June 1 June is usually a "take-stock" month here in the BDC. I try to catch up on everything that has fallen by the wayside in the previous 11 months in the unrealistic hope of actually catching up.
June 1 is the official start of the Annual Hurricane Season. I always keep my fingers crossed that we won't have any weather threats with which to contend between now and November 30th when hurricane season officially ends. - Which also makes June 1 a great day to take stock of your hurricane supplies just in case.
There are no local history programs virtual or in-person planned for June or July this year but I am thinking about doing one in late August about the Great Sea Island Hurricane. Stay tuned...
The 2021 Summer Reading Program, "Tails to Tales", kicks off June 19th and runs through July 31st so you can expect at least some "Tails" or "Tales" and on occasion even a "Tails & Tales" post from the BDC over the course of the next two months.
June 9 "Black History Note" Wednesday: Discus is excited to announce the newly added African-American History database! This resource puts a wide variety of primary sources, articles, videos, biographies, and timelines at the fingertips of South Carolina students, patrons, and residents. All one needs to access it is a valid Beaufort County Library card. Think that you might be eligible?
June 16 "Black History Note Wednesday": The Invisible War: The African American Anti-Slavery Resistance from the Stono Rebellion through the Seminole Wars, edited by Y.N. Kly contains 6 articles that together challenges the notion that there was no collective resistance to slavery among the enslaved peoples. Indeed, the authors contend that the error arises from the lack of awareness of African American who self-liberated southward towards Georgia and Florida.June 23 "Black History Note:" For a scrumptious and entertaining cookbook - and family tales - one can seldom find better than Sallie Ann Robinson's Kitchen: Food and Family Lore from the Lowcountry. (And, I don't even like cooking). She includes dishes that I grew up with: "Black-eyed Peas with Okra" and some I didn't, but should have: "'Fuskie Shrimp and Blue Crab Burger." (The BDC is just full of Gullah topics, (shrimp) tails & (family) tales!) Read it on the couch and mark off another slot on your SRP game board!
June 30 "Black History Note Wednesday:" General Hunter's hope came true. (Confused? See the [June 28th] Monday's Letters post). Some 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors served in the Union forces before the end of the Civil War. Learn more about some of the many materials that the Library has about them.
I am very glad you did not accompany 'the excellent females' whom the 'Atlantic' brought hither for the purpose of regenerating the negro race. They have been having a most royal time of it I assure you. Some of the ladies are from Boston, and do not wish to associate with ladies from New-York. Indeed, some of the Boston ladies have been creditably informed that the New-York delegation is composed of nothing better than milliners. The New-York ladies say that they have volunteered their services while the philanthropic Boston women are receiving $20.00 a month -- in fact are paid wages for their charity. And so the battle rages high. In fact the most of the combatants are heartily sick of it. They supposed they were coming here to occupy the superb mansions of the wealthiest of Southern Planters -- such mansions as you read of in Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz's picture of Southern life. They have come, however, and found an old-fashioned town with crumbling old-fashioned houses, all run to waste in piazza -- very picturesque to look at to my eyes -- 'but then they are so different,' the ladies say 'to what we are accustomed about Boston.' With the men of the Association there has been no little fun. They are strictly non-combatants, and have indeed a sort of superior feeling to those who are brutally employed in bearing arms. For this they have been punished by being made the recipients of the most marvellous 'canards' imaginable. They are kept in a continual state of alarm by reports of a speedy attack from overwhelming forces. They are comforted by the coolest assurances that the enemy would in no case regard them as prisoners of war, but would hang them without compunction to the nearest tree.But I have told scandal enough....
A digital copy of this book is available on the Hathitrust.org website.
June 14 "Materials Monday : Letters" The Letters of Pierce Butler, 1790-1794: Nation Building and Enterprise in the New American Republic edited by Terry Lipscomb (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2007) show that political intrigue, strategic leaks of political information, and factionalism began with the very first Congress. Despite his large land and slave holdings in South Carolina and in Prince William's Parish, from 1790 until his death in 1822, Butler's primary residence was in Philadelphia.
From December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800 Congress met at Philadelphia. Thus, Butler was living in the national center of power when he wrote the following letter from to John McPherson on 6 November 1792 acknowledging his recent election to the South Carolina House of Representatives:
My Dear SirI yesterday received a letter from the Managers of the Election for Prince Wm's [William's] Parish informing me that the Freeholders have done me the honor to elect me as one of their Representatives. I am very sensible of the many marks of attention I have received from the Electors of Prince Williams. It is my pride to try to merit them. Your (in particular) long, steady, & warm friendship for me has sunk deep into my breast, & made that impression that can not be obliterated by time or absence. I trust that neither my publick, nor my private conduct shall render me unworthy of it or the good opinion You are pleased to entertain of me. If I err in discharging the duties of the trust reposed in me it shall be an error of the head, & not the heart - by such a conduct only can I render myself worthy of your friendship & the confidence of my fellow citizens. I request my Dear Sir, that you will take an opportunity of expressing my thanks to the electors of Prince Williams...
He goes on to state his concerns about the state of the national republic given some of the laws passed by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Congresses:
Then he asks that McPherson not champion him as South Carolina's next United States Senator as...if I am competent to form an opinion on the nature of republican government, some of the acts in question are not only a violation but subversive of it -- tending to establish an aristocracy as detestable as that of Venice. It behooves then the free men throughout the United States to check the evil before it gets strength to curb them; this can be done by being cautious to elect such men only as they know to be Republicans in principle - Men who can tell them on their return home with a good countenance, we have not abused the trust you placed in us - we bring back clean hands & unsullied honor -- strangers to peculation [sic] & fraud - neither your honor nor your interests fellow Citizens, have suffered in our hands.
He that has nothing in view but his Country's good, need not beg to be employed...but I will be obliged to you if you are at the [senatorial] election to write me how individuals mention my name. It is at all times desireable [sic] to know who are friends & who are enemies.
Butler was elected US Senator by the South Carolina State Senate on 5 December 1792. HIs friend and political ally, John McPherson, was a 4th generation South Carolinian born in Prince William's Parish, a successful planter and slave-owner, held lots of real estate, had served in the South Carolina legislature, and a breeder of fine horses.
June 21 "Materials Monday: Letters" The BDC owns The Letters of William Gilmore Simms series of 6 volumes. Simms is arguably the state's best known writer of the 19th century and was known as a prolific correspondent penning up to 20 letters per day. Letter 726 is dated Charleston, July 17, 1854 and addressed to Beaufort District's own William Elliott. It appears in volume 3, pp. 316-317.
Dear Sir:An Encyclopaedia of American Literature is about to be published in New York, the Editors of which are honestly desirous of doing full justice to the performances of the South. I have given them your name as one of our Carolina writers & shall be glad if you will contrive to send me a copy of your Carolina Sports, and two copies of your drama -- one of the latter being wanted by myself. If you have copies of other performances, or MS. essays of which you think particularly well, I shall be glad if you will furnish them. It would, indeed, be of great help to the publishers of the work in question, if you would be at the pains to indicate any favorite passages in your writings for selection, giving to each some appropriate title. Of course the quotations should be brief. Essayical & descriptive matter, ranging from 1 to 3 printed pages would be preferable for such a work. If these can be sent me in Charleston by the 25th, it would be well. If no, then have them forwarded to "Mess'rs Evert A. and Geo. Duyckinck, care of Charles Scribner, Publisher, New York." I address you at hazard, at Beaufort, though with a lurking doubt whether, yoking a devil fish to your car, you are not cantering off to the anitpodes. Wherever bound -- or free, -- 'the top of the morning to your honor.'Yours very truly &cW. Gilmore Simms
Grace note: This William Elliott lived 1788 to 1863. His drama was Fiesco: A Tragedy. According to Yates Snowden (1909), Fiesco was never performed though Simms termed it 'a well written tragedy...founded on the Genoese conspiracy, which has so frequently furnished a subject for the dramatist.' (Source: Snowden, Yates, 1858-1933. South Carolina Plays And Playwrights: Y. S. In the Carolinian for November 1909. Columbia, S.C.: [s.n.], 1909, pp. 5-6. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082294129 )
June 28 "Materials Monday: Letters" Let's just say that General David Hunter got himself in a bit of political hot water - which he seems to have welcomed -- when he decided to organize a unit of Black men right here in Beaufort District to help defend the Union. See Connections for more about the text and context of the correspondence relating to General Hunter's actions here in Congress and in the Cabinet.
June 10 Summer Reading Program 2021 isn't just for school kids anymore. All ages can participate. Even grown-ups like you who love local history! (Watch for local history specific "Tails & Tales" posts here throughout the SRP period.) Game boards available soon.
Details will be posted on the Summer Reading Program 2021 webpage. Be sure to thank all our sponsors when you're out and about Beaufort County.
June 12 Today is the first day that you can pick up a Summer Reading Program game board from a Branch Library. Drop by your favorite branch or bookmobile to get one.
(Please note: Although the BDC won't be distributing game boards, there will be plenty of posts about "Lowcountry Tails and Tales" suggestions to help you fill in at least a few of your game board blocks with local history books and materials.)
June 15 Got your game board yet? Pick up one from your closest BCL Branch Library or bookmobile or print one for yourself from our website and get ready to read "Lowcountry Tails and Tales" on your way to earning treat cards and chances for other fabulous prizes!
June 19 Today happens to be Juneteenth and the first day in the Summer Reading Program. Let's get started filling in your game board. Block One says "Read in a silly voice or read a magazine in Flipster." If you're older than 12 years, I suggest that you go to Flipster, borrow the current issue of Time Magazine and read "Who Made Juneteenth?" by Janelle Ross. The article is short and can be found on pages 23 and 24 of the issue. Easy-peasy, one block done!
Rightside up or upside downThere’s loads of local history to be foundClick a few buttons to expoundSo with your knowledge you can astound
You’ll find photos, postcards, unique and rare documents, articles about VIPS, places and events, bite-sized videos and more about Beaufort District’s long and storied past behind the buttons on the Library’s local history page.
Click a few, see what you can find, mark off another slot on your game board - and astound your friends and neighbors with what you discover!.
June 24 The SandMan's Daughter also covers both "Tails and Tales," as this children's book "at its core intertwines education about the threatened life cycle of the sea turtle with exposure to a culture that has been similarly dispossessed and marginalized. It is a lesson for both children and adults, in hopes of encouraging and implementing change in midst of dynamic current interest in conservation and in the Gullah culture." Author Robin M. Carter collaborated with Queen Quet, head of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and Al Hawkins, the illustrator to produce this title.
June 26 One for the money; two for the show; three to get ready; now, go Cat, go. Read for 20 minutes today and mark off one block of your Summer Reading game board.
June 27 Although "Reading a [BDC] book outside" isn't ever an option (because everything in the Research Room has to stay in the Research Room), each Branch library does indeed have a "Local History" section of materials that you can check out and read in the great outdoors (or indoors). You might be surprised by the number of "Lowcountry Tails and Tales" you'll find there. Ask where the "Local History" section is the next time you're in one of our library buildings.
June 4 Time for home access to the Ancestry Library Edition database has been extended through September 30, 2021. So.... here's a chance for you to get acquainted with it through a free webinar! Ancestry Library Edition: A WalkthroughTuesday, June 22, 2021 at 3:00 P.M. ETDiscover the core collections in Ancestry Library Edition. You’ll learn about historical family history documents including census records, vital records, and military and immigration records and receive tips for keeping up with new or updated collections.
Caution: The URL is a doozy so you might want to just cut-and-paste it into your browser. [Link no longer active and was deleted 6/30/2021-gmc]
June 20 Sundays are great days to explore your family history - in person now that we can gather together if all are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or via the Library's subscription to the Ancestry Library Edition database. I offer some tips on how to approach ALE on Connections.
Featured Days of Commemoration
June 3 On this World Bicycle Day, I am reminded of a gift to the BDC. A few years ago, Anne Pollitzer gave us a photograph taken in 1894 of the Beaufort Bicycle Club members. All were male. Pictured in the image are H.D. Calhoun; R. Brotherhood; J.S. Howkins [Hawkins?]; Wm. Bellows; H. Townsend; H. Watkins; T.C. Vail, Capt. Geo. Crofut; P. Burr; E.I. Burn; J.M. Lengnick; R.R. Legare; P.D. Hay, Jr; Wm. F. Fhee of Savannah, GA; E.E. Lengnick; and Geo. Gillican. Libraries and bicycles can indeed "go together" - though I suggest that while riding a bicycle, one listens to an audio book rather than try to read a printed one. Hoopla offers you loads of choices!
Just don't forget to make the necessary advance arrangements with me: 843-255-6446 or gracec@bcgov.net. No walk-ins are accepted.
June 6 On the 9th of June 1948 the International Council on Archives was created under the auspices of UNESCO. Each year since 2007, the 9th of June has been honored as International Archives Day. It has now expanded into a week long celebration. International Archives Week runs June 7 - June 11 this year.
The week is designed to raise public awareness of:
- How archives empower accountability and transparency, through access to information for holding governments to account and ensuring that citizens can protect their rights.
- How networking and collaboration enable us to empower archives and the profession to help us achieve our goals and objectives for the profession and our institutions through the support of allied professions while helping other sectors and the general public understand what we do.
- And how to challenge current archival theory and practice to make it more diverse and inclusive of different voices along with different histories.
June 8 On this World Ocean Day, it's good to have a basic understanding of the role the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources plays in monitoring the health of the Atlantic Ocean along the South Carolina Coast.
June 16 Our friends in the Beaufort County Historical Society shared the link to a free webinar this Friday about Juneteenth. It's free! And presented by Michael Moore, a direct descendant of Robert Smalls.
June 17 National Eat Your Vegetables Day is a great day to introduce you to the history of truck farming in the area's history. For those who might be thinking that a "truck farm" contains fields of Toyota Tundras or F-150s, Merriam-Webster defines truck farming as the "production of crops of some vegetables on an extensive scale in regions especially suited to their culture primarily for shipment to distant markets." Watch Natalie Hefter's short "Beaufort County Moment" video about truck farming to begin. The images used in the video are from the BDC.
June 18 The War of 1812 began June 18, 1812 with James Madison’s signature on a declaration of war. Although Beaufort was not attacked by British naval forces during the war, the "HMS Mosell" and the "HMS Calabri" blockaded Port Royal Sound during August 1813. Dr. Rowland writes that British sailors landed briefly on St. Helena Island and Pinckney Island and absconded with a few enslaved people. A hurricane struck within a week, the ships put to sea, and one of the ships capsized. There are a few more details in The Port Royal Sound Survey, Phase One: Preliminary Investigations of Intertidal and Submerged Cultural Resources in Port Royal Sound, Beaufort County, South Carolina by archaeologists James Spirek, Christopher F. Amer, Joseph Beatty, Lynn Harris, and Carleton Naylor and with a contribution by Laura Von Harten, 1999.
June 29 The Library is a site from which one can pick up copies of titles in the "Book Drop Blitz" spearheaded by the Beaufort County School District. The series opens with Net Numbers: A South Carolina Number Book by Carol Crane, illustrations by Gary Palmer. The number "25" features Frogmore Stew, perfected right here in Beaufort County. Today I share a "True Tale" [about the origins of and recipes for Frogmore Stew] from the BDC with you all.
Just Because ... Posts
June 17 Here's a different way to learn some local history: Attend an historical marker dedication. There's one on Monday, June 21 at 11 AM in Port Royal.
June 25 Dr. Stephen Wise re-discovered this photograph in his office recently and shared it those of us pictured therein. A poster here in the BDC led me to the date and reminded me of the full context.
The photograph was taken on September 24, 2005 at the Santa Elena/Charlesfort historic site on Parris Island. I had taken a bus tour (with the cooperation of the Beaufort County Parks and Leisure Services department) of Library customers out to PI to see the site, hear archaeologists Stanley South and Chester DePratter talk about how they discovered it, and to see the then new Santa Elena exhibit at Parris Island Museum.
This was the 4th program in a joint “Discovering Military Sites Archaeology” series for Archaeology Month. Steve Wise lead us off with an “Overview of the Military History of Beaufort County” at the Library on Sept. 13; Archaeologist Chris Judge (then with SC's Department of Natural Resources Heritage Trust program) talked about Fort Frederick and Stoney Creek sites on Sept. 14; Dr,.Tracy Power (then with the SC Department of Archives and History) came down to talk about Fort Fremont on Sept. 21; and the final outing was this one to Parris Island with the assembled folks in the photograph: Stanley South; Ian Hill, then Beaufort County's Historic Preservationist; Chester DePratter; Me (Grace Cordial); Dr. Steve Wise and Dr. Bryan Howard (both of Parris Island Museum). We all had a hand in making the series and the day a successful one.
This was definitely one of the earliest Ian Hill-Grace Cordial Archaeology Month ‘productions’ though I’m not sure if it was the first. We kept it up for at least a decade. Ian retired some years ago and I am getting ever closer to it myself.
It still surprises me sometimes just how much fact and emotion can be found in one image.
Limited Access to the Research Room Continues
June 13 Since June 1, 6 researchers visited the Research Room to begin or continue their historical and genealogical projects. Almost every major form of material inside the Research Room was accessed at least once in the past 9 working days as they worked towards their individual research goals.
Got a local history research project in your future? I am already booking for the week of June 20 - June 25. Contact me: bdc@bcgov.net OR 843-255-6468 to leave me a voice mail in order to make the necessary advance arrangements. Please note: I monitor and respond to email, phone calls, and voice mail only during regular office hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment