Diversify Your Reading 2022 Challenge : January & February

Back on January 11th, I proclaimed that I could cover the monthly themes offered by the Diversify Your Reading Facebook page with materials in the BDC and/or Local History sections. As I was doing the research for February I began to wonder if perhaps I had spoken too soon. If the BCL Facebook page had not shared my BDC Facebook page post, I probably would have just skipped February altogether. But they did and so I feel obligated to continue on. 

The first monthly theme, "January = Memoir,", was easy. It's a non-fiction topic. The BDC is mostly a non-fiction collection. I have old memoirs and newer memoirs to share. For example: 

About the Civil War Period: 
Memoirs of the War of Secession by Johnson Hagood
The Haskell Memoirs by John Cheves Haskell

Civil War Memoir of Thomas C. Albergotti, First Lieutenant, CSA, Hampton Legion

A Black Woman's Civil War Memoirs : Reminiscences of my Life in Camp with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops, late 1st South Carolina Volunteers by Susie King Taylor

A Fire-Eater Remembers : the Confederate Memoir of Robert Barnwell Rhett

About the American Revolution: 

Memoirs of the American Revolution by William Moultrie

Memoirs of Tarleton Brown : a captain in the Revolutionary Army

More Recent Memoirs: 
Memoirs of the Prodigal Son : The Road to Redemption: "Fifteen Years in Prison and Beyond" by John C. Dortch

Little Geech: A Shrimper's Story : Life on the waters of Beaufort and the Sea Islands by H.H. "Bubba" Von Harten, Jr. 

Doctor K: A Personal Memoir by Herbert Keyserling, M.D.

Indeed here are so many to share that I made a flyer of just some of the 20th and 21st century options. 

(If you'd like to add to our collection and share your life story with us, I've posted a pathfinder of sorts of how to go about writing  a memoir or family history in a post a few months ago in Connections.) Bottom line: January 2022 was easy-peasy. 

Finding a suitable "Romance" title to share for February 2022 proved much, much harder. 

Any walk through a public library or a bookstore proves that the romance genre is popular. I've worked in academic libraries, archives and local history collections, so when I think of "romance" my first thoughts are "bosom buster" Harlequin romance titles or authors like Julia Quinn, who wrote the Bridgerton series. So to get grounded as to what I should be looking for, I first looked up the definition for "Romance genre." 

The Library's subscription to Novelist Plus was instrumental for there I discovered a "Romance Guide" that explained the the aim of the genre: Tell a story of two people (of different, same or trans- gender) who overcome some adversity(ies) to live their version of "happily ever after." The genre is very popular with authors, booksellers, and the (mostly) women who read them.  

(One must have a valid Beaufort County Library card and discuss password to access the Novel List Plus subscription database.) 

But did the BDC have any? 

I started with a keyword search on "romance" in the SCLENDS catalog and limited the results to the BDC. I got 16 possibilities, some of which I immediately eliminated as the term "romance" referred more to nostalgia and physical setting rather than a relationship between people that ultimately proves successful. For example, Carolina Gardens: The History, Romance and Tradition Many Gardens of two States through More than Two Centuries is more horticultural than love fest and The Romance of Lower Carolina : Historic, Romantic and Traditional Incidents of the Colonial and Revolutionary Eras : Of That Part of South Carolina at or below the Falls of the Rivers; Localities so Plainly Described, as to be Easily Identified obviously doesn't "qualify". 

Several novels by William Gilmore Simms were on the results list but I passed on those for various reasons. I eliminated Annie Colcock's Margaret Tudor : A Romance of Old St. Augustine on the basis of its setting in Florida though it may show up during Women's History Month. I eliminated the Charleston related titles. (Long-time readers of this blog know that I don't "do" Charleston). I did however do a little more research on these three novels on the results list: 

• The Right Side of the River: Romance, Rage and Wonder by Roger Pinckney (2002) was eliminated on account of the fact that I'm going to use a different book of his in another category later this year; 
• Fair with Rain by Ann Head (1957) was eliminated for the same reason. I'm going to use a different title of hers in August; and 
• Maid of the Combahee : A Romance of the South from the Manuscript of Sir Thomas Yeld, Bart. by Israel Plummer Taft (1918) was a strong contender. It was such a strong contender that I even did some genealogical research in the ALE database to learn more about this one-book author. He writes so compellingly of the American Revolution as it unfolded in Beaufort District that I was intrigued by the mystery of his connection to this place. As it turns out, though Taft was born in California in 1857, his father, Henry Spurr Taft, was a Colonel in the Federal Signal Corps who was stationed at Port Royal during the Civil War. Afterwards Col. Taft bought property on St. Helena Island and planted cotton for a few years into the Reconstruction period - which is how young Israel Plummer Taft knew the area so well. This was a definite plus for Maid of the Combahee. However, I saw no direct connection to the "romance genre" in the sense of "bosom buster" so I let this one fall by the wayside as well. (Oh, and I discovered that this is a very rare survivor of the Saulsbury Publishing Company of Baltimore, MD; It cost $1.50 at the time; that there is a digital copy on HathiTrust; that he registered the book with the Copyright Office on 29 December 1918, that he seemed to have preferred to be addressed by his middle name "Plummer"; and that the Beaufort Gazette didn't have any library related news during the period December 1918 through February 1919. I was hoping to see the volume added to the Township Library. But in the end, I didn't see a "love - overcome difficulties - happily ever after" plot line. It is so easy to go down rabbit holes in a special collection.)   

I had two options on the results list left: an anthology of short fiction and a poster. 

From the Heart: Stories of Love and Friendship, compiled by former weekend editor of the Beaufort Gazette, Kendall Bell (2003) is a Coastal Villages imprint - which means that a local press published it. His mission was to get submissions of  "heart-warming, positive, feel-good stories" for our turbulent times. Of the 51 stories he includes, only two are written by Beaufort residents - and neither of those fit the beloved who overcome difficulties to form their "happily ever after" - though some of the other short stories did indeed "fit" the romance theme. However those submissions came in from outside the area once known as Beaufort District. Thus I eliminated this one as well. (BTW: He compiled a second volume before his death caused by Covid-19 in January 2021 that we do not have in the BDC nor any of his other published monographs) . 

Which leaves this poster, a strong graphic for the BDC's Facebook page - which although may be short on words (not much reading to be done) - is definitely about romance: 

The Coastal Stage Players produced "The Last Romance" at the AMVETS Hall on Ribaut Road between Friday, October 25 and Thursday, November 3 in 2019. The comedy depicts how senior widower Ralph meets and woos reticent Carol in spite of his sister's jealousy. Ralph ultimately recaptures "a happiness that seemed all but lost." 

The reviews on the Dramatists Play Service website describe the romance: 

“The boulevard comedy gets a shot in the arm with Joe DiPietro’s THE LAST ROMANCE. Remarkably free of cliché…the golden-years love story casts a bewitching spell…it should enjoy a long life.” —Variety. “The play adroitly explores relationships between men and women in their golden years, as well as how the invisible ties of family often tie our hearts harder and faster than any love affair. A tale that mixes heartbreak with its humor and opera with the laughter…For all the breezy throwaway jokes—and there is enough laughter to make even old age seem pleasurable—the central message about seizing life with a passion comes through loud and clear.” —Naples News. “A tender romantic comedy.” —San Diego Union Tribune. “You’ll fall in love with THE LAST ROMANCE…The audience howls with laughter.” —FloridaWeekly.com.

Thus, is the process and why BDC Poster #257 is my selection for the February 2022 "Diversify Your Reading Challenge." 

Heads up: The Library will be closed on Presidents' Day, Monday, February 21, 2022. 

The next local history program will be held March 11, 2022. Registration for "The Battle of Purysburg, 1779" with archaeologist Rita Elliott will open on our co-sponsor's website on February 25, 2022.