Event
Book Talk: Amy Farrell's Intrepid Girls
The Complicated History and Undeniable Impact of Girl Scouts USA with author and professor Amy Farrell and Melanie Huggins, President and CEO of Girls Scouts South Carolina Mountains to Midlands.
Event Date
Wed., Sept. 23, 2026 | 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
FREE | This Book Talk event is included with Museum admission and membership, but pre-registration is highly encouraged!
Join us for a conversation with award winning author Amy Erdman Farrell and Melanie Huggins, CEO/President of Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands. They’ll discuss Dr. Farrell’s book, Intrepid Girls: The Complicated History of the Girl Scouts of the USA, an exploration of Farrell’s own formative experiences as a Girl Scout and the complicated and surprising history of the Girls Scouts USA.
Light refreshments will be provided. Books will be available for purchase.
Event Admission
Included with museum general admission or membership, but pre-registration is highly encouraged.
About Amy Erdman Farrell
Amy Erdman Farrell is the James Hope Caldwell Memorial Chair and Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She is the author of Intrepid Girls: The Complicated History of the Girl Scouts of the USA (Ferris and Ferris Press, 2025); Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture (New York University Press, 2011) and Yours in Sisterhood: Ms. Magazine and the Promise of Popular Feminism (University of North Carolina Press, 1998). She has shared her research on national popular media, including Bitch, the New Yorker, Psychology Today, NPR, CNN, and The Colbert Report. From 2019-2020 she served as an American Council of Learned Societies Fellow and in 2021-22 as a Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
About Melanie Huggins
Melanie Huggnins serves as CEO of Girl Scouts of South Carolina—Mountains to Midlands. A South Carolina native with 30 years of public library experience, including as Executive Director of Richland Library, she is a recognized transformational leader committed to equity, social justice, and building inclusive, resilient communities.
Her career began in children’s and youth services, inspiring her passion for empowering girls and young women. She has held national leadership roles in the library profession and has been active in numerous civic and community organizations. Melanie is a Liberty Fellow and Aspen Global Leadership Network member and currently serves on the South Carolina Community Loan Fund Board and Midlands Regional Competitiveness Council.
She has received numerous honors, including the 2018 Stephen G. Morrison Visionary Award and recognition among Columbia Business Monthly’s 50 Most Influential People. Melanie holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina and a BFA in Studio Arts from Winthrop University.
She joined Girl Scouts as CEO in January 2025 and is committed to creating opportunities that inspire the next generation of confident, world-changing women in South Carolina.
