poor condition from inadequate storage conditions. National Trust (1948–present) In 1943, Sir Lyonel invited the National Trust's first Historic Buildings Secretary, James Lees-Milne, to visit the house. Lees-Milne saw the neglected state of the house and grounds but, even though devoid of its contents, the historical importance of the underlying estate was immediately apparent. He recorded his impressions in his diary for 1947, extracts from which were later reproduced in the volume Some Country Houses and their Owners: "The grounds are indescribably overgrown and unkempt. All the rooms are dirty and dusty. The garden and front doors look as they had not been used for decades." Despite the neglect, a report commissioned by Lees-Milne in 1946 concluded that it was "by far the finest, most valuable and most representative building of the period to which it belongs in the United Kingdom". Following lengthy negotiations, Sir Lyonel and his son donated the house and its grounds to the Trust in 1948. The stables and other outlying buildings were sold privately and much of the remaining estate was auctioned in 1949. The National Trust at first transferred ownership of Ham House to the state on a long lease to the Ministry of Works. The contents of the house were purchased by the government who entrusted them to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) after considerable urging by the director of the museum, Sir Leigh Ashton. His efforts were essential because the National Land Fund, which had been established in 1946 through the sale of surplus war materials, allowed for the purchase of property but not art or other interior furnishings. The legislation was amended in 1953, following the agreement that properties such as Ham House ought to retain their historic collections. By 1950, the house was open to the public and a series of research and restoration works since undertaken, restoring and reproducing much of the house's former grandeur. The arrival of Peter Thornton as the Keeper of the Furniture Department at the V&A led to a new approach in the management of the collection; efforts focused on arranging pieces within the house according to the documented history of the property, rather than treating individual items as simply part of the museum inventory. Research on historic interiors emerged as a discipline from the late 1960s, with an important source made available through the publication of the Ham House bills and inventories in