Date of Award
Spring 2021
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Department
History
First Advisor
Thomas Brown
Abstract
From 1986 to 2000, the South Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy actively negotiated influence for its organization at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Museum (SCCRRM) as an important museum stakeholder. While 1986 marked a low point for UDC authority over the museum, from 1986 to 2000, the South Carolina UDC sought to salvage and protect is influence at the SCCRRM and ultimately reclaim its authority over the museum. The South Carolina Daughters did this through a variety of means and methods, including employing Dotsy Boineau, a UDC member and SCCRRM employee, as an instrument of UDC influence, following the lead of pro-flag legislators Glenn McConnell and John Courson during the South Carolina Confederate flag debate (up to 2000), crafting museum enabling legislation, and working to have one of their own appointed to the SCCRRM director position. While its efforts to reassert UDC authority over the SCCRRM failed, the South Carolina UDC’s ongoing association with the SCCRRM from 1986 to 2000 provides important insight into the relationship between museums and their stakeholders. Ultimately, this thesis examines the relationship between a museum, the SCCRRM, and a museum stakeholder, the South Carolina UDC, from the perspective of the stakeholder, demonstrating how institutional stakeholders can use their influence at a museum to their benefit.
Rights
© 2021, Caitlin Cutrona
Recommended Citation
Cutrona, C.(2021). “We are Going to be Reckoned With”: The South Carolina UDC and the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Museum, 1986-2000. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/6242