Sept. 18: Newspapers & Medicine

September 18th is a busy day for the BDC! We're running 2 BDC@ programs.  

First up - at 1:00 pm  - is New South & Civil War Newspapers with Kate Boyd and Craig Keeney in the BDC Research Room.  

Although it is not practical nor cost-effective to put everything on the internet, libraries are leading the way to preserving and sharing significant items of cultural heritage in new and exciting ways.

The "Civil War 150" exhibit from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with The Library of America and with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities currently on display in the BDC - and the readings for "In Their Own Words" on Sept. 25 &26 - include extracts from period newspapers because newspapers offer us a unique window onto the world of local events--deaths, marriages, fires, elections, school recitals and town meetings--as well as providing us with state, national and international contexts. What newspapers chose to cover or ignore can provide insights into what a community is thinking and what it values. Because newspapers of the Civil War-era were quite different from those of today, with no photographs and minimal headlines, just how did people keep up with the events of the Civil War?  

The BDC has several runs of local newspapers on microfilm that were published here during the Civil War: New South; Free South; and the Palmetto Herald.  One of those Federal occupation newspapers, the New South, has been digitized and is available online through the University of South Carolina at http://library.sc.edu/digital/collections/newsouth.html.  From 1862 through 1867 when it ceased publication, the New South offered a glimpse into an era of unprecedented social upheaval in Beaufort District as well as in the South.  

On Wed., Sept 18th at 1 pm, the two people who were critical in making online access to the New South a reality, project co-coordinators Kate Boyd and Craig Keeney of the University of South Carolina, will be in the BDC to tell us how - and why - they undertook this project and how the New South relates to their other projects. They will share information about other on-going Civil War related digitization efforts at the state and national level. Please join us.   

(Ssshhhh: There will be a special cultural heritage show-and-tell during the preceding the Boyd and Keeney's presentation!).   

In the early evening, don't forget that you have another chance to observe the marvelous "Doc Dave" at work. A highly experienced living historian, he's on call to treat worms, dysentery, or amputate a limb (should that become necessary!).   Meet us Wed., Sept. 18th at 6 pm for another BDC@ St. Helena Branch Library program.