National Women's History Month

March is National Women's History Month.

Each year National Women's History Month employs a unifying theme and recognizes national honorees whose work and lives testify to that theme. The theme for 2012 is "Women's Education - Women's Empowerment." 

Among this year's National Women's History Project honorees is Charlotte Forten Grimke, who taught here in Beaufort County during the early days of the "Port Royal Experiment."  To honor her contribution to education, we have prepared an online list of our library's resources about her, her life, and her family.   


Image courtesy of the National Women's History Project.

Spring Tours

Spring has sprung and so have the houses, gardens, and plantation tours.   

The Historic Charleston Foundation opens its “Annual Festival of Houses and Gardens,” March 22^nd.  For more details, see http://www.historiccharleston.org/news_events/festival.html.

Our neighbor adjacent based on the other side of the Combahee River, the Colleton County Historical and Preservation Society, is conducting its 2^nd annual tour of Historic Lowcountry Churches on Saturday, March 24^th.  Caravan tour begins and ends at the Bedon-Lucas House, 205 Church St., Walterboro.  For more information or to purchase tickets, e-mail info@cchaps.com, 843-549-9644, or visit the organization’s Facebook page.  Deadline to register is Friday, March 23^rd at High Noon.

You can join the Prince George Episcopal Church’s 65^th Annual Plantation Tours in Georgetown County, March 23 and March 24th. Details. 

Heads up: The Parish Church of St. Helena is conducting its 56^th Annual Spring Tour May 4^th and May 5^th.  Contact the Church for more information about the tour and to purchase tickets.

The Yemassee Revitalization Corporation is sponsoring "On the Wright Track - An Evening at Auldbrass" on May 12th.  Details.

Please Credit Our Collections

The Beaufort County Library appreciates the enthusiasm of our customers for our contributions to community life, particularly the enthusiasm for our latest digital collection.  Out of 101 collections hosted via the Lowcountry Digital Collection, our 300 selections from the Lucille Hasell Collection were the 2nd most viewed during the month of January 2012.  [We lost out to the digital Judaic holdings at the College of Charleston.] In fact, since the uploading of the Lucille Hasell Culp Collection selections in mid-December 2011, it has received more than 15,000 hits.  We are very pleased that so many people are enjoying the selections.  

We are aware that how information is created, used, and shared in the 21^st century is different than it was in the past.  For example, sometimes customers wish to share digital content from our on-line offerings either via social networks or even their own blogs. However we must emphasize that all our BCL content hosted online via the Lowcountry Digital Library is copyrighted and all rights are reserved to the Beaufort County Library.   

Accordingly, our content hosted via the Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL), that is, the 300 selections from the Lucille Hasell Culp Collection and the 548 images of the “Phosphate, Farms and Family: The Donner Collection”, is restricted from downloading.  While it is possible for a customer to perform a low-resolution screen capture of an image, we expect that the customer doing so respects our institution’s rights and will credit the image back to the digital collection by providing a link.  

Here is the credit line we prefer be used for the Lucille Hasell Culp Collection online: “Image courtesy of Beaufort County Library, The Lucille Hasell Culp Collection via the Lowcountry Digital Library.” (where the collection name links back to the image within the collection on the LCDL website.) 

Here is the credit line we prefer be used for the “Phosphate, Farms and Family: The Donner Collection” online: “Image courtesy of Beaufort County Library, Phosphate, Farms and Family: The Donner Collection via the Lowcountry Digital Library.” (where the collection name links back to the image within the collection on the LCDL website.) 

When an image used is credited in this fashion, it increases public awareness of the Beaufort County Library, the Lowcountry Digital Library, and the contribution that archival and historical collections make to community life.  

The “Phosphate, Farms, and Family: The Donner Collection” was donated to the Beaufort County Library in 2001 by Professor Christopher Donner of Miami [ nephew of Conrad and Leonard Donner] and Dr. Christopher and Ann Donner of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  All rights reserved to Beaufort County Library.  

The  massive Lucille Hasell Culp Collection was generously donated to the Beaufort County Library in April 2007 by her estate.  All rights reserved to Beaufort County Library.  

Preservation and processing work according to established and accepted archival practices has been on-going since our acceptance of the Lucille Hasell Culp Collection.  As of this point in time, the images online are the only part of her image collection open for viewing.  Because of the size and condition of her donation, it may be some time before other parts of her collection are made available for research. 

Looking Towards April 2nd

April 2, 2012 will be a very big date in a family historian's calendar. By federal law, there is a 72-year restriction on access to a Federal Census. So April 2, 2012 is the day upon which the Federal government will release the 1940 Census.

Given that genealogy is purported to be one of the largest hobbies, millions of genealogists will be counting down the days. (You can see a counter - days, hours, minutes, and seconds - at findmypast.com.)

What can you find in the 1940 Census? According to the National Archives, the 1940 Census asked for answers to these socio-economic questions on April 1, 1940. Bear in mind that the country was in throes of the Great Depression and although World War II had started in Europe and Asia, the United States was not a combatant yet. Unemployment and underemployment were still problems. Thus, there are lots of questions regarding work and income.

The National Archives is tasked with releasing the 1940 Census on time, not indexing its contents. If you've ever had to read the census page by page, you know that an accurate index is a wonderful aid to research. An index is particularly helpful for those researchers who might not know for certain where specific ancestors were residing on April 1st that year.

So, what's being done about the indexing? The indexing cannot start until the census is formally released at 9 am on April 2nd. According to the Ancestry Insider, a blog that critiques the big electronic genealogy databases companies, Archives.com, FamilySearch.org, and findmypast.com are joining together and leading an indexing effort utilizing volunteers who are ready to get to work as soon as the 1940 Census data is opened. Ancestry.com is doing its own project and states that the Ancestry.com index to the 1940 US Census will be up and ready to search by mid-April.

Let's hope so. There are a lot of us whose parents and grandparents should be listed. And, a potential for a semi-truck load of new data and clues to explore in our quest to learn more about our ancestors and in that process discover more about ourselves.

Once the index is released, the BDC will offer at least one program on how to use the Federal Census to uncover one's roots before the end of June.

Hefter at Heritage Library Mar. 6th

Hilton Head Island: The Hunting and Timbering Years,        1866 - 1950

Natalie Hefter, Vice-president of Programs
Coastal Discovery Museum

Tuesday, March 6, 2012; 1:30 - 3:00 pm

The years between 1866 and 1950 were the "isolation years" on Hilton Head Island.  The program will explore the history of the hunting club era on Hilton Head Island, and describe some of the northerners who used this island as their own hunting retreats.

All Heritage Library history lectures and related programs are open to the public and take place at the  Heritage Library, 852 William Hilton Parkway, Suite 2A.  Fee.  Space is limited.  Please call 686-6560 to register.