Rebirth Author Talk with Jennifer Whitmer Taylor (Columbia, SC)

Nov 15, 2025 @ 1pm | Location: Robert Mills Carriage House, 1616 Blanding St., Columbia, SC 29201

Nov 15, 2025 @ 1pm
Location: Robert Mills Carriage House, 1616 Blanding St., Columbia, SC 29201
Hosted by: Historic Columbia

Join Historic Columbia for a talk and book signing by Jennifer Whitmer Taylor. In her new book, Rebirth: Creating the Museum of the Reconstruction Era and the Future of the House Museum, Taylor traces the history of Woodrow Wilson's childhood home in Columbia, using it as a case study to offer best practices for interpreting issues of contested public memory, such as white supremacy and domestic political terrorism, for twenty-first-century audiences.

Following the talk, Taylor will lead an optional behind-the-scenes exclusive tour of the Museum of the Reconstruction Era, where she will highlight the most powerful engagement tools in the house based on the docent interviews she conducted and what she would change about her original tour a decade after the home's reopening and writing her book.

Jennifer Whitmer Taylor is associate professor of public history at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She specializes in museums, oral history, and digital history. As a PhD student at the University of South Carolina, Dr. Taylor served as a weekend docent for Historic Columbia from 2011-2014, and as Lead Facilitator of the Woodrow Wilson Family Home. She developed the semi-guided tour, trained and evaluated docents, and processed visitor evaluations for the reopening.

Books are available for pre-order with registration and will be on sale at the event.

Schedule:
1pm to 1:45pm - Book Talk
2:15 and 3pm - Tour of the Museum of the Reconstruction Era/Woodrow Wilson's childhood home

Reserve your ticket via the Historic Columbia event page.