John is a Columbia native who holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English and history and a Masters of Arts in English from Clemson University, a Masters in Public History from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in museum management from McKissick Museum. Continuing education has involved a summer program with the Museum of Southern Decorative Arts and a certificate from the Southeastern Museum Conference’s Jekyll Island Management Institute.

John’s museum experience includes stints at Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, the National Trust’s Drayton Hall Plantation, Old York Historical Society in York, Maine and Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Since 1996, he has served Historic Columbia in a variety of curatorial and administrative capacities. Currently he is its Director of Cultural Resources. Professional service has included work with the South Carolina Federation of Museums, for which he is a past president, the Southeastern Museum Conference and the Association for State and Local History. John was a member of the Leadership Columbia Class of 2014 and recently held an ex officio position on the board of the Columbia Design League.

This fall he is pleased to have been very busy offering book signings of Remembering Columbia, which was published in September and chronicles the capital city from its earliest years through the late 1970s.

Friday, Sherrer will talk to the Five Points Rotary Club about Columbia during Reconstruction.