Genealogy Services at the Library Primer

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, says:

Public libraries have a responsibility to serve the needs of patrons interested in genealogical research by providing basic genealogical reference materials and how-to-do-it books in the library and by providing access to additional genealogical research materials through interlibrary loan or referral. 

Library workers carry out many activities in preparation for researchers, among them are:

1. Building and preserving collections

2.Organizing and cataloging collections

3. Digitizing unique records

4. Creating finding aids

5. Providing short courses and other public programming6. Information assistance   a. In person

   b. By e-mail, Text-A-Librarian

(From: Crash Course in Genealogy by David R. Dowell, Libraries Unlimited, c2011, pp. 6-7.) 

Beaufort County Library goes one step further and supports genealogical reference services through the Beaufort District Collection, the system's special collections local history library and archives.  We concentrate on guiding genealogical researchers interested in ancestors who lived in our area of lowcountry South Carolina.  

It sometimes comes as a surprise to researchers that Beaufort County has not always been “Beaufort County.” Other political and administrative divisions have applied at different periods of time during the past: St. Helena Parish, St. Luke's Parish, Granville County, Hilton County, Shrewsbury County, etc. From 1769 to 1868, Beaufort District was a judicial district covering approximately 1920 square miles. In 1868, Beaufort District was re-named Beaufort County. In 1878, Beaufort County was split into Beaufort County and Hampton County. In 1912, both Beaufort County and Hampton County gave up territory to carve Jasper County within their midst. (Prefer visual learning?  Watch the "Beaufort County History Moments" video segment about how our county boundaries have shifted through time). 

To see the changes of political and administrative division throughout the United States, consult the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, a web-based project of the William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture at The Newberry Library in Chicago.

Here are the "Big Four" of record types most commonly consulted by family historians:

1. Census Records - usually created on the national and the state level
2. Vital Records - official death, marriage, and birth certificates, usually created on a local and the state level
3. Probate Records - exist mainly at the county level and often indicate family relationships between the deceased and named beneficiaries
4. Land (Property) Records - exist mainly at the county level

To do genealogical and historical research in current-day Beaufort, Hampton, and Jasper Counties, one must use consult a variety of other types of records to document past events and ancestors. 

1. We provide access to extent national and some state level ensus records on microfilm and through our subscription to the Ancestry Library Edition database.  (Please note: The Ancestry Library Edition database is only available on our computers inside our library facilities. You cannot access it from your home or office.)  As there are more than 8000 databases inside Ancestry Library Edition to research, you are not limited to researching ancestors from just this area. 

 

2. South Carolina, as is the case for most Southern states, did not issue death, marriage, and birth certificates until the 1910s.  However, some churches kept records concerning funerals and burials, baptism and christenings, and wedding ceremonies from which a researcher can infer dates of birth, marriage, and death.  Sometimes announcements of these events were placed in local newspapers. 

You can visit the South Carolina Obituary Resources website and our own Online Obituary Index to check for death notices. 

3. Many Beaufort County-related probate records were destroyed when the records of the Beaufort District Courthouse were destroyed in the waning days of the Civil War. However, some residents of Beaufort District may have filed wills or abstracts of their wills in other jurisdictions. 

 

4. Similarly, many Beaufort County-related land records were destroyed when the records of the Beaufort District Courthouse were destroyed in the waning days of the Civil War.

• As a practical rule-of-thumb, use 1866 as the starting date for most Beaufort District related property records.

5. An online source well worth your time is the Online Records Index database of records from the SC Department of Archives and History (SCDAH).  The Online Records Index database includes: Will Transcripts (1782-1855); Records of Confederate Veterans (1909-1973); Plats for State Land Grants (1784-1868); Legislative Papers (1782-1866); Criminal Court Records (1769-1891); School Insurance Photographs (1935-1952); and National Register Properties. While this index covers only a small fraction of the holdings of the SC State Archives, searching the online records index first can be of immense importance and economical in that we have microfilm of some of the records in our Research Room.  The checklist of the SCDAH Multiple Record Series indexed by the Online Records Index and the microfilm we hold is here.

 

6. To accommodate researchers, we provide access to 18 series of primary documents microfilmed by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1663-1900, inside the Beaufort District Collection Research Room.  

7. We are happy to consult with you regarding your historical and family history research projects.  To maximize the use of your and our time, we strongly recommend that you contact us before you visit our facility: 843-255-6468 or gracec@bcgov.net.

 

Beaufort is a "Burned County": almost all of our pre-Civil War records were destroyed in 1865.  This fact makes genealogy more challenging here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are a few birds you won't be eating Thursday or as leftovers on Friday!  They have been dead for a long time now as the images were taken by Mr. Donner well over a 100 years ago. 

View more images of rural life in Beaufort County in the early 20th century in the "Phosphate, Farms, and Family: The Donner Collection.

Schedule Adjustments This Week

• The Research Room will be closed at lunchtime, Nov. 27th from Noon to 1 pm and

 

How Material Gets Selected for the BDC

Collection development (also known as collection management) is the term used to describe the evaluative process used by librarians to choose the items to be included in a particular library or sub-section thereof. There are many factors and variables that a librarian must take into account in this process (e.g. budget/pricing, accessibility, audience, popularity/reliability, trends, etc.). And, every couple of years or so, librarians revisit collection development documents.  The latest version of the Library System's document is found at http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/content/beaufort-county-librarys-collection-development-policy.  This document applies to the regular circulating branches of the Library system where the stock is often under continuous change.

The situation in a special collections and archives unit like the Beaufort District Collection is a little different.  Every item in our collection has to be used in our Research Room under monitored conditions.  What gets chosen for our collection has to stay in our collection forever.  Therefore, we do not concentrate on the newest and brightest materials or the most popular or the highest demand titles within the general publishing sphere.  Our goal is to grow, maintain, and share a research collection of permanent and enduring value about a very narrow scope, that is, about the history, culture, and natural environment of the people, places, topics, events, and themes of this particular part of lowcountry South Carolina.

For a special collections librarian and archivist, the selection process can be quite time-consuming.  It can sometimes be rather difficult particularly when a proposed donation just doesn't "fit" our policy.  But on the whole, it is a fun professional exercise.

As a rule of thumb, a material proposed for inclusion in the Beaufort District Collection must be about the history, culture and/or natural environment of this unique area.  We don't get hung up on the form of the information.  Our focus is the content first, then the package that contains the content.  We take care of a variety of formats: books, magazines, DVDs, VHS tapes, cassettes, phonograph records, photographs, digital images, maps, art prints, and even a couple of samples of phosphate rock.  An appropriate material for inclusion in the Library system's local history special collection and archives could be just about anything that would help illuminate the history, culture, and environment of this particular area - although we try to stay away from acquiring realia as that is more the province of our colleagues in the museum field.

Because we are a special collection and an archives, our materials do not always come in discrete pre-packaged form (book, DVD, or magazine).  The crucial element in those cases is how much of the material actually informs on the history, culture, and natural environment of the former Beaufort District in relation to the other topics included in the material being considered.  Generally speaking, if the applicable part of the pre-packaged form is 20 pages or less, we simply photocopy the appropriate pages (with proper citation, of course) and add the photocopies to the proper historical vertical file. Doing so allows us to shepherd our very limited budget for purchasing items. 

If we are considering an audio-visual material, we figure in whether or not we have the appropriate hardware and/or software to view and migrate the material (We have that long-term 100 year watch, you know) and the amount of relevant information about Beaufort District within the package.

When considering whether or not to accession personal papers or other archival material, we weigh out the amount of original and unique information likely contained therein about the people, places, events, and themes of Beaufort District history, culture and the natural environment, the cost and time frame of preparing the materials for use, preserving the materials for use, arranging and describing the materials for use, and the amount of space the collection will need for proper storage.  With a staff of only two, and a few dedicated docents who do a lot of the routine preservation tasks, the labor and time factor necessary to get the materials under intellectual and physical control for use by customers is very important consideration in whether or not we ultimately add a particular collection to the archives.


In other words, in special collections and archives, the process of acquiring materials involves analysis, assessment, and evaluation, and can ultimately be more art than science.

Schedule Adjustments

When a unit has a staff of two and the Library system itself is understaffed on a daily basis, we cannot always find a substitute to cover the Research Room desk - although we always try.  Therefore it is sometimes necessary for the BDC Research Room to close at lunchtime to comply with federal law regarding hourly employees.  This circumstance arises twice soon:  Thurs., Nov. 21st and Wed., Nov. 27th.

• Please note that the BDC Research Room will be open 10 am until Noon, closed from Noon until 1 pm, and will re-open from 1 pm until 5 pm on both Thurs., Nov. 21st and Wed., Nov. 27th. 

BTW: I will be talking about "Child Labor in Beaufort District" at the Beaufort County Historical Society meeting Thurs., Nov. 21st at Noon - "if the creek don't rise."  This presentation is a revision of the one given as part of the Library system's "One County Reads One Country: Afghanistan" project in 2012. The Beaufort County Historical Society meets at the Yacht Club on Meridian Road.  The public is invited to attend.  It is free.

The Library system, as part of Beaufort County government, observes County holidays.  Thus, 

Regular hours resume at the Branch Libraries on Saturday, Nov. 30th.  Regular hours for the BDC Research Room resume Mon., Dec. 2, at 10 am. 

Anytime that the Research Room is closed - and you just can't get enough research material about the local history, culture, or natural environment of Beaufort County - you can always reach the components of the "Virtual BDC."  Go to the Library's homepage, select the "Local History" tab and explore!