As an architectural historian, Lydia Brandt is trained to read the world around her, which at USC means understanding the context of the campus' buildings — why they were built in a certain style, why they were named for particular individuals and how the institution defines its identity through its physical space. Today's conversation with Dr. Brandt touches on those ideas and the university's recent efforts to tell a larger story of its past through figurative monuments. 

You can stay up to date on Gamecock sports through multiple news outlets and platforms, but to delve into the history of Gamecock sports, Alan Piercy is your guy. He writes a blog about Gamecock sports history and has written a book on USC sports during the independent era of 1971-91. He's also contemplating another book on the men's basketball program in the early Frank McGuire era and construction of the Carolina Coliseum in 1968. Join us for a conversation with Alan. 

The Reconstruction Era after America's Civil War brought about big changes as the former Confederate states were readmitted to the United States. Education professor and director of the Museum of Education Christian Anderson studies the history of higher education and is leading efforts to remember the changes that took place at USC 150 years ago during Reconsruction. 

In the decade after USC desegregated, the small but growing number of Black students wanted to establish a sense of belonging on a big campus that was growing bigger every year. In 1975, they established the Southern Christian Fellowship student group with a gospel choir called A Touch of Faith. 

When USC's historic Horseshoe underwent major renovations in the 1970s, a series of archaeological digs uncovered 19th century water wells and other artifacts from a bygone era. Now Kelly Goldberg, an Honors College instructor of archaeology, is leading a series of excavations with students on the Horseshoe to find more artifacts that help tell the story of USC's past. 

For nearly 40 years, Walter Edgar taught the history of South Carolina as a member of USC's history department faculty and continues to illuminate the history of the Palmetto State on his podcast, Walter Edgar's Journal. In this conversation, he remembers his early days as a graduate student and young faculty member at the university. 

Ph.D. graduate Jill Found wrote a dissertation on the history of enslaved people at South Carolina College, which helped tell the story of some of the university's overshadowed people from the past. 

More than 25 years ago, Harry Lesesne was a doctoral history student at USC, tasked with writing a new history about the university that would cover the years 1940 to 2000. He recounts how he took on the assignment to narrate the six decades that transformed Carolina into a modern research university.

Remembering the Days will launch its spring 2025 season with a new co-host — university historian Evan Faulkenbury. Join us Jan. 21 for a new season of the podcast featuring short conversations with those who uncover stories about USC history and those who have been a part of it. 

Almost from the beginning in the early 19th century, the Carolina campus has had its share of natural and manmade disasters, including earthquakes, windstorms, fires and floods. Those threats persist in the 21st century, but the modern campus has a facilities team that works around the clock to prevent or at least mitigate the effects of those threats.