Celebrating Historic Preservation Month - Old Homes and Architecture in the BDC by Cassandra Knoppel

May is National Historic Preservation Month, a time to highlight historically and architecturally significant buildings and to encourage citizens to appreciate the structures around them. Historic preservation is the stewardship of sites related to our history and culture: the spaces and places that are interconnected with the story of us as a people, where we have come from and where we want to be. These sites don't just include old buildings like houses, businesses, and churches, but also other types of historic places like cemeteries, parks, battlefields, and even whole neighborhoods.

As a graduate of the College of Charleston's Historic Preservation undergraduate program, I took the opportunity to write on this subject with delight. While my interest lies in the preservation of more material items like documents and objects, I have a deep appreciation for old buildings and the stories they tell. I have always enjoyed walking the streets of any place I've visited, admiring the facades of local buildings and trying to concoct a story of the house or neighborhood from the architectural features (This is a habit that has surprisingly never bored my fiancé, so I know he's a keeper!).

Within the BDC, we have quite a few materials that can be used to tell the story of some significant places in Beaufort's history. Not only do we have old newspapers, city directories, and access to Sanborn Maps that we highlight in our "Getting Started on Property Research" blog post, we also have more unique collections that help to document Beaufort County's built history.

John Staelin and Elizabeth Locke Collection, circa 1976, circa 2021 and the Penelope Holme Parker Research Collection, circa 2018-2021.

One of my favorite parts of my undergrad historic preservation courses was writing architectural histories for a variety of Charleston (and one Beaufort) structures. Writing these histories requires a significant amount of research, including digging through old newspapers for hours, visiting the deeds office again and again, clicking through pages of Ancestry results late into the night, and loitering in the local archives to request box after box of correspondence and business records (You can tell I have personal experience). It's tedious yet exciting work; you never know what story you will uncover about an old building!

    

In the mid-2010s, John Staelin and Elizabeth Locke hired Penelope Holme Parker to research and write a report on the history of their new (old) home, "The Castle." Parker operated Holme Histories, a business which specialized in house histories and genealogies, and had written prior reports on the Elizabeth Barnwell Gough House and the William Wigg Barnwell House. Parker worked on "The Castle" report from approximately 2018 to 2021, but the report was left unfinished due to the sale of “The Castle” by Staelin and Locke.   

In 2024, Parker donated some of the research materials she accumulated during the writing of her report to the BDC, along with a draft copy of the report itself. The materials have been split into three collections, of which two have been processed and made available to researchers so far. The John Staelin and Elizabeth Locke Collection, circa 1976, circa 2021 contains the unfinished "The Castle" report, as well as ten color photographs and three color slides. The photographs, taken by Larry Rodgers, depict the interior and exterior of "The Castle." The source of the slides is unknown, but two were dated 1976. They also depict the exterior of "The Castle" as well as one of former owner, Ruby Danner, with her brother, Christy Cummings. 

The documents Parker compiled from various sources during the research process for the unfinished report on "The Castle" make up the Penelope Holme Parker Research Collection, circa 2018-2021. These materials mostly include photocopies of primary source documents like census records found on Ancestry.com, information from prior historical reports, clippings, and family tree information on the Johnson Family. Parker also conducted oral history interviews which she transcribed for inclusion in her research files.

According to Parker's report, "The Castle" was built for Dr. Joseph Johnson in 1859 by J.S. Cooper. It remained in the family until the 1980s. 

"The Castle" is most known in Beaufort for another famous "occupant," a ghost of a French dwarf jester named Gauche. Legend has it that Gauche came to Beaufort with Jean Ribaut but died before he could make the return trip home. Since then, he has haunted the halls of "The Castle," or at least ~something~ has, according to many locals and those who have spent time in "The Castle." While writing her report, Parker conducted oral histories of Beaufortonians who spent time in the dwelling over the years and kept transcripts of them in the research binders she donated to the BDC. In many of these oral histories, interviewees regaled her with stories of alleged ghostly encounters. Some recall being brushed by a specter, doors locking and unlocking themselves, or small, child-like handprints appearing on mirrors. While the truth of these stories and the existence of a ghost in "The Castle" cannot be concretely proven, the tales add to the colorful history of the charming old home.

Charles N. Bayless Photograph Collection, 1977 – 1979

Photographs are critical resources when looking into the history of a property. They are a time-capsule, showing what color a house was painted 40 years ago, or what a business on a now-empty street corner looked like before it was torn down. Photographer Charles N. Bayless felt similarly about the use of photographs to partially preserve local architecture.

    

The Charles. N. Bayless Photograph Collection is a collection of 466 black-and-white photographs of historic houses and structures in Beaufort. According to our finding aid written by prior BDC Staffer Amanda Forbes, "Bayless photographed exteriors and interiors of historic buildings in Georgetown, Charleston, and Beaufort Counties as part of Historic American Buildings Survey funded in part by two National Endowment for the Arts grants." His photos of Beaufort were taken between 1977 and 1979 and are mostly of houses within the Beaufort Historic District. However, there are 14 images of Auldbrass in Yemassee.

For those of you who don't know, Auldbrass was designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Charles Leigh Stevens, a wealthy business consultant, who purchased the Yemassee land known as "Old Brass" in 1938. It was Wright's only plantation design, and one of only two of his designs built in South Carolina. Construction of Auldbrass began in 1940, but not all of Wright's original plans were built on the property initially. The main residence and the caretaker's house were built, along with farm buildings like stables and kennels. However, the bath house, pool, gate, and some of the smaller cottages were not constructed by Stevens. In 1986, movie producer Joel Silver purchased Aulbrass and set about completing Wright's plans for the plantation. Bayless' photographs of Auldbrass show what the buildings and property looked like a decade before this final phase of construction.

If you are curious about Charles Bayless and his work, Bayless' Charleston images are available online through the Historic American Buildings Survey on the Library of Congress website and the Lowcountry Digital Library. You can also take a look at other HABS photographs of Beaufort County, taken by other photographers, on the LOC website.

Civil War Era Prints

Like photographs, historic prints can also show what once was. The BDC has a large collection of
Beaufort County-related prints, mostly from Civil War-era periodicals. The prints show how Beaufort was growing during the War and under Union occupation, with military buildings popping up all over the Sea Islands. 

 

Many have heard of General William T. Sherman's destruction, but what about Brig. General Thomas West Sherman's construction? 

After their success in the naval bombardment of Fort Walker during the Battle of Port Royal Sound on November 7th, 1861, Union troops landed on Hilton Head Island before securing Beaufort and its surrounding Sea Islands. Soon after, Brig. Gen. Sherman ordered his men to build better fortifications along the Hilton Head beach in case the Confederates attempted to regain the territory. 

There are quite a few prints in the BDC which show the construction on Hilton Head Island during this time. Print #46 and #6, both entitled "Expedition to Port Royal.--government buildings erected on Hilton Head, S. C., by the Federal Forces under General Sherman, 1861-2.," depict two different views of building on Hilton Head Island after Brig. Gen. Sherman's troops arrived. Based on the hand-colored engravings and their captions, we know that the fortifications along with a wharf, dwellings, and storehouses were being built by Federal troops while Confederate-built buildings were being adapted into hospitals, housing, post offices, and more. Homes for newly freed enslaved people were also built by the government on the Island, as seen in Print #51A, "Government buildings for "contrabands," erected at Hilton Head, S. C., in 1862." 

BDC Print #65 is entitled "The Great Naval Expedition --View of the town of Beaufort, S. C., from the deck of the U. S. Gunboat Seneca, November 14th" and was published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on December 7, 1861. The hand-colored engravings depict the scene of the Federal occupation of Hilton Head just a week after the successful naval bombardment. In its aftermath, the Union Army took up residency in Fort Walker and other nearby structures, some which that had been damaged by gun and cannon fire as scene in two of the print's vignettes. The uppermost and bottommost vignettes detail the view of the shorelines of Beaufort and Hilton Head, respectively. Houses and docks can be seen in the top image of Beaufort, while a field of tents along the beach surrounding Fort Walker can be seen on Hilton Head. The view is nearly unrecognizable today!

Paul Hamilton to Catharine A. Hamilton Conveyance, 1869

Deed research can be a bear. If you've ever done any, you can commiserate. By the end of your day in the Deeds Office, you'll undoubtedly find yourself shivering in front of a microfilm machine, squinting at the screen while trying to make out the not-so-neat 19th century cursive writing on a series of deeds that might have the one you need to end your chain-of-title search that's been going-on all afternoon. And then, to your nerdy delight yet slight dismay, you'll find that So-and-So was NOT the original owner and thus will need to do some more digging (You can tell this is personal, again)! 

While the BDC does not have a collection of Deeds that would allow us to become familiar with this process, we have just a few in our collection that could be of interest to researchers, including the Paul Hamilton to Catherine A. Hamilton Conveyance, 1869.

    

This 1869 Deed of Conveyance of Property from Col. Paul Hamilton to his wife, Catherine Amarinthia Hamilton is for a lot on Block 3, “Sams Point” in the Town of Beaufort. Many of us know Sam's Point to be on Lady's Island, so I initially believed this to be a plot of land over there. However, closer reading of the land's description sounded very similar to lots in town. To determine where exactly the parcel was located, I first found a reference in Lena Lengnick's Beaufort Memoirs that the Old Point neighborhood Downtown was colloquially referred to as Sam's Point due to the amount of land and houses owned by the Sam's family in that area. I also examined Civil War-era maps and compared them to current maps and found that the description in the deed matches 100 Laurens Street, also known as "The Oaks." 

Some of you may be familiar with the history of "The Oaks." In about 1855, Col. Paul Hamilton and his wife, Catherine Amarinthia Campbell, built "The Oaks" for use as a summer home which later became Union Hospital #1 during the Civil War. The deed itself seems to be tied to a longstanding Beaufort legend which dictates that the house was put up for auction in about 1866. Col. Hamilton is said to have sought to secure the necessary funds to buy back his home before the sale began, but sympathetic neighbors and new residents came to the family’s aid and purchased "The Oaks" in Col. Hamilton’s name. Afterwards, the Hamiltons lived in Beaufort with some of their children, including their daughter, Mary, who became known locally as a Reconstruction Era teacher who used rooms in the house as classrooms. Other properties have these "good Samaritan" stories tied to the recovery of their houses after the War – Fripp's Tidalholm being a good example with an anonymous Frenchman purchasing the home at auction to give back to the family. But do we have any additional information that can corroborate this story of the tax sale and repurchase of "The Oaks?" 

This 1869 conveyance does describe the earlier sales of the property, which we believe to be "The Oaks," at public auctions in 1863 and 1866, but without seemingly confirming the legendary Good-Samaritan purchase. If you want to try gleaning more information from the deed, you can come read it in the BDC. But, to me, the mystery ~still remains~.

To reiterate: We do not have a deed collection in the BDC. This item was gifted to the Library in 1957 and is one of our only historic deeds. For that type of research, you'll need to actually visit the County's Register of Deeds.​

Plan for "Repairs and Restoration of the Janie Hamilton School: Daufuskie Island, South Carolina: 1993: for Beaufort County School District"

Building and renovation plans also help to tell a story about a building. The BDC has a few plans in our collection, mostly of more recent renovations to historic structures in the area. Take for instance the plan for repairs to Daufuskie Island's Janie Hamilton School, designed in 1993 by architect William Blount Shepard III. 

This one-room school was built by the WPA in 1937 on a raised, brick-pier foundation, with a metal gable roof, 9-over-9 paned windows, cypress clapboard siding, and an off-center pedimented entry. As Billie Burn wrote in An Island Named Daufuskie, the land for the school was sold to the County Board of Education for $1.00 by Mrs. Jane Hamilton for the purpose of building a school for the children of the Cooper River area of Daufuskie Island. After the school closed in the 1950s, Mrs. Hamilton is said to have lived in the building until her death in about 1962. The building was also used for church and community meetings, as well as being the site of a short-lived Beaufort County Library afterschool program in 1971 where children were shown movies and given free books and snacks twice a week. 

By 1993, however, the building had fallen into disuse, with years of neglect leading to degradation made worse by notable water damage. According to the description for the Plan in the SCLends catalog, the Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation raised money to restore the school for use as a museum by the Foundation. Per the written plans, the school building's metal roof was to be replaced, the original windows to be repaired, cypress siding to be stained, among much other work to be done. The general idea was to keep as much of the original, historic fabric intact and to replace what needed to be replaced "in-kind" or with similar, compatible materials. The restoration appears to have been successful, as the building is now used by DIHF as their Gullah Learning Center, which Grace and I had the absolute pleasure of touring last summer on an archival consultation visit.

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I hope that you have learned something new about a few of the places that make Beaufort County so unique and wonderful, and the materials within the BDC that help tell their stories. I encourage everyone to get outside this month and take a walk around a historic district or site nearby to bask in our cultural heritage!

References:

Burn, B. (1991). An island named Daufuskie. Published in association with Billie Burn Books by the Reprint Co.

De Long, D. G., & Wright, F. L. (Eds.). (2003). Auldbrass: Frank Lloyd Wright’s southern plantation. Rizzoli.

Historic Beaufort Foundation. (1999). A guide to historic Beaufort: A guide to the historic houses, churches and other points of interests of Beaufort, South Carolina (Revised ninth edition.). Historic Beaufort Foundation.

Lengnick, L. W. (1942). Beaufort memoirs (Revised). Published by author.

Rowland, L. S., Moore, A., & Rogers, G. C. (1996). The history of Beaufort County, South Carolina. University of South Carolina Press.

Staelin, J., Locke, E., & Parker, P. H. (2021?). [Unpublished report on “The Castle”]. In the John Staelin and Elizabeth Locke Collection, Beaufort District Collection, Beaufort County Library, SC.

Starr, R. (1981). Daufuskie Island Historic District. National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/beaufort/S10817707029/S10817707029.pdf 

Wise, S. R., Rowland, L. S., & Spieler, G. (2015). Rebellion, reconstruction, and redemption, 1861-1893. The University of South Carolina Press.

Some of My Favorites for National Postcard Week by Sydney Whiteside

Postcard Collection 1900-, Beaufort District Collection.

Happy National Postcard Week! Although the Beaufort District Collection is typically known to collect items such as books, maps, and posters; we also collect postcards. Postcards are one of my favorite forms of media that we collect, which is why I am thrilled to be sharing all of the ins and outs of postcards in the BDC!  

In this blog post, I will be diving into the "process of processing" postcards in the Beaufort District Collection, the history of postcards, the history of Postcard Week, and I will even be sharing a little bit about individual processed postcard collections in the BDC with examples from each. So, let's get started!

The “Process of Processing” Postcards 

Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection.

Such is with all collection development, there are important procedures to follow. As Cassandra likes to say, the “process of processing” postcards begins with determining the materials relevant to our collection.  If deemed relevant by our manager, the postcards themselves will then be inventoried and inspected. If any of the materials are soiled or damaged, a decision will have to be made as to whether they can be repaired and/or  preserved. In case of duplicate postcards, staff will compare the options and keep the "best one."  The postcards will then be placed into polypropylene sleeves and stored appropriately in one of few places: an archival folder, a binder, or an archival box. 

The Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection was organized by the donor into categories such as streets, buildings, churches, homes, etc. After organizing, a finding aid will be created in order to describe the collection and its arrangement which will then be posted to the BDC’s WordPress Blog. Since archival processing is Cassandra’s main priority, finding aids are kind of her jam. She has provided an amazing overview of the some of the most recent finding aids in one of her recent blog posts: "The Process of Processing:" Preservation Week 2025 Display by Cassandra Knoppel.  

The History of Postcards 

Now, let's dive into the history of postcards! Prior to the invention of postcards, people relied on writing and sending letters to those they could not converse with in person. Throughout the nineteenth century, cards containing items such as valentines and comics were sent in the mail. The desire to send printed images steadily increased, but post offices ran into copyright issues when it came to mailing privately printed images.  

On February 27, 1861, the United States Congress passed an act that would allow cards that have been privately printed – postcards – to be mailed. Later that year, John P. Charlton was granted copyright permissions for the first published postcard. From the stamp's original cost of $0.01 to mail a postcard, its price has increased to a whopping $0.56 as of 2024. 

When it comes to determining when a postcard was created, there are some identifying factors that can help estimate when they were produced. Postcards with distinctly divided backs were most prevalent from 1907 to 1915, postcards with a white boarder around its image were popular from 1915 to 1930, and postcards made from linen were produced from 1930 to 1945. Below you will see the commonly agreed upon timeline of postcard periods:

Pre-Postcard Period: 1848 – 1870 

Pioneer Period: 1870 – 1898 

Private Mailing Card Period: 1898 – 1901 

Post Card Period: 1901 – 1907 

Divided Back Period: 1907 – 1915 

White Boarder Period: 1915 – 1930 

Linen Period: 1930 – 1945 

Photochrom Period: 1945 – Present 

[BTW: I have packaged 1 hour or 2 hours very illustrated lecture about the BDC's postcards collections that I present as an outreach activity to community groups from time to time. I'm already booking for the period August 2025 - June 2026. If you think that topic would be of interest to your organization, reach out: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468 to see if we can find a mutually agreeable date and time.-- Grace Cordial]  

The History of Postcard Week 

Prior to dedicating an entire week to commemorating postcards, Postcard Day was celebrated with more of an intent to promote civic pride and tourism. In the United States, postcards printed in the year of 1911 were found to have "Postcard Day, May 1" on display. Further North in Canada the following year, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and their Board of Trade proclaimed June first to be "Post Card Day". Postcards used to promote the holiday as well as new towns often included fun slogans like this one from Barlow, Florida:

"The First of May is Postcard Day, by the Courier-Informant"

Deltiology is the study and collection of postcards. National Postcard Week as we know it now began in May of 1984 with the purpose of promoting deltiology and increasing the use of postcards across the country. This week of celebration began in the United States, but has since reached postcard enthusiasts in other countries all around the world.

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Postcards in the Beaufort District Collection

The Beaufort District Collection is currently home to five processed postcard collections. A number of the scrapbook collections contain a postcard or two or more. One of the postcard collections has been digitized and made available through the Lowcountry Digital Library. Each of these collections are available to view inside of the Research Room. If you are interested in viewing any of our collections, please see the end of this post for instructions on how to make an appointment. Without further ado, let's see some of our postcards!

Beverly Bowers Jennings Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1900-2018

The Beverly Bowers Jennings Postcard Collection is a small collection that contains postcards related to the seafood industry, shrimping, and coastal culture here in the South Carolina Lowcountry as well as differing parts of Florida. Jennings is a Master Naturalist who is well known in the Beaufort community for her environmental efforts and love for the sea.

Titled "General Florida Scene," this first postcard appears to be from the photochrom period due to its coloring and quality. An explanation of the scene is printed on the back: "The shrimp fleet makes a picturesque scene, anchored in a Florida port, awaiting its turn to unload its cargo". This particular postcard is filed under the "Boats" section of this collection, as Mrs. Jennings acquired multiple boat scene postcards.

The second postcard from the Beverly Bowers Jennings Postcard Collection depicts "Old City Hall, Erected in 1843, Georgetown, S.C.". I selected this specific postcard to commemorate our recent Lafayette celebrations. What does Lafayette have to do with the Old Georgetown City Hall, you may ask? The back of the postcard can answer that question: "This unique building was erected in 1843. On front of the building has been placed a bronze plaque commemorating the first landing of Lafayette in 1777 on North Island". Not every postcard in our holding contains writing on the back; however, this postcard does in fact have a message written on it. It was mailed from Georgetown, South Carolina to Portland, Maine at 3 PM on April 5th, 1953.  [I worked in the Rice Museum in this building as a teenager. One fine summer Saturday morning in 1975, I met my future husband in this building because he was looking for a toilet. In fact, the first words out of his mouth were "Do you have a toilet ma'am?" My answer - "Yes, and it'll be $2.00 for the tour." He paid the fee, used the restroom facilities, and we were a team for the next 46 years. -- Grace Cordial ] 

Lucille Hasell Culp Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1940-1981

The Beaufort District Collection contains a plethora of Lucille Hasell Culp's papers. In addition to our enormous photograph collection of hers, we also house her personal postcard collection. Because she was a professional photographer, her business, Palmetto Studios, published a postcard series of local places. The local postcards are sorted into the following headings: Air Station, Arsenal Beaufort, Beaufort, Bluffton, Hilton Head, Naval Hospital Beaufort, Parris Island, Sheldon Church, and St. Helena Episcopal. She collected postcards from twenty different states as well as Washington, D.C.

Since I am from Maryland, I felt compelled to include a postcard from the Maryland section of the Culp collection. This piece in particular depicts the Baltimore City Hall, including the Municipal Office Building and War Memorial Plaza. The card is marked "City Hall and Municipal Office Building and Memorial Plaza, Baltimore, Md". These buildings were constructed throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the memorial being dedicated in 1925. Knowing these dates and that the postcard is of linen material, we can estimated that it was created sometime in the 1930's.

Another personal choice from this collection is a postcard of the former Beaufort Township Library, the predecessor of the Beaufort County Library. The BDC even has some materials from this building here in our Research Room today.  This postcard was printed in 1949 and is covered in writing on both the front and the back. Clear as day on the front you can see written "What's a roach?". The context of the question? We will never know...

Beaufort County Postcard Collection 1900-

Date Range: 1900-2000-ish

This is a special collection that was assembled by library staff over many years. The collection is referred to as artificial due to the fact that postcards from various sources are compiled into one collection. These postcards were either donated by library staff and anonymous donors or purchased specifically for the collection. Postcards in this collection relate to Beaufort County and fall into categories such as Historic Homes, Churches, Waterfront, Schools, Forts, Coastal Sea Island Scenes, and so much more.

This postcard depicts the old ferry landing located more or less where the public bathrooms in the Waterfront Park nearest to the Woods Memorial Bridge are now. It was published by Charles G. Luther of Luther's Pharmacy and has the year 1907 written on the front. An interesting tidbit about this postcard is that on the back it states that a one cent stamp must be placed for mailing in the United States, Canada and Mexico. If the card was destined for any any other country, a two cent stamp was required.

This next postcard is titled "Aerial View of Beaufort, S.C." and that is exactly what it is! The image contains an interesting drawing of Downtown Beaufort. The postcard itself is made of a linen material, which leads us to believe it was produced sometime between 1930 and 1945; however, it was not mailed until February 8th, 1958 - and the fee had gone up to two cents. Postcards were often kept in print for years.

Robert E. H. Peeples Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1910-1989

The Robert E. H. Peeples Postcard Collection is- in my opinion- the most unique collection. Dr. Peeples was known throughout Beaufort County for his love of history and research. His collection contains postcards from 33 different states as well as D.C., Africa, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, England, France, Germany, and India. They are separated by state and placed in alphabetical order, with the small amount of postcards from various countries found toward the back of the collection. This collection was given to the Beaufort District Collection by the Heritage Library Foundation of Hilton Head Island.

One of the most interesting postcards I have found came all the way from India! Titled "Queen's Statue. Bombay.", this postcard depicts a statue of Queen Victoria that is located in Mumbai, India (formally known as Bombay). The statue was gifted to the city in 1872 following the Sepoy Rebellion and in recognition of India's transition to British Crown rule in 1858. At the time of the photo, the statue was located in the Victoria Gardens of Bombay. The portion of the Queen and her throne is approximately eight feet tall; with the addition of the canopy, the statue reaches upwards of forty-two feet. Unfortunately, the statue was damaged while being transported from the gardens to the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai (formerly known as the Victoria and Albert Museum of Bombay). It is difficult to say when this particular postcard was created as there are no notable factors present.

On the opposite side of the world, we have a postcard from Alberta, Canada! You can see a man standing in front of (presumably) his log cabin during a hefty Canadian snowfall. The divided back means that we can estimate that this postcard was published sometime between 1907 and 1915. I love this piece because the only words scribbled on the back of the postcard are "enough said". 

Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1900-1985

The Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection is available in physical form and as our only digitized postcard collection in the Lowcountry Digital Library. This collections contains over 350 postcards of houses, businesses, public buildings, street views, military base activities and structures in and around Beaufort, South Carolina.

"Water Front in Beaufort" is a black and white photographic postcard of the structures along the riverside of Bay Street in Beaufort, South Carolina. Correspondence postmarked March 12, 1907. In this postcard, you can see the bones of Downtown Beaufort that we all know and love. It is just fascinating to see how it has transformed over the last hundred years.

Last but certainly not least, I wanted to end this post with one of my favorite postcards in the entirety of our collections. "Watercolor Scenes of Beaufort, South Carolina" features illustrations of historic buildings and sites based on watercolor paintings created by E. F. Dawes. I still remember the first time I sifted through our postcard holdings and came across this postcard. I absolutely love stained glass - and have also really come to enjoy postcards - so I was immediately drawn to this postcard. Some notable Beaufort gems that are depicted include: the Old Sheldon Church Ruins, St. Helena's Episcopal Church, Hunting Island Lighthouse, and Berean Presbyterian Church (Which was turned into the J.I. Washington Colored Library, and is now used by USCB as an art studio). Looking at this postcard makes you feel as though you are glancing through an actual stained glass window. The amount of thoughtfulness and talent in this one postcard never ceases to amaze me.

[You might be wondering why the BDC has postcards from non-Beaufort District related places. Sometimes in order to get the "good stuff" - i.e., those Beaufort District related materials - we have to take on responsibility for "other stuff" that comes in along with the "good stuff." Sometimes we try to identify other institutions that might better appreciate the "other stuff" and relay part of the donation to them; sometimes we keep the "other stuff" on hand because of the personal notes relating to a local family or if the materials relate to a local person's business activities. So while we do possess and take care of some "other stuff" in the case of postcards, our intent is to focus on postcards about, of, and directly related to people, places, buildings, events, businesses, etc. of Beaufort District. All this is to say, for the BDC, content is king. We primarily collect postcards related to the BDC's mission. -- Grace Cordial]

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I hope you have enjoyed learning about the history of postcards and our holdings of them here in the BDC. If you are interested in any of the materials I have shared today or wish to explore our collection for yourself: appointments are encouraged, while walk-ins are sometimes accepted. To make an appointment, send an email to bdc@bcgov.net or give us a call at 843-255-6468. We hope to hear from you soon!

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Works Cited 

Banerjee, J. (2016). “Seated Statue of Queen Victoria, Mumbai” by Matthew Noble. The Victorian Web. https://victorianweb.org/sculpture/noble/25.html  

Hahn, R. (2021). National Post Card Week. Postcard History. https://postcardhistory.net/2021/05/national-post-card-week/  

Modern Postcard (2024). Celebrate National Postcard Week with Modern Postcard. Modern Postcard. https://www.modernpostcard.com/blog/national-postcard-week  

Smithsonian (2025). Greetings from the Smithsonian: A Postcard History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/postcard/postcard-history  

Swint, D. (2023).  National Postcard Week (NPCW) History. National Postcard Week. https://sites.google.com/view/national-postcard-week/history