It’s the best kept secret on campus. That is the way museum employees feel about the historic Farm House Museum located on central campus. Student employee Sara Bickal, junior in history, says many students don’t know what the Farm House Museum is, or what you can gain from visiting the house. “Students, and even faculty, can gain information about Iowa State’s history,” Bickal says. “Many people don’t realize [the Farm House Museum] was the start of the University.” Mary Atherly, museums collections manager and Farm House Museum curator, says that the Farm House was the first structure built on what is now the ISU campus. Also, the house is where Iowa State’s first two presidents and later deans of agriculture lived. The Farm House was built from 1860 to 1864 and served as a home for families and people tied to Iowa State. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and then restored in the 1970s, becoming a museum in July of 1976. Over 17 families and 115 people lived in the Farm House prior to 1910. Looking at the families who once lived in the house is the current goal of the museum in its exhibit, “Families at the Farmhouse,” running through Nov. 15. “We’re trying to zero in on some of the early people who lived here,” says Eleanor Ostendorf, curatorial program assistant. One of the more important families to have lived in the house, Atherly says, was the family of Charles F. Curtiss, dean of agriculture for 30 years. The Curtiss family lived in the Farm House for 50 years, longer than any other family. The exhibit involves tours of the 14 room, three-story house. The tours focus on explaining the significance of certain rooms, pieces of furniture and objects have to ISU’s history says Aterly. The Victorian furnishings in the Farm House reflect the time period 1860 to 1910, the main period the house was used as a residence, and there are also photos of the people who lived there located throughout the house. “Most of the things have been donated to the University, but some belonged to those who lived in the house,” Bickal says of the furniture and objects. “We are trying to make the house look more like it did when the families lived there,” Atherly says. Right now, they are working on restoring one of the rooms to the way it was when Dean Curtiss resided there. Another room the museum is starting will show how students lived in the house, Atherly says. For one academic year, the Farm House was used as a Home Management House, and students spent six weeks learning how to take care of a home. “They had to take care of a baby, go to class, and take care of the house,” Atherly says. “It taught them an entirely different lesson, because they had to do all of it themselves.” Ostendorf says of the furnishings and rooms in the museum, “all of the objects are used as teaching tools, more than a museum where you go and just look.” “Many students feel intimidated about coming into the museum, but it is free and open to the students. We love to have the students come in,” Ostendorf adds. Atherly agrees with Ostendorf and encourages students to come sit on the porch while the weather is still nice. “The best use of the house is for students to come to visit,” Atherly says. The Farm House Museum is open Monday through Friday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.