The United States, Interrupted, 1861 - 1865 : Week 4

The Beaufort District Collection hits the home stretch for our part of the "One County Reads the Civil War" project in the week beginning September 22nd.

Our centerpiece, Civil War 150: Exploring the War and Its Meaning through the Words of Those Who Lived It, a national traveling exhibit from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with The Library of America through grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities enters its final full week. Look beyond the surface view of the conflict by exploring the deep divisions in the country before the war and learning about the lives of soldiers and what was happening on the home front and in the political process of determining the status of the enslaved.   Civil War 150, the exhibit,  runs through Monday, Sept. 30, 10 am – 5 pm with special evening hours on Sept. 24 until 7:30 pm in the Beaufort District Collection, 2d floor, 311 Scott Street in Beaufort.  Once you view Civil War 150, pick up a "discount voucher" from our Research Room staff good at select museums and tours.  

As our goal was to support informed civic discourse on this important and enduring topic of American history, we would love for you to come visit the exhibit and share your observations and comments in the guest register to let us know whether we have reached our goal. 

Also ending soon are the "Civil War in Beaufort District" displays at on-site at Beaufort Branch, Bluffton Branch, Hilton Head Branch and Lobeco Branch libraries courtesy of the Beaufort District Collection and the Civil War pictures display at the Heritage Library closes Sept. 27th. 

BDC Highlights:
We are very pleased to offer two co-sponsored programs with the Humanities Council of South Carolina this week. 

• The role of American Indian tribes in the outcome of the Civil War is little known and under-appreciated.   Join us as Dr. Will Goins, SC Humanities scholar and Chief of the Cherokee Tribe of South Carolina, edifies participants with his lecture, “Service, Honor, Heritage, Pride? The Ethics of Native American Indians that Participated in the Civil War” on  Mon., 9/23 beginning at 1:00pm.  Please note the location:  Hilton Head Island Public Service District Community Room, 21 Oak Park Drive, Hilton Head Island. (We are grateful for the HHI PSD willingness to accommodate this presentation.)
  
• Dr. David B. Thompson, of Limestone University is the other SC Humanities scholar presenting a BDC@ program for the community. He performs “Confederates at the Keyboard: Piano Music during the Civil War Era” in period clothing on Fri., 9/27 beginning at 7:00pm.  Please note the location: St. John's Lutheran Church, 157 Lady's Island Drive, on Lady's Island. (We are grateful to the church council and congregation of St. John's for their willingness to accommodate this performance.  Alas, the Library system does not own grand piano for musicales).            

South of the Broad River customers can attend the final “Civil War Medicine: What They Never Told You” with Re-enactor Dave Smoot on Tues., 9/24 at 6:00pm at the BDC@ Hilton Head Branch session.     

If you are a fast reader, there is still time to prepare to participate in one of the “In Their Own Words: Beaufort District during the Civil War” sessions.  Join me, the Library's local history librarian and archivist, to discuss the Civil War experience as seen through the letters, reports, and testimony of Confederate residents, the enslaved, Northern teachers and missionaries, and members of the military in Beaufort District, 1861– 1865.

The list of reading selections to be discussed is posted at http://beaufortcountylibrary.blogspot.com/ and http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/civilwar/bibliographies. Free. No registration is required. 

•     Wed., 9/25 at 1:00pm     Bluffton Branch   
•     Thurs., 9/26 at 5:30 pm       Beaufort Branch  

Please note:  I am not preparing a customary "Grace Note" lecture for these sessions. Participants need to come ready to haggle and fuss about who said what, when, and why.  If not, this will be a very short BDC@ the Branches program. 

From our partners:

•  Karen Stokes, Archivist of the South Carolina Historical Society presents "South Carolina Civilians in Sherman's Path" during Historic Beaufort Foundation's Dinner & a Lecture series on Mon., 9/23 beginning at 5:30pm.  Details, fees, and reservations: http://www.historicbeaufort.org. 

 




On-going partner events include the Civil War local history exhibit at Parris Island Museum; Heyward House Tours in Bluffton; the Dawn of Freedom exhibit sponsored by the Mitchelville Preservation Project on Hilton Head Island; and two free Civil War exhibits on the ground level of the John Mark Verdier House in downtown Beaufort. Coastal Discovery Museum and the Heritage Library Foundation will accept validated "I Visited Civil War 150" discount vouchers on their Fort Mitchel Tour, Forts of Port Royal Tour, and Civil War era talk and Tour; Historic Beaufort Foundation accepts the discount voucher on the paid admission John Mark Verdier House Museum Tour; and, the Beaufort History Museum accepts the discount voucher for the 1st SC Volunteer exhibit. Each of these exhibits and tours will provide residents and visitors with a different experience of the Civil War era.

From other parts of the Library System:

Hilton Head Branch Library screens and discusses Shenandoah on Thurs., 9/26 beginning at 2:00pm.   Young folks and families can view "A Wishbone Civil War matinee" at 4:00pm.
   
Make plans to attend The Voice of the Civil War: Local Writers Panel and Book Signing at Bluffton Branch on Sat., 9/28 beginning at 10:00am.  Meet and mingle with local authors specializing in writing about the Civil War.  Each panelist will discuss his or her work, describe their writing experiences, and field questions from the audience.  Books will be available for purchase and signing.  Authors participating are Jim Jordan, Kim Poovey, John Saucer, Jeff Fulgrum, Jim Auld, and Ginny Kozak. The second installment of The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns screens at 1:00pm. 


For the complete agenda version of the week's events, click http://bit.ly/1fx5rLD. 

Join Beaufort County Library and our partners as together we try to better understand the Civil War in order that we can better understand ourselves.