Reconstruction Era in the BDC Display Case

Those who have watched Dr. Morris' talk about "The Birth and Death of Reconstruction in South Carolina, 1861 - 1877" may have noticed that the BDC Display Case is part of the Research Room-as-recording-studio's set. Since the display case is in the Research Room and since access to the Research Room has been limited due to COVID-19 concerns, I am going to tell you more about the items in the case and why I selected these particular items to represent the many holdings that the BDC has about the people and events related to the history of the Reconstruction Era. 

On the top shelf is the official National Park Service's handbook to the Reconstruction Era, an image often used as an illustration when Reconstruction is discussed, an archaeology-related book, and one of Dr. Morris' monographs. 

I like the description given in the Library's catalog for the National Park Service's handbook: "The Reconstruction Era (1865-1877) is one of the most complicated, poorly understood, and yet most significant periods in American history. The federal government faced the enormous question of how to usher the states of the former Confederacy back into the United States of America. It was a pivotal period in Southern history in which four million African Americans, newly freed from bondage, sought to establish schools and communities and in which white Southerners faced the challenge of both wartime defeat and slavery's abolition."

Continuing on "Reconstruction's big questions--about democracy, race, war, and religion--give it lasting resonance in our own time. This book contains insightful essays written by noted scholars and historians." 

Because it sets up the theme of the display case so well, The Reconstruction Era is on the top shelf in the far left position. It helps that the cover catches one's attention. The handbook was posted online and free to access when the National Monument was first established, so I only acquired a printed copy for the permanent collection, i.e., the BDC. Looks like now that the online title has been removed, I shall have to consider purchasing copies for the Local History sections that can be checked out by Library customers.

The illustration pinned to the back wall above the first shelf of the display case has become something of a logo for the Reconstruction Era. The sketch was made by Alfred R. Waud for the Harper's Weekly newspaper July 25, 1868 issue that included an article about the Freedmen's Bureau. The tension between the white planters on the left side and the formerly enslaved Black people on the right side is palpable. In between the two hostile groups stalwartly stands a Freedmen's Bureau agent, representing the authority of the United States government. The Freedmen's Bureau was established in 1865 after Gen. W.T. Sherman issued Field Order No. 15 and became a foundation of the Reconstruction Era. The Library of Congress has a digital version of the original newspaper and allows anyone to download the image at no cost.  Our original sheet of the image is cataloged as SC PRINT 66.

Materiality of Freedom covers both the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras from the archaeological perspective of 22 scholars: "What can the objects uncovered during investigations on African-American sites tell us about the struggles for racial equality?" As it turns out, quite a lot. The BDC has the only copy of this title within the SCLENDS consortium so one would have to make a research appointment (843-255-6468 or bdc@bcgov.net) to enjoy this book. 

For display purposes, the visual presentation of the materials are a serious consideration. Among the many book credits of Dr. Morris is Yes, Lord, I Know the Road that covers almost 500 years' worth of African-American documentary history in the Palmetto State.  In this case, highlighting at least one of the presenter's many qualifications to speak as an authority on the topic of the day is bolstered by the graphics of the photograph chosen for the cover.  

Shelf 2 gets all sorts of "help" trying to capture the viewer's interest because I needed to include the ground-breaking but bland covered Reconstruction Era in Beaufort County Local Initiative for National Designation. I maintain that the movement to get Beaufort County named as the best place for the study and appreciation of the significance of the Reconstruction Era began with Dr. Page Putnam Miller's History 712 class and the Sea Islands Reconstruction Heritage Partnership's public forum funded in part by a SC Humanities Council grant at the University of South Carolina Beaufort in 2003. Dr. Miller's class and the USCB Forum occurred fourteen years before the declaration by President Obama of the Reconstruction Era National Monument in 2017. The red-white-and blue scarf is meant to draw the eye and enhance a microfilm box (boring) and complement the covers of the other two books on the shelf. 

On the back wall of shelf two is a printout of the landing page for the digital version of the New South newspaper (which we have on microfilm) and a sample front page of the Beaufort Republican, a weekly African-American newspaper published in the early 1870s. We have the microfilm and will keep the microfilm even though the Library of Congress includes this particular newspaper in its Chronicling America website. If you're interested in knowing about the local newspapers that we have on microfilm or that are online in whole or in part, contact us at 843-255-6468 or bdc@bcgov.net. I will be happy to provide you with details and links (when available).

South Carolina Scalawags concentrates on the 15% of white South Carolina residents who self-identified as Republicans during the Reconstruction Era. Historian Hyman Rubin III explores who they were, and their aspirations, disappointments, failings and successes during their time at the helm running the state's government from 1868 to 1876.  There are plenty of copies within the SCLENDS consortium for you to borrow. 

Capitol Men leads off with a chapter about Beaufort's own Robert Smalls. The goal of this short-listed Pulitzer Prize in History book by Philip Dray was to view Reconstruction from the perspective of the first Black Congressmen. And he does. There are plenty of copies in the local history sections at the Branch Libraries for you to borrow. 

Looking at the image I took of the whole case and of shelf 3 in particular, I think that I should have switched the location of Robert Smalls' quote and the microfilm boxes for better flow from shelf 2 to shelf 3.

Shelf 3 highlights Robert Smalls' critical role in fostering Reconstruction and his attempts to ameliorate the Redemptionists. Schooling the Freed People book and the three reels of Penn School Papers microfilm indicate his deep interest in education for all children. The Library has lots of copies of the 2005 documentary fim by Adrena Ifill and Sean Patrick Thomas about Congressman Robert Smalls : A Patriot's Journey from Slavery to Capitol Hill to share.

My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.  -- Robert Smalls, November 1, 1895

After attending the "Reimagining Access : Inclusive Technology for Archives & Special Collections" webinar last night, I now know that I should have angled the quote with a support for easier reading too. 

I included the Great South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials, 1871-1873 by Lou Faulkner Williams as a solid contribution to the history and understanding of the Reconstruction Era in this state. Although the trials were held upstate for crimes committed upstate, the outcome reverberated throughout the lowcountry as the Fourth Federal Circuit Court became a forum for constitutional interpretation of the 14th Amendment and the Enforcement Acts. 

My other option to represent the KKK was the trial transcript. Unfortunately, the book cover offers very little visual appeal in a display case. The book cover is a dull brown with a title only on the book spine.The BDC holds the only printed copy of the Proceedings in the Ku Klux Trials at Columbia, S.C., in the United States Circuit Court, November term, 1871.  If you like to read trial proceedings, then by all means contact the BDC to set up an appointment.  

I try to put the fewest number of items on the bottom shelf since one has to lean down to "see" them. Disputes over the conduct and outcomes of elections seemed particularly timely in the last quarter of 2020 and early 2021 and we have some documents in the BDC  that address that topic during the Reconstruction Era. I chose to make surrogates of the first pages of two documents placed on red backgrounds on shelf 4 for that reason. The documents shown relate to disputes over the congressional election results in Beaufort County between Robert Smalls and William Elliott for the 50th Congress, 2nd Session and the Arrest and Imprisonment of Robert Smalls on debatable grounds a decade earlier. The BDC is the only SCLENDS library that holds copies of these congressional documents. 

The blue banner on the surrogates is the URL to the BDCBCL: Links, Lists, and Finding Aids blog on WordPress.There are at the time of this writing more than 20 lists and finding aids related to the Reconstruction Era on that blog. I will send you the list and active links to the people, places and events related to the Reconstruction Era as it unfolded here if you just ask bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468. 

Last but not least is a copy of Forever Free : The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction by the dean of Reconstruction studies, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, Eric Foner. As the New York Times Review of Books wrote: "Foner traces the lines of race and politics that run from Reconstruction to the age of segregation to the civil rights movement to our own time.” The SCLENDS consortium has plenty of copies of this to share. 

Even if you choose not to come to make an appointment to review these items inside the Research Room, we do hope that you take one or more of the following actions to expand your awareness and understanding of this critical era of American history. 

1. Watch Dr. Morris' lecture brought to you by the BDC and the Beaufort County Historical Society before we take it down from the Library's YouTube Channel on February 25, 2021.

2. Borrow some of the items that one can check out from the Beaufort County Library or SCLENDS consortium.

3. Read a Hoopla Reconstruction Era related title as an e-book or audio-book.

4. Explore the BDC's WordPress blog for additional online information about how Reconstruction played out in this local area.

5. Explore other Reconstruction related posts in this Connections blog.

6. Visit the St. Helena Branch Library's Reconstruction Era reference collection to learn more about this critical era of American history. 

7. Walk by the National Park Service's headquarters next door to the Beaufort Branch Library and read the markers on that property.   

8. Explore the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park's website.