Winner: 2024 SC Governor’s Award in the Humanities
South Carolina Humanities is pleased to announce the 2024 recipients of the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities. The 2024 recipients are: Dr. Julia Eichelberger, Marybelle Higgins Howe Professor of Southern Literature at College of Charleston; Dr. George W. McDaniel, historian, Executive Director Emeritus of Drayton Hall, and President of McDaniel Consulting LLC; Thomas McNally, former Dean of Libraries at the University of South Carolina; and Victoria Smalls, scholar of Gullah Geechee culture and black history in South Carolina and Principal Consultant of Smalls Cultural Resources.
Historian George W. McDaniel, Ph.D., is the Executive Director Emeritus of Drayton Hall, a historic site in Charleston, SC, and president of McDaniel Consulting, LLC, a strategy firm that helps organizations use history to build bridges within itself and to its broader constituents. He is a graduate of The Lovett School in Atlanta and of Sewanee (BA). After teaching at Lovett, he joined the Peace Corps and served in Togo, West Africa, but was drafted into the First Infantry Division in Vietnam, where he saw war up close. Upon return from combat, he earned a M.A.T. from Brown University and a Ph.D. in American History from Duke University. He is married to Mary Sue Nunn McDaniel and the father of two sons, George and James, and grandfather of Allen.
The first of its kind in the nation, his critically acclaimed book Drayton Hall Stories: A Place and Its People has garnered prestigious awards. His writings have been featured in numerous magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals.
He has consulted with both local and national museums and organizations, and is a popular speaker at local and national gatherings.
Established in 1991, the Governor’s Awards recognize outstanding achievement in humanities research, teaching, and scholarship; institutional and individual participation in helping communities in South Carolina better understand our cultural heritage or ideas and issues related to the humanities; excellence in defining South Carolina’s cultural life to the nation or world; and exemplary support for public humanities programs.
George McDaniel can be reached at gmcdaniel4444@gmail.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR – George W. McDaniel, Ph.D., is President of McDaniel Consulting, LLC, a strategy firm that helps organizations use history to build bridges within itself and to its broader constituents.
“Building Bridges through History”
The company’s tagline is grounded in McDaniel’s personal beliefs and his professional experience. Services address site management, preservation, education, board development, fundraising, community outreach, and more.
Rather than using history to divide us, McDaniel helps organizations use history, especially local history, to enhance cross-cultural understanding and to support local museums, preservation, and education.
Turning Beliefs into Actions
Dr. McDaniel led volunteer efforts with Emanuel AME Church and historical organizations in Charleston to use historic preservation to enhance racial reconciliation and healing.
McDaniel is the Executive Director Emeritus of Drayton Hall, a historic site in Charleston, SC, owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He retired from Drayton Hall in 2015 after 25 years of distinguished service.
A frequent writer, speaker, and facilitator, reach him at gmcdaniel4444@gmail.com or through his website www.mcdanielconsulting.net.
Images courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted.
McDaniel Consulting LLC is a strategy firm that helps organizations use history to build bridges within itself and its broader constituents. 