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 reenvision 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.
Jennifer Whitmer Taylor is assistant professor of public history at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
