site experiences, outreach, and virtual and in-person programming.
Our membership includes 61 sites in 25 states from Maine to California. These sites represent artists as diverse as Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole to Modernist icon Georgia O’Keeffe to sculptor Donald Judd and conceptual artist David Ireland to decorative arts creatives such as ceramicist Marguerite Wildenhain and furniture designer Sam Maloof. Many of these artists designed their own homes and landscapes, immersing today’s visitors in holistic, unforgettable expressions of creativity. Many are small, private non-profit entities, who benefit from HAHS’ collective knowledge and resources, although some are owned by larger art museums or city, state, and national government agencies.
HAHS also includes several important artists’ colonies that were the creative hubs for hundreds of artists, and coincide with major art movements in the country, such as American Impressionism, Modernism, and Studio Craft. HAHS members include properties devoted to artists of the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, who worked in a wide variety of media including painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, furniture design, and more.
In close alignment with the priorities of the National Trust, HAHS is continuing to make major strides toward a more inclusive roster of sites representing the stories of people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Indigenous, self-taught, and women artists. For example, sites associated with African American artists Noah Purifoy and James W. Washington, Jr; self-taught, deaf artist James Castle; and visionary artist Eddie Owens Martin are now part of HAHS.
HAHS is dedicated to bringing all these rich stories to a wider public audience, while also supporting its members. We connect member sites to one another, to visitors, and to experts throughout the world. HAHS has also become an international model and benchmark for similar organizations abroad.
Art is in all of us, not in equal amounts, but it’s there. From the cradle to the grave it’s there. We need to recognize that.
– Noah Purifoy
HAHS works together with its membership to promote artists’ homes to public audiences as a special genre of museums, where anyone can learn about power of place and artistic inspiration. As one member observed, HAHS is an “invaluable brain trust” that “stands out from other associations that don’t speak to the particularities of our situation.”
As a collective, HAHS believes that creativity lies in all of us, no matter who we are, what age we are, or what our life experiences have been – and that HAHS sites have the power to inspire and ignite that creativity through the power of place.
If you want to know more about our work and impact click here.
If you are interested in furthering the work of HAHS through a financial donation, please visit our Support Page.
1999 The Henry Luce Foundation awards the National Trust a $220,000 grant to establish the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios test group. To date, the Luce Foundation has generously donated more than $1M towards HAHS initiatives. 2000 National Trust and a HAHS National Advisory Committee chaired by Dr. Wanda Corn, now Professor Emerita of Art History, Stanford University, select 20 Sites to participate in a HAHS pilot initiative. 2000–2012 With added support from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, HAHS continues to expand its membership and its initiatives including launching several small grants programs, hosting numerous membership convenings and professional development workshops, and creating cross marketing materials. To date the Wyeth Foundation has generously awarded close to $700,000 in support for HAHS. 2012 HAHS organizes a photo exhibition on the artists and studios in the program. To date, the exhibition has traveled to over 20 HAHS sites. 2014 First HAHS website launched through a third grant from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. 2016 HAHS receives a $350,000 award from the Henry Luce Foundation 2018 HAHS receives a $25,000 award from the Terra Foundation for American Art to expand its upcoming membership convening into an international exchange with participation by UK preserved artist sites. 2019 HAHS hosts its first international exchange hosting UK colleagues at its Spring 2019 membership convening in the Massachusetts Berkshires, and later co-presenting a colleagues’ convening in partnership with the Mellon Centre for the Study of British Art, and the Henry Moore Foundation in Fall 2019, including presentations in London by eight HAHS members. 2020 HAHS launches its printed publication Guide to Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios to critical acclaim and commercial success. HAHS launches its first virtual public programming in collaboration with HAHS member sites, Virtual Road Trip with James Castle House (Boise, ID), and Home Improvement with the Florence Griswold Museum (Old Lyme, CT). 2021 HAHS accepts its first artist-built environment sites into HAHS: Pasaquan, and Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Desert Art Museum. 2022 HAHS launches a new category – Affiliate Membership – to create pathways for sites in earlier development or sites representing non-traditional models for preservation of artist homes and studios. HAHS is awarded an unprecedented $500,000 grant award from the Wyeth Foundation of American Art, to serve as a catalyst to further advance goals for programmatic outreach, continued expansion of the network, and long-term financial sustainability. HAHS and Where Women Made History design a pilot proposal for a new grant program, exclusively for HAHS sites, that centers women’s storytelling in STEAM K-5 education programs. With support from a private donor and the Driehaus Foundation, the program launches with seven awardees. 2023 HAHS and Where Women Made History receive an additional $250,000 from the original donor to expand the Dorothy C. Radgowski Women’s Achievement in the Arts program which enables two additional grant rounds for HAHS sites. 2024 The Dorothy C. Radgowski grants program announces four new awardees in March, in celebration of Women‘s History Month. Projects from this grants program are presented at the American Alliance of Museum and National Trust annual conferences.