I'd just been reading that news item prior to reading your post.
I loved especially the expert who introduces mould and fungus into woodwork, even sourcing samples from abandoned buildings!
I wonder if he has dry rot in his collection.
Carrying this idea further, they could use old leaded paint, period mercury-releasing wallpaper, and have a collection of poisons in the medicine cabinet.
There is a three part BBC show hosted by Dan Cruikshank I watched on you tube on this house. It amazed me how far he was going to recreate how the home, people and society actually worked in the period. A dose of reality for even us seasoned old home folk.
It might be a well known in the UK but it is far from known in NA, even to old home people.
Ron