March in (and into) the BDC!

The Civil War and Reconstruction eras occupy us during March this year. Our partner the Beaufort History Museum has gone to a lot of trouble and arranged for a fabulous opportunity to treat all the family to a good history and heritage event.

Encampment 2017

The Library is a sponsor of the Beaufort History Museum's third annual Living History Civil War and Reconstruction encampment at the Arsenal on Sat., March 24. Re-enactors from Charleston led by Daniel Giddick will be camped in the Arsenal on Craven Street in Beaufort and will be available to show and tell you about life during the period from 9 am to 5 pm on March 24. A variety of activities will be going on throughout the day for all the family. BDC staff will share hand-outs about the Library's many resources available to help one understand this critical period in Beaufort's long and storied history. The encampment is free of charge. Learn more on the Beaufort History Museum website: http://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-2760097.

To prepare you to step back into history at the Encampment, register to attend a special lecture!

"Reconstruction in Beaufort District" with Dr. Larry Rowland & Dr. Stephen Wise

Friday, March 16, 2018 | Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street, 1st floor| 2:00 PM 

Space is limited and seats are expected to go quickly. Don't delay, register beginning March 2, 2018: http://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-2828112.

While much of the South was suffering economic and social collapse in the aftermath of the Civil War, Beaufort prospered in the 1870s and 1880s and into the 1890s on account of the rich deposits of phosphate oar on land as well as along the bottom of some of our waterways. Phosphates were a necessary ingredient in fertilizers. In the 1870s, 50% of the phosphate mined in the United States was mined in South Carolina and 50% of South Carolina's ore was mined in Beaufort County.  

"History of Phosphate Mining" program Sat., March 24 | BDC@ Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street, 1st floor| 1 pm First come; first served

Come hear about the industry that saved Beaufort with Dr. Shepherd McKinley, Senior Lecturer at the University of North Carolina Charlotte who will present Stinking Stones and Rocks of Gold: Phosphate, Fertilizer, and Industrialization in Postbellum South Carolina, 2014. Dr. McKinley won the South Carolina Historical Society's George C. Rogers, Jr. award for the best book of South Carolina history in 2013. The University of Florida Press recently released the book in paperback in case you'd like to purchase and get a copy autographed at the conclusion of the program. 

Dr. McKinley

Dr. McKinley used some of the Library's images from our “Phosphate, Farms, and Family: The Donner Collection,” hosted online through the Lowcountry Digital Library. You can see all 35 of the phosphate related images taken on the Pacific Guano Company's operation on Chisolm Island in the Donner Collection by visiting the Lowcountry Digital Library. The collection is posted at http://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/content/phosphate-farms-and-family-donner-collection. 

For a list of other materials and links relating to the Phosphate Mining Industry, go to the BDC's Wordpress blog at www.bdcbcl.wordpress.com. 

Our Research Room is now open Mondays - Fridays, 9 am to 5 pm to better accommodate our customers. Why not drop by and see us sometime?