Upcoming May Programs!

 

A Scratch With The Rebels

Carolyn P. Schriber will be conducting a discussion of Charlestonians’ reactions to the Civil War Battle of Secessionville.  Dr. Schriber has written a book about the battle that focuses on first hand accounts of the battle from a Pennsylvanian Union soldier  and Gus Smythe of the South Carolina Washington Light Infantry.  The program takes place on Tuesday, May 20th, at 2:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium.

The program is open to the public.  Please at the South Carolina Room at 843-805-6956 for more information.

 

Plantation Index

Patrons researching plantation history will be interested to know that one of our staff members has created a plantation index. The staff database lists the plantation names, locations, and what sources in the South Carolina Room contain information about each one.  The sources in the index include books, vertical files, articles, and websites for individual plantations such as Drayton Hall, and lesser known private plantations. 

Patrons can ask the staff person at the desk to search the database for them to save time locating information about the plantation they are researching.  Although the database is not all-inclusive, it is an ongoing project that gains more entries each month, and it is helpful for any project dealing with a South Carolina Plantation.

 

Upcoming Program on the Proprietary Records of South Carolina

The Charleston County Public Library and the Huguenot Society of South Carolina will host an evening with Harriott Cheves Leland and Susan Videau Baldwin Bates, award-winning editors of Proprietary Records of South Carolina, Volume 3: Abstracts of the Records of the Surveyor General of the Province, Charles Towne, 1678-1698, recently published by History Press, Inc.  Leland and Bates will discuss and sign copies of their new book, which is the story of the first fleet to arrive, the settlement of Charles Towne at Albemarle Point, the settlement of James Island, and the settlers’ move across the Ashley River to the present site of Charleston.  Books and maps will be available for sale.  The event is free to the public and will take place in the Main Library Auditorium on Monday, March 17th at 6:30 p.m.  Please call 805-6956 for more information.

 

Additions to the Vertical File Collection

The South Carolina Room is in the process of integrating several boxes of donated articles into our vertical files.  Of special interest for Black History Month are hundreds of articles from the 1960s and 70s that cover the integration of Charleston schools.  Some of the school folders we have added to include: district changes, enrollment, accreditation of new schools, violence, crime, and school programs.  Burke High, North Charleston, and Stall High are just a few of the individual school folders that have acquired new information. The articles are invaluable for anyone studying Charleston County Schools or desegregation.  Postings will continue as the staff adds to our vertical file collection.

 

Our vertical file collection

The South Carolina Room has the largest vertical file collection in the state, and the staff has been clipping articles out of local papers like the Charleston Evening Post and News and Courier since the 1930s.  Our collection, which is broken into Charleston, South Carolina, or Biography subheadings, is organized by subject.  All that is required to use the material (which can be photocopied for personal use) is a library card or i.d.  There are nearly eighty drawers of material, which include brochures, articles, and exerts from books in addition to the newspaper clippings.  The files include articles on individual cities, associations, buildings in downtown Charleston, schools, local development and planning, history (broken down by era), and prominent South Carolinians, among others.  The materials are ideal for researchers, students of all ages, or anyone wishing to learn about any of the thousands of subjects in our indexes.

 

Upcoming Programs

Book Signing and Discussion with Nic Butler

On Wednesday, January 23rd at 7 p.m., Dr. Butler will give a talk on his recently published book, Votaries of Apollo- The St. Cecelia Society and the Patronage of Concert Music in Charleston, South Carolina, 1766- 1820. The event is open to the public and is located here at Charleston County Public Library. 

New Archaeology at South Adger’s Wharf

Dr. Butler will be holding a lecture on Wednesday, January 30th at 7 p.m., where he will discuss the current archaeology of Charleston’s City Wall.  The site is located on South Adger’s Wharf along East Bay Street.  This program will also take place at the library and is open to all.  Please visit www.walledcitytaskforce.org to see daily progress from the dig site and to learn more.

For more information on either program, please call 805-6956.

 

Proprietary Era Wills Available on U.K. Database

The National Archives of the U.K. has an on-line database that features historic wills from the 1600s to present day.  For about $7.15, researchers can purchase a will document.  The database is especially useful for obtaining proprietary era wills, including persons who owned property in both Carolina and England, or investors who never actually came to the colony.  Researchers can also obtain eighteenth century wills for Carolinians who returned to England during or after the Revolutionary War.  The site can be searched by date, name, or location.

 

New Microfilm Collections!

The South Carolina Room has added two microfilm sets to its collections this month.        *  Records of the Field Offices For the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872.  This set consists of over one hundred reels of information.  The Bureau records include lists of former slaves, where they lived before and after the war, a list of plantations across the state, and property confiscations.  They also include bounty claims and pension records for black soldiers, regulation of written labor contracts between freedmen and planters, and medical department records.  The S.C. Room has reels for the whole state of South Carolina, organized by field office location.       * Marriage Records of the Office of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1861-1869.  One of the goals of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to legalize the previously unrecognized marriages of former slaves and organize those records.  This set includes marriage records from all of the slave states.          These two collections are invaluable for African American genealogists and plantation researchers.  Each microfilm set has a usage guide and description available for patrons.

 

Charleston City Directories

 City Directories can be useful for patrons doing genealogical, statistical, or property research, and the South Carolina Room has a collection dating from 1782 to 1999.  Please note that some years are missing, and certain years include more information than others, but each Directory has an alphabetical list of city residents. Beginning in 1890 the Directories also include indexing by street address, and volumes from 1905 to 1961 also include a list of the race of residents.  Some of the Directories  are on microfilm or microfiche, and the 20th century volumes are hard bound.  Please feel free to use the finding aid to see what years we have available.  The S.C. Room also has an index for patrons to use while viewing the Directories that lists what information is listed in each volume (example: 1790- names, societies, tax list, city government.)

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School Yearbook Collection

The South Carolina Room has an assortment of school yearbooks available to our patrons.   The collection includes colleges, elementary, and both public and private local high schools.    The yearbooks for the Citadel, Clemson, and College of Charleston are among the collection’s oldest, dating back to the 1920s.  Because these yearbooks have been donated by our generous patrons and were not provided yearly by local schools, the collection is a random assortment and may not include each year for any given school.  We have provided a finding aid that shows what schools and years are available for viewing.  To make a donation of any unwanted yearbooks, please contact the South Carolina Room at 843-805-6956!

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