In 1858, an intrepid band of ladies, led by Ann Pamela Cunningham, bought George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. It was a defining event in America's historic-preservation movement. Unfortunately, 150 years later, saving historic properties by converting them into historic house museums still is the most common method of preservation.

Today, virtually any house that is more than 50 years old may be eligible for preservation. Often the oldest home in a township, or the home of a prominent citizen is preserved as a house museum.

The Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion in Germantown has been in the news recently. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is the only Gothic Victorian house museum in Philadelphia. Because operating a museum is challenging, its nonprofit leadership is currently considering closing - and possibly selling - the property.

The Maxwell mansion is far from unique. It is representative of a crisis that is growing nationwide.

Too often, concerned citizens establish historic house museums without having the resources or knowledge required to manage them effectively. Often they are unaware of the responsibilities of nonprofit boards of trustees, and know little about how to raise funds or establish endowments, which are critical to maintaining any historic property. In fact, 75 percent of the 305 historic house museums in the Philadelphia region lack even a small endowment.

As a result, most house museums cannot maintain even minimal preservation standards. What's more, they are unable to provide a compelling presentation for visitors - a critical factor in an era when audiences expect dazzling multimedia programs and lavish reenactments.

In my experience working with the Heritage Philadelphia Program, which provides funding for history museums and other historic sites, the majority of those operating house museums find it difficult to fulfill basic responsibilities such as maintaining visitor hours or answering telephone calls from potential visitors. One reason is a lack of staffing. In decades past, women volunteered as trustees and docents, and often provided any required management. Today, however, historic house museum responsibilities include developing school programs that meet curriculum standards, providing programs based on historic research, marketing, caring for collections, and other duties that require professional training.

Research by the Heritage Philadelphia Program recently determined that 40 percent of the Philadelphia area's house museums have no professional staff. That is not surprising, since half of them have annual budgets of less than $100,000.

It is not fair to blame the well-intentioned citizens who seek to preserve historic residences. Those citizens are concerned with the preservation of the building, rather than the establishment and operation of a museum. As a society, we need to establish a greater range of options so that local preservationists can make smart choices about the buildings they save.

Among the approaches being considered in our area are easements that ensure that exterior and, in some circumstances, interior spaces remain unchanged, while allowing houses to be used as restaurants, bed-and-breakfast establishments, or community centers. Other alternatives include caretaker arrangements in which occupants pay for preservation in lieu of rent, and are required to make the house available to the public on designated days each year. These uses would guarantee preservation and public access without the perpetual financial burdens of staffing, programming and collections care.

While some purists in the preservation community blanch at these approaches, there is ample proof that they effectively protect historic buildings, without creating unrealistic expectations of museum-quality experiences.

Throughout Europe, for example, historic residences are sometimes sold or rented to individuals with mandated days of public access. In Philadelphia, the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust recently offered 30-year agreements to nonprofit organizations willing to occupy and maintain the trust's buildings.

These programs demonstrate that creative approaches can succeed, and that no single model should be expected to fit all properties. By exploring their potential, our region and our nation can begin to offer the stewards of historic house museums valuable new options that will help protect our past - long into the future.