Library Closed Wed., July 4th

All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed Wed., July 4th to celebrate Independence Day.  This includes the BDC Research Room.  Regular hours resume, Thurs., July 5th.

1940 Census Workshops in August

Response to our "Introduction to the 1940 Census" workshop on June 22nd was so good, we're taking the workshop to two more of our BCL Branches during August.


Q: Would you like to know how to find and use the 1940 Federal Census?

Q:  Want to learn about EDs?

Q: Want to learn about Steve Morse's fabulous "one-step" toolbox?  

Q: Would you like to learn a bit about how to use the Ancestry Library Edition database to view census images?

Q: Would you like to know how to find Family Search and its (partial) index to the 1940 Federal Census?

If your answer to any of these questions is "yes," then this is the free workshop for you! Please register to join us for one of these August sessions of the BDC's "Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop." Pre-registration is required as seating is very limited.  Anyone over age 12 with basic computer skills and an interest in exploring the 1940 Census is quite welcomed to attend.  

Wed., August 15th 
St. Helena Branch Library
1025 Sea Island Parkway [Back entrance to the St. Helena Elementary School Media Center]
4:00 - 6:00 pm 
To register: E-mail mbenac@bcgov.net; visit the STH Branch Library desk; or call 255-6486 during regular hours of operation.

Wed., August 29th
Bluffton Branch Library
120 Palmetto Way
2:30 - 3:30 pm
To register:   E-mail fdenton@bcgov.net; visit the BLU Branch Reference desk; or call 255-6503 during regular hours of operation. 

BJWSA Forces Yet Another Part-day Closure

Unfortunately,  we have just received news of another impending shutdown. 

The BDC Research Room will have to be closed part of the day another day this week. (As you may recall, we had to open late this morning because of scheduled water line work.)   Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority has again re-scheduled their work, this time to Thurs., June 28th from 7 am until 11 am. Thus, our customary opening time is put forward one hour on Thursday. 

The BDC Research Room will open promptly at 11 am on Thursday, June 28th and will remain open to our customary closing time of 5 pm - barring any additional corrections to our schedule.  

Perhaps, just perhaps, the fourth time will be the charm.  

Fort Mitchel Tours Now Available

Image from http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/South_Carolina/Hilton_Head_Island-865896/Off_the_Beaten_Path-Hilton_Head_Island-TG-C-1.html

The Coastal Discovery Museum and the Heritage Library have teamed together to offer guided tours of Fort Mitchel behind the gates at Port Royal Plantation on Friday mornings at 10 AM.  (The initial tour was held June 8th).

Fort Mitchel was constructed in 1862, as part of the outer defenses for Port Royal, South Carolina, headquarters of the Federal Department of the South and the Union Army X Corps. The guided tour covers the origin, construction, and operation of the works and describes something of the life of the garrison during the Union occupation of Hilton Head Island and surrounding islands of the Low Country throughout the Civil War. 

Reservations are requested. Please visit or contact the Coastal Discovery Museum at 843-689-6767 www.coastaldiscovery.org to register.  Fee.

  

This Just In: Schedule Change for Tues., June 26th

Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority has just notified Library Administration that they will be working on the water lines along Scott Street tomorrow.  Accordingly, the Library Building at 311 Scott Street - which contains the Beaufort District Collection Research Room -- will not be accessible to staff nor the public from 8 am until Noon, Tues., June 26th.

The BDC Research Room will be open Noon until 5pm only.

BDC.BCL is now on Facebook

www.facebook.com/BDC.BCL

Libraries are all about using social media tools to understand what our communities want from us and to share what it is that libraries provide for our communities.  We want to start a conversation about the local history services offered through the Beaufort District Collection.   So, in addition to my other duties, I've taken on creating and maintaining a BDC.BCL Facebook page.

Some of the Facebook posts will be quite similar to content posted in Connections; some of the posts will be unique to the media upon which it is hosted in cyberspace.  Sometimes the content may overlap between the media. 

All I will promise that every day I am in the office I will post a Facebook entry of some sort relating to our library offerings of local history, culture, genealogy, archaeology, and the environment; activities around the County relevant to our scope; or on matters of advocacy for cultural heritage institutions, libraries, and archives.    

Please "Like" us when you visit http://www.facebook.com/BDC.BCL.  Feel free to ask a question about our library services or programs.  I'll do my best to respond quickly to your inquiry.

Penn Celebrates 150 Years of Service

Penn School was founded in 1862 as part of the "Port Royal Experiment."  This weekend Penn Center is honoring its long and enduring history with an "150th Annual Founders Day Celebration." 

If you'd like to know more about this National Historic Site, the Library shares a number of relevant materials on the "Port Royal Experiment" and the Penn Center through our holdings.

Volunteers Needed

We believe that the Beaufort County Library makes a difference in our community.  Your input can help us provide evidence that our activities do indeed make a positive difference in the quality of life here in Beaufort County.

In order to establish a baseline for our upcoming community project, we are looking for volunteers to share what they already know about the country of Afghanistan.  If you'd like to help us, please register to volunteer for a Focus Group.

There are three opportunities to assist us with this phase of the "One County Reads One Country" project:  Thurs., July 19th at St. Helena Branch; Tues., July 24th at Bluffton Branch; and Thurs., July 26th at Beaufort Branch. All Focus Group sessions will begin at 6 pm.

Contact Assistant Library Director,  Jan O'Rourke at 255-6464 or jorourke@bcgov.net by July 18th to volunteer.

1940 Census Workshop is Full

We have a full house for the "Introduction to the 1940 Census" workshop this Friday!  All slots are full.

If you would like to be notified by e-mail when we do this again (which we might), please send me an e-mail and I'll be happy to add your address to our BDC customer blast.

Battle of Secessionville June 16, 1862

June 16th marks the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Secessionville. 

When enslaved Beaufort native son Robert Smalls surrendered The Planter to Union forces, he supplied intelligence about Confederate movements off of Cole's and Battery Islands.  This left Charleston vulnerable to Union attack from the south. Seizing the opportunity, Union Gen. David Hunter ordered the divisions of Gen. I.I. Stevens and Horatio Wright based in Beaufort and Hilton Head to James Island where the soldiers  were placed under the command of Gen. Henry Benham.  Benham ordered an ill-fated frontal attack on Fort Lamar.

Capt. William T. Lusk of the New York Highlanders criticized Benham's actions in a letter to his uncle the day after the engagement:

You will learn from the steamer conveying this, of the shocking battle of the 16th.  There will be a struggle to suppress the truth, to call fair names, and to shift the responsibility, but the blood of the murdered men cries out for vengeance....The ill-fated enterprise to this island has been characterized by the grossest mismanagement, and the men -- poor dumb creatures -- have had to suffer privation, exposure, and death, where no excuse can be pleaded in extenuation.... [Why?] Because ... A success would be but little gain to the country, but the eclat might make Benham a Major-General.  Men might die to win a needless victory, could only his foolish vanity be gratified.

His orders were obeyed, and the next morning's work attests their folly.  But even then all might not have been lost, had not his conduct in the field been marked by weakness, vacillation, and imbecility.

... Don't be deceived by printed reports of what took place on the 16th.  It was a terribly disastrous affair.

Confederate reinforcements saved the day.  The Battle of Secessionville was a Confederate victory.  Gen.  Benham was relieved of command after the battle. 

The Civil War Trust has an excellent webpages about the Battle at 
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/secessionville.html. 

Prefer book length treatments? Secessionville: Assault on Charleston by Patrick Brennan,c1996 is available in our Research Room, call number SC 973.732 BRE.

Want to go deeper into the history?  Come to the BDC to read our vertical files on Gen. Stevens and Gen. Hunter. The BDC and the Low-country Room at Hilton Head Island Branch have copies of The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, a full length biography written by the General's son.  For a treatment of one of the Union troops, see A Scratch with the Rebels:  A Pennsylvania Roundhead and a South Carolina Cavalier in the BDC and in Beaufort Branch. 

Check out Edisto Rebels at Charleston from Bluffton Branch; Borrow Homemade Thunder: War on the South Coast, 1861 - 1865 from HHI, BLU, or LOB branch libraries; or for more general coverage of the Civil War as it transpired here in South Carolina, read the aptly titled:  Civil War in South Carolina: Selections from the South Carolina Historical Magazine, edited by Lawrence Rowland and Stephen Hoffius, available everywhere. 

Beaufort History Museum

Earlier this month, I visited our sister cultural agency, the Beaufort History Museum, located in Beaufort City Hall. Designed to showcase the collection of historic artifacts that belong to the City originally housed in the now defunct Beaufort Museum, the museum is like a survey course on Beaufort history, with a sampling of a little bit of quite a lot — from arrow points that are evidence of the first technology, ca 8000 BC, to a picture of Beaufort taken from space in this century. Not to mention a few artifacts from the intervening years.

As Larry Rowland says, “All American history begins in Beaufort.” Go visit and see why.  It's free to all visitors until June 30th!  Active military and their families get a special deal - free admission between Memorial Day and Labor Day because Beaufort History Museum participates in the Blue Star Museum program.  

Hours of operation are 10-4, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays;  and 1-4 on Sunday afternoons.

Adults Welcomed in BCL's Summer Reading Program

Most of our blog readers are old enough to probably have fond memories of participating in the Summer Reading programs at their public library during their childhood.  I know that I do.  Even then, I was a voracious reader and because of the proximity of our house to the library, I could make two round-trips a day to get new (to me) books to devour. 

Well, like us, Summer Reading Programs have grown up - and now often include an Summer Reading Program for Grown-Ups.  Although it takes longer to read a book now (average 500 pages per historical novel as compared to 25 pages for Blueberries for Sal in the 1960s), it's so easy to participate in the Library system's Adult Summer Reading Program "Between the Covers" that I do it myself!

Participants can read a traditional book, an e-book, or listen to an audio book, submit a short review (in person at one of the branch libraries OR online), and qualify for the drawing. (Staff cannot win any prizes, though.  Those are for our library customers!) As long as you read or listen to one book and submit your review before July 21st, you qualify as a participant.  Can't get much easier than that!

The rules are found at http://beaufortcountylibrary.org/sites/default/files/documents/2012ASRP.pdf.  

The online form for submitting your review of 3 or more sentences or a creative form (e.g., poem) is found at http://beaufortcountylibrary.org/content/summer-reading-entry-form.

And, although most of the SRP activities and events are geared towards children, some of the programs would be interesting to adults, too.  Take a look at the calendar.  You might find some you'd enjoy. Happy Reading (or Listening)!

Census Workshop Coming Soon!

Introduction to the 1940 Census Workshop
Beaufort District Collection 
Fri., June 22nd
10:00 am -- Noon

Registration is required. Seating is very limited for this workshop. You must pre-register in person at the Beaufort District Collection Research Room Reference desk or call 843-255-6468 to reserve a seat.

Be sure to sign up today! 

A Late Start on Mon., June 11th; Open at 1:30pm

The Research Room cannot open until 1:30 pm on Mon., June 11th.  The Beaufort Jasper Water Authority is doing some routine maintenance and our building (311 Scott Street) must be closed from 9:30 am until 1:30 pm.  We will be open 1:30 pm until 5:00 pm to help you with your research needs.

Beaufort Branch, Technical Services, Systems, Library Administration, and Interlibrary Loan activities usually conducted from the 311 Scott Street building will resume at 1:30pm, too.

General Lee's Horse

In honor of the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes, here's a question for you horse-racing fans:

Q: What was the name of Robert E. Lee's horse?

1. Stranger

2. General

3. Harry 

4. Traveller

To learn more about the Beaufort District connection of Robert E. Lee and his horse, we suggest you check out Lee in the Lowcountry: Defending Charleston & Savannah, 1861 -1862 by Daniel J. Crooks, Jr.  You can find the book at call number 973.7757 CRO in our local history sections. 

War of 1812 Records

 
This is a banner year for commemorations of American history:  450th Anniversary of the First European settlement in North America at Charlesfort; the second year of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War; and the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812. 

Fold3, a database for historical military records, is offering free access to War of 1812 records until June 30th.  Included are: War of 1812 Pension Files (always free) (with only 3% of the records scanned - 234,556 images thus far); War of 1812 Prize Cases for the Southern District, New York (12, 237 images) Letters Received by the Adjutant General, 1805-1821 (132,136 images) and War of 1812 Service Records (33,712 images).  

A few years ago on behalf of a customer whose family lore included a British sailor jumping ship and settling down in our area, I investigated sources of information about the South Carolina based actions and events relating to the War of 1812.  If you'd like a copy of the bibliography I put together, please e-mail me at gracec@bcgov.net.  I'd be happy to share.

Joe Frazier’s Philly Gym is Listed Among NTHP's Most Endangered

Beaufort Native Son, Joe Frazier moved to Philadelphia, PA during his teenage years.  There he trained to be an Olympic and world heavy-weight boxing champion.  Now his Philadelphia gym is in danger of demolition.  Read more about Joe Frazier’s Gym on the National Trust for Heritage Preservation site.

Remembering the Burning of Bluffton

From Burning of Bluffton map, BHPS

On June 4, 1863, over 75% of Bluffton was burned by Union forces. Join the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society and friends to commemorate this significant Beaufort District event.  Festivities will be held Saturday, June 9th, 6pm –9 pm at the Heyward House Historic Center (corner of Bridge St. & Boundary St.).  Food, art, and music will be on offer. 

For details: call 843-757-6293 or visit www.heywardhouse.org. 

Make Plans To See The Fort Fremont Exhibit!

Go Today, While There's Still Time!

BCL Facebook Update

This is from Gina Molter, our Social Media go-to person: 

Beginning June 1st, BCL will no longer be having a system-wide Facebook page, so be sure to find and like your branch's Facebook page to keep up with all the happenings! Just click on the link by the Branch and it will take you to their page on Facebook where you can "like" your branch and follow their posts.

This is from me:

You may need to set up a Facebook account (if you don't already have one) to participate.  St. Helena Branch Library does not have a Facebook page yet.  

These are from Gina:

• Bluffton Branch Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bluffton-Branch-Library/262459100531 
• Lobeco Branch Library Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000824481042  
• Hilton Head Island Branch Library Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hilton-Head-Island-Branch-Library/407994615082 
• Beaufort Branch Library Teens Facebook (with limited access): http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003583301816 
• A Beaufort District Collection Facebook page is being designed.  I'll let you know via this blog when it's up and running properly.