Beaufort District Collection Connections: New and (New to Us) Materials in the BDC, December 2021

Here's a list and short description covering the items and/or archival materials added to the BDC's Research Room holdings from December 2021 through February 2022. As per usual, some were purchases and some were gifts.

Gullah Spirit: The Art of Jonathan Green (University of South Carolina Press, 2021) reproduces artworks in the seminal style of one of Beaufort's native sons. Green never disappoints when it comes to showing vibrant colors in motion. This joins other materials in the BDC's Research Room. Copies are available in the local history sections as well.

American Shamans: Journeys with Traditional Healers by Jack Montgomery (Busca, 2008) covers a lot of traditional healing practices throughout the United States. I purchased a copy primarily on account of the inclusion of the transcript of Montgomery's interview with Sheriff Ed McTeer in 1974. Though truth be told, another factor towards purchase was the fact that I am thanked for providing reference services, along with former BCL staffers, Fran Hays and Rachel Kingcaid, while the author was conducting research in the early 2000s was an added incentive. Librarians and archivists appreciate acknowledgement of our skills just like ever other humans do.

Conceiving Carolina : Proprietors, Planters, and Plots, 1662-1729 by L. H. Roper (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) I discovered this title in my search to help a customer interested in the earliest settlers to South Carolina. It will join all the other titles I wrote about in "Little Known Proprietary Era Materials in the Research Room."

Free Blacks and Mulattos in South Carolina 1850 Census abstracted by Margaret Peckham Motes (Genealogical Publishing, 2000) One could compile this list on their own by manipulating a results list on the 1850 US Federal Census for South Carolina on Ancestry Library Edition or FamilySearch but sometimes I find that my customers just want to eyeball a printed material on a particular subject. This little volume is alphabetically arranged by surname. The abstract format is:

Last name, first name, age, sex, occupation (if indicated), color, birthplace, dwelling #, family #, county. Notes if any apply

HOUSTON, JOHN, 14, M, (--), M, SC 177, 177, BEAU. In HH of Sarah Houston f 52 mulatto born SC

HOUSTON, SARAH, 52, F, Pastry Cook, M, SC, 177, 177, BEAU

Now isn't that easier than depending on electronic databases? Besides we still have the microfilm of the US Federal Censuses 1790 - 1880, 1900-1930 that cover Beaufort, Hampton and Jasper Counties - which of course includes the 1850 Census that is the subject of this abstract.

A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your African-American Ancestors : How to Find and Record Your Unique Heritage by Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom (Genealogical Publishing, 2008) I ordered this book because it includes case studies for how to approach documentation of persons of mixed race, how to figure out family, kith and kin relationships, and offers work-arounds for the particular challenges of identifying late 19th and early 20th century ancestors.

A History of the Port Royal Bands by John Brookfield (Sam Teddy Publishing, 2015) is one of those titles that I learned of because of a customer inquiry. The advantage of by-appointment-only status of access to the Research Room for customers is that I have time to survey what it is the BDC about their topic plus some breathing room to survey what might be available elsewhere. In the course of trying to identify what Civil War regiments had bands in this area, I learned that there is an "Historic Brass Society" that featured materials about bands of the Civil War Era which led me to search WorldCat for this title. From there, I tracked down the publisher; called and discovered that he only had three copies left. The author had recently died. I immediately put dibs on one of those copies for the BDC. Mr. Linscott and Valerie Lesesne of the BCL's Technical Services department followed through with the necessary paperwork and now this very important resource sits on the shelves of the BDC.

According to the book's introduction, the US government issued General Order 15 to establish infantry bands of 26 musicians on May 5, 1861. That order was rescinded 14 months later due to cost. However smaller brigade level bands of 16 musicians shared among 4 to 5 regiments were allowed.

By all accounts, two of the finest bands in the Union Army came from New Hampshire, the Third Regiment Band of the New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and a few months after the Third's dissolution in August 1862, the Band of the Second Brigade, 10th Army Corps, Department of the South, often refered to as the Hilton Head Post Band. Both organizations were stationed near Port Royal, South Carolina, and led by Gustavus W. Ingalls, a native of Bristol, New Hampshire. (p. xii)

Besides being an historical account of Civil War bands, Brookfield researched the individual members of the bands before, during and after the war including as illustrations portraits and gravesites of some of the men, photographs of instruments owned by the men, and even an occasional sheet music cover.

Hubs of Empire : The Southeastern Lowcountry and British Caribbean by Matthew Mulcahy (Johns Hopkins Press, 2014) Mulcahy introduces readers to how the rich history and culture of the Greater Caribbean influenced the development of South Carolina's social and class structures during the British colonial era.

Moonshadows: The Search for a Legend by George Cathcart, Young Dawkins, Bill Wright and illustrated by Jim Palmer (Palmetto Press, 1977) is about young people searching for a Bigfoot-like creature on Hilton Head Island. I added a copy of this novel aimed at tweeners and teens to the permanent collection because it checks multiple boxes of the BDC's collection development plan: created by local residents; printed by a local publishing house; and it uses a part of the former Beaufort District as the novel's setting.

Spring Island : Rhythms of Nature by Thomas Blagden, Jr., Foreword and passages by Chris Marsh (Self-published, 2008) is a pictorial feast of natural history for the eyes. The images of flora and fauna were captured by Blagden over the course of a year. It joins over 25 other titles about Spring Island in the BDC. (... which means that I probably should create a "History of Spring Island: Selected Links and Materials" BDC WordPress blogpost when I can make the time to do so. But that's a project for another day or month or even year if ...) The only place to see this title within the SCLENDS consortium is the BDC Research Room.

Wild Island Nature Hunting Island State Park and Saint Phillips Island : The Beauty and History of our Changing Islands by Carol Corbin; Foreword by Tony Mills (Lydia Inglett Publishing/Starbooks, 2021) Author Carol Corbin, the Friends of Hunting Island and park staff share observations and information about the historical and cultural significance of these ever changing barrier islands, as well as their important natural habitats. You'll even see a few images from the BDC in this combination image and history title. Besides the permanent copy in the Research Room, there are copies you can check out from some of the Branch Libraries' Local History sections.

Maps purchased during this period included two: Plan of the U.S.N. Coaling Station, Paris Island, Beaufort River, S.C. (1884) and Sounding at U.S. Naval Coaling Station, Port Royal, Beaufort County S.C. for Site of a Dry Dock (1889).

We are grateful for the donations of materials by the Friends of the Beaufort Library, Beaufort Power & Sailing Squadron, Mary Lou Brewton, Gerald Winn, Kathy Mixon, the Beaufort County Historical Society and Betsy Knox who sent us the first fold-able Mail card for our postcard collection.