User:Sassy Countess



Taylor Speer-Sims, Countess of Stonegarden also known as the "Sassy Countess". She is within her third year of the next and last career as a House Historian of the Elite. She is currently a graduate level-collections intern at the home of President Andrew Jackson's The Hermitage (Nashville, Tennessee). She also holds another Master's level internship position at Rock Castle (Hendersonville, Tennessee), a late 18th century mansion. The countess worked as an Assistant Curator/Weekend Manager at William A. Tanner House and "David L. Pierce Center" Museums for the Aurora Historical Society for about 2.5 years prior in Aurora, Illinois. In future, she hopes to be focusing on American and British 18th century mansions as much as possible. The Sassy Countess holds a bachelor's in history from American Military University and started her Master's program in History January 2013 at University of Nebraska-Kearny.

Taylor's undergraduate degree was earned at American Public University. This bachelor's degree was in History with a focus on Early European Studies. Almost every paper was written on housing or housing issues. The majority of those papers can be seen on her blog. During her study process, she chose to do her first paper using real primary sources at The Tanner House Museum where she was under the direct tutelage of the curator, Jennifer Putzier. This was important because it was during this research where Taylor found the first live-in domestic of the original owners, William and Anna Tanner in 1857. Here, too, is where Taylor learned the importance of "reading" instead of "scanning" documents used for research. Taylor was one of the researchers and co-authors of the upcoming book "Grandmothers of Aurora" which will be featuring the founding women of the city.

Right now, Taylor is in her first years study at University of Nebraska at Kearney where she is studying for her Masters in History. She is going full time and is taking Historiagraphy, 17th Century Europe and Public History.