People take enter the Rogarshevsky’s apartment and often assume the family was well off.

In fact, they were working class. Father Abraham toiled in a garment factory before succumbing to tuberculosis.

So, why did we decide to use such nice decorations? For that matter, how did we know about Abraham’s illness?

Here’s how the Museum used artifacts, photographs, documents, and oral histories to recreate a 1918 apartment.