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Susie King Taylor
A Black Woman’s Civil War Memoirs: Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops, Late 1st South Carolina Volunteers by Susie King Taylor, 1988.
Susie King Taylor was an American heroine who served her country as an educator and a nurse for the 33rd United States Colored Troops within the Union Army. She was born in 1848 into slavery in Georgia and freed at the age of fourteen. The state forbid the education of young African Americans, but she secretly attended two schools taught by Black women where she was taught how to read. These skills were later used to teach regiment members and freedmen in Beaufort how to read. She also aided the ill and wounded who were being treated in the Contraband hospitals of Beaufort. Years later, Taylor journeyed North and went on to become the only African American woman to write and publish a memoir about her experiences throughout the Civil War. The BDC has printed copies of her memoirs in two forms: Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, 1968 and A Black Woman's Civil War Memoirs, edited by Patricia W. Romero with a new introduction by Willie Lee Rose, 1988 (in display case).
Abbie Holmes Christensen
Cultivating a New South: Abbie Holmes Christensen and the Politics of Race and Gender, 1852-1938 by Monica Maria Tetzlaff, 2002.
Abbie Holmes Christensen was born in 1852 in Massachusetts to family who fought for abolition. The family soon moved to South Carolina and at only twelve years old, Abbie was given certification from the National Freedman’s Relief Association to teach freed people in Beaufort. Beginning with Sunday School, she continued to teach in Beaufort County, having class sizes as large as thirty children. She was a vocal abolitionist and women's suffragist; both of which motivated her to become a founding member of the South Carolina Equal Rights Association to fight for the freedom of Black and female South Carolinians. The BDC has a Christensen family photo album, Great2 Grandmother Abbie M. Holmes Christensen's Family Photo Album, 1938, and a Christensen Family vertical file. For a full list of resources, please visit Abbie Holmes Christensen, 1852- 1938: A List of Materials & Links.
League of Women Voters of Northern Beaufort
An important archival collection in the Beaufort District Collection is the League of Women Voters of Northern Beaufort County Records, 1973-2007. The League of Women Voters was founded in 1920 as a nonpartisan, grassroot activist organization with the purpose of embracing and shepherding women’s power in American democracy. The organization encouraged the education and involvement of all men and women in all levels of government. Voter registration, environmental issues, and women’s health were also important focus points of the organization. To learn more about the history of The League of Women Voters and see what their archival collection in the BDC consists of, please refer to the finding aid: League of Women Voters of Northern Beaufort County Records, 1973-2007 Finding Aid. We would be happy to set up an appointment for you to review the records in person: 843-255-6468; bdc@bcgov.net.
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Charlotte Forten Grimké
I, Charlotte Forten, Black and Free by Polly Longsworth, 1970.
The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké edited by Brenda Stevenson, 1988.
Charlotte Forten Grimké was born in 1837 to a free Black family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She became a member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society and was an extremely vocal abolitionist, activist, and poet. She attended the Salem Normal School to further her education to become a teacher. When requests were sent for northern missionaries to participate in the Port Royal experiment to help educate formerly enslaved people, Forten volunteered. She arrived in the fall of 1862 to join the staff at the Penn School and continued to teach in the area until 1864 when she returned North due to her declining health. In 1878 she married the nephew of Sarah Grimké and Angelina Grimké Weld. She passed away in 1915. The BDC has quite a few materials on Charlotte Forten Grimké as well as other members of her family. For a full list of materials, please visit Charlotte Forten Grimké, 1837 – 1914: A List of Selected Links & Materials.
Laura M. Towne
The Letters & Diary of Laura M. Towne: Reconstruction Era Edition by Laura M. Towne, 2019.
Laura Matilda Towne was born in 1825 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1862, Towne was asked to assist in the Port Royal Experiment by helping newly freed people adjust to their new circumstances. With a passion for teaching and homeopathy, she aided those in need through natural remedies and decided to open the Penn School with her friend and fellow teacher Ellen Murray. It became one of the first institutions created solely to educate newly freed people. She spent the rest of her life on the Sea Islands dedicating her time to aiding and teaching the African American Gullah community. There are many materials related to Laura Towne within the BDC; for a full list of materials, please visit Laura Matilda Towne, 1825 – 1901: A List of Selected Materials & Links.
Missionary Teachers to the Freedmen
The Port Royal Experiment was a Civil War initiative in which formerly enslaved individuals of the Sea Islands would be given any necessary aid in order to ease the transition to freedom. Susie King Taylor, Abbie Holmes Christensen, Charlotte Forten Grimké, Ellen Murray and Laura Towne were all missionary teachers to the Freedmen. There were many more women and men associated with the American Missionary Association, Educational Commission of Boston, the National Freedman’s Relief Association, and the Port Royal Relief Committee who established schools to educate the freedmen, dispensed medical services, and provided other relief as needed. For a list of online and in house resources, check out "Missionary Teachers to the Freedmen."
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A wonderful resource in our collection is our vertical file collection. Vertical files hold materials such as clippings, pamphlets, or articles pertaining to the subject of the file. These files act as a gateway; they can provide context that may point researchers to a new path of resources. If you are interested in learning more about the importance and use of these files, check out The Value of Historical (and Permanent) Vertical Files.
There are many files pertaining to the history of women in Beaufort District. Here is just a sampling:
- VF BEAUFORT FEMALE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY
- VF BEAUFORT WOMEN'S CENTER, 1985-
- VF CLOVER CLUB
- VF LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF BEAUFORT, SC AREA
- VF LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF HILTON HEAD ISLAND/BLUFFTON AREA
- VF SCHOOLS--MATHER SCHOOL
- VF WOMEN OF HILTON HEAD
- VF WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF HILTON HEAD ISLAND, 1961-
- VF 100 WOMEN WHO CARE
Harriet Tubman
The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women’s Rights by Dorothy Wickenden, 2021.
The Agitators tells the stirring stories of three women who put their lives on the line to fight for their rights in a time when their country was uninterested in listening to female perspectives : Harriet Tubman, Martha Coffin Wright, and Frances A. Seward. Harriet Tubman was born in Maryland in 1822. Though she is primarily known for her abolitionism and social activism in the North and rescuing enslaved people via the Underground Railroad from the South, Tubman spent a small amount of time in the Lowcountry assisting the Union army during the Civil War. In 1863, under multiple roles as a scout, spy, and nurse, she helped lead hundreds of enslaved African Americans along the Combahee River to a life of freedom. This courageous mission is known as the Combahee River Raid.
Harriet Keyserling
Against the Tide: One Woman’s Political Struggle by Harriet Keyserling, 2004.
Harriet Keyserling was born in 1922 in New York and graduated from Barnard College in 1943. She did not begin her political career as a Progressive Democrat until 1977 when she was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. She served in the house until 1993 and was succeeded by her son, Billy Keyserling. Harriet Keyserling was driven by her passion for people. She was a major critic of energy usage, nuclear waste storage, and she led many successful efforts that improved state funding for the arts. For more information and a full list of resources on Harriet Keyserling, please visit The Legacy of Harriet Keyserling: Arts and Politics.
Nancy Ann Ciehanski Papers
Nancy Ann Ciehanski was born in 1930 in Cleveland, Ohio. For the majority of the 1970's she was a Clerk to the Town Council of Middleburg Heights, Ohio until moving to Hilton Head in 1979. Beginning her political life on Hilton Head Island, she became the Administrative Assistant to Charles E. Fraser of Sea Pines Plantation. She served in more than ten different community groups, many with a focus on environmental protection and community development. Ciehanski was appointed to the Beaufort County Joint Planning Commission, Island Commission in 1979. In 1983, she was elected to serve on the Town of Hilton Head Island’s first municipal council, becoming Mayor pro tempore. In 1991, she was appointed to the Town of Hilton Head Planning Commission, and was re-appointment in 1994. However, she decided to leave the position in September 1995 to become a Director on the Public Service District #1 Board of Directors. To learn more about Nancy Ann Ciehanski and the materials in our archival collection, please refer to the finding aid: Nancy Ann Ciehanski Papers, 1969-2001, Bulk 1980-1984, Finding Aid. We would be happy to set up an appointment for you to review the records in person: 843-255-6468; bdc@bcgov.net.
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Kate Gleason
The Life and Letters of Kate Gleason by Janis F. Gleason, 2010.
Kate Anselm Gleason was born in 1865 in Rochester, New York. She was an American business woman and an engineer. Led by her ambition and inspired by her father's work in the industrial field, Gleason began her career as a child bookkeeper for Gleason Works, her father's company. She went on to become not only an engineer, but also a sales executive and a corporate secretary. She retired from the later two positions at the age of 49, but continued with her passion for engineering, development, and philanthropy. Gleason arrived to Beaufort in 1926, and though she only spent five years in the area, she made an everlasting imprint on the community. She skyrocketed the town's tourism by establishing the Gold Eagle Tavern and Lodge in downtown Beaufort and developing Colony Gardens, the County's first resort golf course with affordable apartments and estates.
Clara Barton
A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates, 1994.
Clara Barton was born in 1821 in North Oxford, Massachusetts. When the Civil War began, Barton left her position at the US Patent Office in order to support the Union and serve as a nurse. She travelled to the Sea Islands in April of 1863 to continue aiding Union Soldiers as well as providing aid to former slaves who were severely affected by smallpox. In 1881, Barton founded the American Red Cross. Following the hurricane of 1893, she returned to the Sea Islands with the American Red Cross to administer aid and rehabilitation assistance to the people of Beaufort. For a list of resources related to Clara Barton, please visit Clara Barton, 1821 – 1912: A Selective List of Links & Materials.
Rachel C. Mather
The Storm Swept Coast of South Carolina by Rachel C. Mather, 1894.
Rachel Crane Mather was born in 1823 in New Hampshire. In 1867, Mather travelled to Beaufort in order to help educate newly freed people. That same year she founded the Mather School. With the help of the American Missionary Association, she sought to aid and educate young formerly enslaved girls. The boarding school focused heavily on biblical instruction as well as home economics. In the mid-20th century it became a co-ed facility for young men training for the ministry. The northern campus of the Technical College of the Lowcountry is known as the “Mather School Campus" and contains the Mather School Interpretative Center and Museum. The BDC holds many materials related to Rachel Mather as well as the Mather School. For a full list of materials and resources, please visit Rachel C. Mather, 1823 – 1903: A List of Materials & Links.
Digital Collections
The Storm Swept Coast of South Carolina
The Storm Swept Coast of South Carolina describes damage and recovery efforts in Beaufort, South Carolina, and the surrounding coastal area after the hurricane of August 27, 1893. The author, Mrs. R. C. Mather, recounts personal accounts of others during the storm and the recovery efforts she and others undertook to provide clothing, blankets, tools, seeds, and other provisions to the needy.
Susan M.L. Wales Travel Journal, 1887 -1895
Susan Makepeace Larkin Wales was born in 1839 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. As a financially comfortable spinster, she travelled extensively through Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Susan M.L. Wales Journal, 1887 -1895 is a collection of illustrated letters sent to her sister, Annie Flagg Wales Stratton of Boston. It is a charmingly embellished record of three trips she took to hone her artistic skills and experience other cultures.
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I hope you have enjoyed learning more about a few of the wonderfully courageous women of Beaufort District's past and present— there are oh so many more! If you are interested in any of the materials I have shared today, or wish to explore our collection for yourself: walk-ins are sometimes accepted while appointments are always encouraged. 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!
