What shocked me the most was when we listened to the interview with the daughter of one of the more recent families who inhabited the building and she had mostly fond memories of her upbringing there. Her mother’s extensive cleaning habits demonstrated a need to exercise control over the little space that she had to call her own, an interesting look at the psychological impact of of living in small, crowded areas.

I also found the museum’s research methods innovative. I never would have thought to count the layers of paint in order to discover the number of families who inhabited each apartment.