Rebirth : Creating the Museum of the Reconstruction Era and the Future of the House Museum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taylor, Jennifer Whitmer.

Series:

Reconstruction Reconsidered Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Museum of the Reconstruction Era.

Museums--South Carolina--Columbia.

Museums.

Historic house museums--Interpretive programs.

Historic house museums.

Interpretation of cultural and natural resources.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (349 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of South Carolina Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Reimagining both the House Museum and Reconstruction memory for the twenty-first century. In Rebirth, public historian Jennifer Whitmer Taylor provides a compelling account of how to re-envision the historic house museum. Using the Museum of the Reconstruction Era-known as the Woodrow Wilson Family Home for most of its many years as a house museum-as a case study, Taylor explores the challenges and possibilities that face public history practitioners and museum professionals who provide complex interpretations of contested public memory. Anchored by oral history interviews with docents who interact directly with the visiting public, Rebirth considers how a dated and seemingly outmoded venue for interpretation, the historic house museum, can be reimagined for twenty-first-century audiences. Taylor offers best practices for interpreting issues such as white supremacy and domestic political terrorism for public audiences, and she challenges readers to contemplate how historic sites interact with and contribute to vital contemporary political conversations. Rebirth is a necessary book for public history practitioners, students of museum studies and historic site interpretation, and those interested in the history and memory of the Reconstruction era"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Rebirth

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I. Bait and Switch?

CHAPTER 1 Building Shrines: Women Gatekeepers and Making the President Southern

CHAPTER 2 The Rebirth: Making the Museum of the Reconstruction Era

CHAPTER 3 Docent Training: Unlearning the Lost Cause and Reconstruction Memory

PART II. Interpreting Silences, Violence, and Memories

CHAPTER 4 Aren't I a Citizen? Interpreting the Lives of Black Women and Domestic Workers in Historic House Museums

CHAPTER 5 Interpreting Domestic Terror: Reconstruction's Violent End in the Twenty-First Century

CHAPTER 6 Interpreting the Craft: Doing Reconstruction History

CHAPTER 7 (Re)Writing History with Lightning: Interpreting Memory and White Supremacy

Conclusion. The Public's Response to the MoRE

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781643365817

1643365819

OCLC:

1482610087

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access