I'm a history professor who has also docented at a museum & served on a board that preserves a historic church. In all sincerity, I recommend that this cottage & its contents be reported as soon as possible to institutions who have the capacity to look after it. The National Trust and the Victoria & Albert Museum spring to mind. The contents are a perfect time capsule, rather like the Sir John Soane Museum, but the addition of the vast amount of preserved personal papers, diaries, and photos make it far more. This could well be a new national treasure. A portrait of its time. It must be saved, intact, if it is to stay meaningful, and I'd say it has the potential to become a major cultural attraction.