Dale Taylor is an American historical interpreter and writer specializing in the colonial period in North America. He has worked in or with living history museums for more than seventeen years and was ranked among the top historical interpreters by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He lives in Florida and has continuing access to research facilities at Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and other major colonial historical institutions.
His book The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America: From 1607-1783 (Writer's Digest Books, 1997) is part of the Writer's Guides to Everyday Life series and remains a standard reference for historical fiction set in the colonial period. The book covers food, clothing, family life, government, war, religion, agriculture, occupations, transportation, and the customs and slang of the era, all organized around the practical questions a novelist or screenwriter is likely to ask while drafting.
Taylor's writing carries the perspective of someone who has spent his career inhabiting the period rather than just reading about it. The book draws on direct experience with reenactment, museum interpretation, and primary research at colonial-era sites, which gives it a different texture than a strict academic history. It is recommended in historical fiction workshops and used in writing programs that focus on early American settings.
