December Programs: Daufuskie Island & "Combee"

UPDATE 12/03/2018 - Due to a family emergency the BDC Research Room will be very short-staffed this week. The only known anticipated schedule adjustment will be on Wednesday, December 5th. The Research Room will be closed 9 AM to 2 PM for Grace to host the long anticipated "Daufuskie Island" Author Talk with Jenny Hersch and Sallie Ann Robinson at Hilton Head Branch at 11 AM.  Grace will be in the Research Room to assist customers from 2  PM - 5 PM that day.


In December the BDC sponsors two free programs about black history - and you don't even have to register to attend! 

Sallie Ann Robinson and Jenny Hersch will be at Hilton Head Branch Library the morning of December 5th to share their research, images, and stories of life on the Daufuskie Island. At the conclusion of the program, books will be available for purchase and autographing by the authors.

Wed., Dec. 5 | BDC@ Hilton Head Branch, 11 Beach City Road | 11:00 am

From the publisher's press release: Daufuskie, a Muscogee word meaning “sharp feather” or “land with a point,” is an island located between Hilton Head and Savannah, bounded by the Calibogue Sound and the Cooper River. With no bridge to the mainland, the island maintains a distinct allure. Home to Native American tribes, a paradise for pirates, and a strategic military outpost, Daufuskie held enslaved Africans brought by plantation owners as chattel to build their wealth. After the Civil War and occupation by Union soldiers, freed slaves from the Sea Islands and surrounding states settled on Daufuskie as landowners and sharecroppers. Daufuskie's population fluctuated in keeping with local industries, and those who stayed often relied on farming, hunting, and fishing to survive. Electricity was brought to the island in the early 1950s, and the first telephone rang in 1972. Today, historic sites, restaurants, outdoor recreation, and scenic beauty draw visitors and residents to this unique community. Daufuskie Island is part of the National Park Service's Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.


Jenny Hersch first visited Daufuskie in 2000 and has called the island home since 2013. Sallie Ann Robinson is a sixth-generation Daufuskie native, cookbook author, celebrity chef, and certified nursing assistant. She is known as “Ethel” in Pat Conroy's memoir The Water Is Wide. Together, they have done extensive research and gathered stories and photographs from island residents, visitors, libraries, and archives - including some from us here in the Beaufort District Collection.  

As part of St. Helena Branch's annual Gullah Night on the Town celebration on Saturday, December 8, 2018, we are hosting a very important lecture regarding ground-breaking research about the people released from bondage during the Combahee River Raid.

Dr. Edda Fields-Black, Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University, is

a specialist in the trans-national of West African rice farmers, peasant farmers in pre-colonial Upper Guinea Coast and enslaved laborers on rice plantations in the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry during the antebellum period. She earned her Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001. We have copies of her book based on her dissertation, Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora in the Research Room and through the Gullah Geechee Collection at St. Helena Branch. Copies are also available for checkout through SCLENDS.

Her "Combee" presentation focuses on the Beaufort plantations impacted by the Combahee River Raid of 1863 during which Harriet Tubman guided a Union foray into the heart of Beaufort District's rice production area. She interprets a unique compilation of primary historical sources, which show how localized groups who stole their freedom from Combahee rice plantations viewed themselves and viewed other groups from Sea Island cotton plantations and urban centers like Savannah and Beaufort when they were all resettled in Beaufort during the critical Civil War period. The paper chronicles this important microcosm of creolization using the experiences of Blacks enslaved on Combahee River rice plantations and freed in the 1863 raid to create a model of cultural change among New World African cultures and their complicated and nuanced relationships to pre-colonial Western Africa, their environments, and the plantation economies in which they were enslaved."

Sat., Dec. 8 | BDC@ St. Helena Branch, 6355 Jonathan Francis Senior Road  | 1:00 pm

St. Helena Branch also has other activities on the agenda the afternoon of Saturday, December 8th: 
flyer

There is no charge for attending any BDC@ The Branches local history programs. Anyone over age 12 interested in the program topic are welcomed to attend.

BDC's Digital Collections at the Lowcountry Digital Library

The past several years have been full of transitions, both personal and work-related. As a consequence, I have been ruminating about professional choices and professional relationships formed as a consequence of my 19 years working in the Beaufort County Library system. One of my greatest professional satisfactions has come from our long-standing partnership with the Lowcountry Digital Library.

The Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL) produces digital collections and projects that support research about the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and historically interconnected sites in the Atlantic World.  Together with its institutional partners, LCDL helps students, scholars, and a wide range of public audiences develop a better understanding of the history and culture of the South Carolina Lowcountry relative to the nation and the world.

• LCDL utilizes the best practices to build partnerships between scholars and information technologists to improve our collective understanding of the region in a global context.
• LCDL fosters relationships between the digital library and cultural heritage institutions. We provide digitization and metadata training and support to smaller, underfunded institutions that would, otherwise, be unable to engage in these activities.
• LCDL makes all of our content, documentation and resources freely available on-line.

LCDL is harvested and fully searchable within the South Carolina Digital Library and the Digital Public Library of America, which brings our partner institutions and their collections to the national and international stage. LCDL is also indexed by Google and all other major search engines. This increased visibility, coupled with LCDL's complimentary digital preservation services, facilitates the sustainability, accessibility, and public engagement of our partners’ digital projects.

I selected two albums of family photographs donated by Professor Christopher Donner of Miami and Dr. Christopher and Ann Donner of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 2001 as the pilot project for inclusion of public library special collections materials in the South Carolina Digital Library in 2007. I felt that this was a "win-win:" the Donner Albums contained rare images of the phosphate mining industry in Beaufort County which meant that the content was both unique and exceptional; the number of items finite (548); the items required special handling; and the format (photographs) was attractive to both scholars and the general public. (Who doesn't love to look at old pictures?) Even if the project failed, the original images would be better protected with less handling ("Reduce the handling and you will preserve the resource.") and the material could be shared with anyone anywhere in the world who had an internet connection. That first digital collection still runs in the top 15 accessed collections within the ever growing Lowcountry Digital Library more than a decade after its initial upload. Needless to say, the pilot project was a roaring success with Greenville Public Library system and the Beaufort County Library system leading the way for including the special collections materials from thirteen other public library systems in 2017.

The digitization process usually consists of 5 steps: Selection; Capturing the digital object; Describing the digital object (metadata); Storing the digital object; and, Sharing the digital object. The end result of digitization is increased usability and discoverability; more people are able to see and explore what an institution has to offer researchers.

Through the years, the Beaufort County Library has periodically added items into the Lowcountry Digital Library as staff, special events, and other tasks have allowed:

• "'Phosphate, Farms and Family:' The Donner Collection" (2007)
•  "The Lucille Hasell Culp Collection: A Celebration of Beaufort, South Carolina" (2011)
• "Beaufort Hurricane of 1893 Photograph Collection" (2015)
• "Storm Swept Coast by Rachel M. Mather, 1894" (2015) 
• "Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection" (2017)
• "Civil War and Reconstruction Stereoscopes" (2018)
• "L.A. Hall Stereoscopes" (2018)

As Amanda Forbes final act of employment as the BDC's Preservation Associate, she submitted the digital scans and transcription of Dr. R. L. Johnson's Medical Journal for uploading into the Lowcountry Digital Library during early 2019. Projects for 2020 and 2021 have already been selected so stay turned, there's more to come!

Reminder:

Schedule Adjustments and December Programs

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
The Library will be closing at 5 pm today and will resume regular hours on Saturday, November 24th. Because the BDC doesn't have regular Saturday hours, staff will return to the Research Room on Monday, November 26th at 9 AM to assist customers.

Please note: Because of an anticipated staff shortage, the BDC Research Room will be closed at lunchtime on Tuesday, November 27th.

Please pencil in these two local history and Gullah related programs into your calendars for December: 

Daufuskie Island Author Book Talk with Jenny Hersch and Sallie Ann Robinson
Wednesday, December 5, 2018 | BDC@ Hilton Head Branch, 11 Beach City Road | 11 AM

and

"'Combee:' Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid and the Civil War Transformation of Gullah/Geechee" with Dr. Edda Fields-Black, Carnegie Mellon University
Saturday, December 8, 2018 | BDC@ St. Helena Branch, 6355 Jonathan Francis Senior Road
| 1 PM

New (and New to Us) Materials, August - November 19, 2018

The task that I like most about managing the Beaufort District Collection is selecting materials for the Research Room. Here's a list of materials that arrived in our Research Room since August 1, 2018. Some were purchases and some were gifts. All met the criteria for inclusion into the Beaufort District Collection.  

 

 
Meet Me Where I Am: An Uplifting Collection of Creative Expressions edited by Lynne Cope Hummell (2015) is illustrated with images supplied by the Camera Club of Hilton Head Island and with artwork created by persons with dementia and Alzheimer's Disease served by Memory Matters. The book was published to help support the award-winning nationally recognized, community, based non-profit organization which has a chapter operating on Hilton Head Island. 

Still Standing: The Beauty of Southern Trees by Gary Mullane (2018) is a visually striking book of photographs of oak, cedar, sycamore and other trees published by Hilton Head based Lydia Inglett's Starbooks. A number of the trees pictured are located in Beaufort County. 

Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy includes essays about his influence by those many writers whom he nurtured. Among them are Alexia Helsley, David Lauderdale, Bernie Schein, Scott Graber, Valerie Sayers, Sallie Ann Robinson, Larry Rowland, Margaret Evans, Ellen Malphrus, and Debbi Covington who have works in the BDC.

(As an aside, don't forget to attend Sallie Ann and Jenny Hersch's talk for the BDC about their book Daufuskie Island on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at Hilton Head Branch Library, 11 Beach City Road at 11 AM. The program is free and we can seat 100 people at that location so there's no need to register.)

A History of South Carolina Lighthouses by John Hairr supplements what we already have on the topic of lighthouses in this area.

Yamasee Indians: From Florida to South Carolina is an anthology of articles by archaeologists and historians addressing elusive questions about who these Native Americans were, how they lived, and what happened to them.  It joins a host of other materials that we have on the Native Americans of this area and about the Yamasee War, 1715-1717.

South Carolina Genealogy Research is a cheat sheet about how to get started doing family research work in this state.

Beach Race Champion is a children's picture book told from the perspective of Molly, the real marsh tacky horse who won the 2011 race on Hilton Head Island.  


We added considerably to our already considerable collection of Gullah related material by purchasing all of Queen Quet's titles that we did not previously have here in the BDC. Those titles include books and some music CDs:

We Be Gullah/Geechee
Tinkin bout Famlee
Seekin' Purpose
The Right to Self-Determination
Preparing for Purpose Filled Prosperity
Cum 'Een
From Civil Rights to Human Rights and Self-Determination? 
                                                  Love's Sea Island Song
                                                  Gullah/Geechee: Africa's Seeds in the Winds of the Diaspora, 365-366 lists important dates with a synopsis of why that date is significant to Gullah/Geechee history and culture arranged by month. For example,  "A protest is held in Charleston, SC at Zion Church to demand equal rights and a repeal of the Black Codes" from November 20 - 25, 1865. 
                                                   A Place fa We: Black Townships on the Coast of the Gullah/Geechee

We have also received a number of donated items over the past several months. It is always a treat to get first refusal of local history materials. As always, my goal is to acquire items of permanent research value about the people, places, events, and themes relevant to the history and culture of Beaufort, Jasper, and Hampton counties.

Anne Pollitzer donated a photograph of the Beaufort Bicycle Club of 1893. 

We were very pleased to get 13 years worth of Beaufort Academy Yearbooks - K-12 years, 1986 - 1998 from Sharon Sanders.

Molly Gray donated a wonderful archive of her ancestor Ellen Champion Crofut's diaries covering the years 1874 - 1905. 

The 5 volume set of the Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives  gifted to Rep. Harriet Keyserling was donated to the BDC by her son, Paul Keyserling. Although we have had a set in the BDC, ours was quite worn from use. I switched out ours for the pristine copies that Keyserling offered us and have given our original set to the Beaufort Friends of the Library for re-sale.

Mindy Weaver of the Beaufort Sail and Power Squadron dropped by on 14 November with three more albums of materials about the BSPS that members had in their possession. We have added these to the Beaufort Sail and Power Squadron archive.

After the Lineage & Hereditary Societies workshop on 13 November at which Bonnie Wade Mucia gave participants an outstanding introduction to how to identify and apply to hereditary societies, she gave  me a copy of her unpublished guide to Beaufort Genealogy resources for our Research Room.

The BDC has a limited collection of novels written by local residents of ten or more years of residency who have used Beaufort District as their setting or Beaufort people as their characters. Driftwood Unmasked most definitely was inspired by a Beaufort based character. Read David Lauderdale's column about the author Gibbs McDowell and his quest to identify the real local character "Driftwood" to learn more. It is often surprising about how much one can find out by using the Library's access to Ancestry Library Edition.

Small private press titles are often hard to secure through customary Library material vendors. Blood and Thunder at Bloody Point and Wick's and Jake's Daufuskie Island were gifts from Karen Traub of our Lobeco Branch Library.

Reminder: All units of the Library will close at 5 pm on Wednesday, November 21 for the Thanksgiving holidays. Regular hours will resume on Saturday, November 24, 2018. The BDC Research Room will be closed on Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23. We will re-open on Monday, November 26 at 9 AM. 

May you and yours have a safe and enjoyable holiday with family and friends! 

Looking even further ahead: The BDC Research Room will have shortened hours on Tuesday, November 27 due to an anticipated staff shortage. Visit the Research Room 9 AM to Noon, grab a bit of lunch from Noon to 1 PM, and return to finish your research 1 PM to 5 PM that day.

 

Lineage & Hereditary Socieites Workshop on November 13, 2018

Please note: All units of the Beaufort County Library are closed Monday, November 12, 2018 in observance of Veterans Day. 

Regular hours resume on Tuesday, November 13th. The Research Room will re-open at 9 AM that day and we have an extra special family history workshop in the afternoon! 

Have you been putting off joining the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Society of the Cincinnati, or another ancestor-based lineage or heritage society because you don't know where to start or how to gather the necessary evidence of your ancestral lines?  Do we have the perfect workshop for you - and even better yet - there's no need to register for this free program!

Join  BDC staff at the St. Helena Branch Library on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at 4:00 PM for a “Lineage & Hereditary Societies: What are they and how do you join them?” Workshop with Bonnie Wade-Mucia.

Wade-Mucia is a Professional Genealogist and owner of Keeper of the Past Genealogy, LLC. As a native New Englander, she became fascinated with her family history and has been researching her genealogy for over 30 years. Bonnie is a graduate of the Boston University Genealogical Certificate program and the ProGen Study Group. She successfully completed the 2018 course specializing in DNA at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. She is the Lineage Chair and Librarian for the Emily Geiger chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution as well as the state Vice-Chair for the Volunteer Genealogy Committee for DAR. She is the former Governor of the South Carolina Mayflower Society. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the National Genealogy Society, and the Genealogical Speakers Guild. Bonnie resides in Bluffton, SC with her husband, Joseph.

The workshop will include discussion of the various types of lineage and hereditary societies, what the requirements are to join some of the best known ones and how to put together your application with your documented proof of descendant. She will also be covering how you can use DNA as proof in your lineage society applications. Participants are encouraged to bring along their lineage society questions and applications to work through during the workshop.

The Workshop is free and no registration is required. 

Holiday Schedule

All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed:

Monday, November 12 for Veterans Day

Wednesday, November 21: All units close at 5 pm and will remain closed on Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23rd. Happy Thanksgiving to all.