"Although these things, heirlooms, portraits, furniture, silver, etc., are in themselves both beautiful and interesting, they seem to me to have a great deal more significance when seen as an integral part of the house. When we see them in their original settings, and against a background in which they were originally used, they mean more; there they seem to tell their whole story, not only of how they were used, but also of the kind of people who created and used them."
-Henry F. du Pont (1880-1969), horticulturist and American decorative arts and furnishings collector, in The Fifty Best Historic American Houses
Couldn't have said it better myself.
