This thesis examines the material culture of a public historic space, assessing how the meanings embedded in objects may develop more nuanced narratives in the house museum. The material culture in this thesis is part of the collection of The Elms | Te Papa Tauranga, a house museum in Tauranga, New Zealand. The museum offers a history of Māori settlement, bi-cultural relations between Māori and Pākehā, the Land Wars and the changing socio-cultural landscape of Tauranga from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. The Elms | Te Papa Tauranga is largely comprised of original objects of the successive residents. My research focused on three art forms: an Aeolian harp, a crazy quilt, and a carved picture frame. Art is a medium through which people express who they are; by studying the material culture of The Elms | Te Papa Tauranga, we recognise the larger events, social patterns, and cultural trends that impacted individual lives. Through these items, we may compare the cultural ideals with the more complex realities of residents’ lives, noting the tensions, reconfigurations, and nuances as cultural practices were transported, adopted and adapted within the imperial context. There has been a growing desire, and debate, around teaching a public history that focuses on New Zealand, acknowledging the difficult moments of New Zealand’s past. This study demonstrates that within the house museum stories may be shared in which the specific histories of a local setting are also interwoven with the broader context of nation and imperialism. Studies in New Zealand have explored the relationship between material culture and the stories we tell in historical sites. The Elms | Te Papa Tauranga, as a house museum, has two elements that have contributed to this approach. Firstly, the collection is interpreted without a glass barrier: this study expands this interpretation by reflecting on the sensory characteristics of objects as a part of the museum interpretation. Secondly, The Elms | Te Papa Tauranga is a museum comprised of buildings and a garden environment entwined with the same contextual history. This work explores the connecting threads between the interior domestic space and the exterior garden site, examining the socio-cultural landscape in connection with the changing environmental landscape. As the museum is a space which has often portrayed nation and settler belonging, this history develops a more complicated narrative around settler belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand.