May 1 - Overview of the month of May in the BDC: Because of the concurrence of MayDay 2022 and the start of National Postcard Week, I have decided to skip MayDay and go straight for the postcards this year. Expect to see a few postcards through May 7th.
As of this writing, we have two local history programs scheduled: An author book talk about Paradise on May 17th in concert with the Beaufort History Museum and a lecture by Professor Vernon Burton on May 19th in concert with the Beaufort County Historical Society. Registration will open 14 days in advance of each program date.
All units of the Library system will be closed on Monday, May 30th in honor of Memorial Day.
May 2 , 2022 AM - "50 Shades of Beige" in National Postcard Week and in National Preservation Month is the perfect opportunity to share this particular item. Courtesy of the Beaufort County Historical Society who received it from Betsy Knox, the BDC has its first fold-able Mail card for our postcard collections. There is no message. BTW: You can see the left side of the image as a separate postcard in the digital Arnsberger Collection.
May 2, 2022 PM - Beloved BDC docent Kathy has added another 972 names of the deceased as published in the Beaufort Gazette in 1989. Check out the BDC's Online Obituary Index to see if one of your loved ones is listed.
May 3, 2022 - Registration is now open online for the next BHD/BCL Local History program. Nelle and Ora Smith will talk about their memoir, Paradise. Listen, laugh, and learn with these two indomitable ladies of the Lowcountry. Be sure to register through the Beaufort History Museum website’s events page. Registration will close when room capacity is reached. [Note: This program occurred in the past. The link has been removed.]
May 3, 2022 - "The Tide on the Beach"
Higher, higher rushes the tideRunning, foaming, spreading so wide,The beach disappearsAnd sand dunes highRushing, swirling waters defie.The tide comes in with a zooming blast,The sand dunes high are holding fast,The growing wavesWith crests so high --Break loudly in a wild sea cry.
The poem is by Marie E. Reddy, a member of the Poetry Society of Bluffton, South Carolina, from her poetry booklet, Beloved Low Country (no date, no publisher), page 37.
The postcard is from our Arnsberger Postcard Collection. It is image 115277. See it and 358 more postcards online.
May 4, 2022 - "Black History Note" in National Postcard Week: Patricia Bee included a poem "The Bridge" in her book Mama's Pearls: Gullah Poetry to Live By (2003):
Remember the bridge that took you
For you may come againEvery day won't be sunnySome days will have rain.Remember the bridge that took youAnd don't pull up the plankFor it was this very bridgeThat launched you from the bank.(Psalm 103:2 - Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits), p. 51.
The verso of this image taken by Werner J. Bertsch says "The gracious J. Wilton Graves Bridge is the island's only connection to the mainland." There's plenty of discussion about what is to become of this bridge - and the second one to go along side it at the moment in an attempt to ameliorate the traffic problems. This postcard is also from the BDC's created postcard collection.
May 5, 2022 - I ran across the poem to illustrate today's postcard during a reference transaction totally unrelated to poetry. One of the joys of the job is all the serendipitous finds I make in the course of the work.
"Beautiful Beaufort" No author providedBeautiful Beaufort, the bride of the sea,Briny the breezes that blow over thee;Balm-laden zephyrs, lulling to sleep,Born in the caves of the fathomless deep.Beautiful Beaufort! Joyful our lays'Beata, sancta, pulcherrima es!Bedecked in fair robes, the gray and the green,Be now and for aye our Palmetto Queen!Beautiful Beaufort, Queen of the Strand,Blossoms of orange they coronal band:Bright are thy banners, leafy of fold,Blazoned at sunset with purple and gold.Beautiful Beaufort, belle of the isles,Basking in bliss in the light of thy smiles; --Burgeoning bud and flowering treeBring their sweet perfumes as tributes to thee.Beautiful Beaufort, bonnie thy braes,Broad are thy rivers and deep are thy bays, --Breathing the breath of the billowy tide,Bathing the marshes all bristling and wide.Beautiful Beaufort, azure thy sky,Boasting a light with Italia's to vie, --Blessing the night with a silvery gleam,Beaming in shadows where fond lovers dream.
(From: Southern Auto Guide and Directory of Beaufort County for 1918 - 1919 (1918), p. [1])
May 6, 2022 - Local poet and librarian at Parris Island, Martha Ann Tyree Moussatos had these "Reflections on Port Royal, My Home":
How I yearn for the sunset, red and bold,
Silhouetting my land of marsh and trees,
Sprinkling the river with flecks of gold,
Enlightening the barrenness of the leas.
Grey beards of moss sway to and fro
In the warm, salt breezes of my mind,
And the great gnarled oaks from which they grow
Intermingle with palmetto, dogwood, and pine.
The sand lies deep beneath their roots,
As deep as is the briny sea,
But it brings them life and gives them fruit,
This good, sweet earth of my memory.
My heart is buried in this sand,
My soul in the gnarled oak tree,
But I am far from the sliver strand,
And my being no longer breathes free.
The phantom called life challenges me now
To untangle its snarled and depthless maze;
So I leave to the past the sunset glow,
And the beckoning land of my childhood days.
The postcard "Scenes from Port Royal" is from our own BCL created postcard collection.
May 7, 2022 - I end National Postcard Week with a humorous poem by Arthur G. Foster about "The Steam Cannon" from his booklet Island Sketches (1971):
What a blast
that must have been
(not at Woodstock
but the Island's north end)
One shot only
and none since
(sounds like typical
planned obsolescence)
This postcard is from the BDC's created postcard collection. Read more about the Steam guns.
May 6, 2022 - PSA: Because the BDC has a copy of Deborah Willis' The Black Civil War Soldier in the Research Room, I'm letting you know about a free online opportunity to explore it more deeply with some of the experts in their field on May 14th. Details:... in case you'd like to register. [This too has passed so I deleted the link.] In the spirit of full disclosure, the BDC has been the recipient of some Gilder-Lehrman traveling exhibits in the past: "The History of US" (before 2007) and "When This Cruel War is Over" (2013).
May 8, 2022 - Happy Mother's Day. Stick with me here and you'll discover just how some of the content in the volume described below links me to my own maternal ancestors. - And with luck, perhaps it will link you to some of yours too.
The BDC is a recipient of a lot of gifted material which helps me fill in gaps of coverage in the collection. For example, the BDC has the other 3 volumes of the classic "History of South Carolina" by David Duncan Wallace (American Historical Society, 1934). Back in April I got volume 4 the Biographical volume to complete the set from a donor - all 1000+ pages of it.
In volume 4, I found my own ancestors! - which was exciting for me and of course, I had to share it with my children on What's App who of course just ignored the post - as grown children are wont to do when the subject of ancestors arises.
Rufus Duncan Lewis was one of my maternal great grand uncles. His brother, Archie "the printer of Abbeville" was my great-grandfather. My mother was named for their sister Nina. Great-Grand Aunt Nina bequeathed my mother a diamond ring. Unfortunately, the center diamond fell out of that ring - because I remember that my Big Pop and Daddy opened the septic tank in the house on Fraser Street and searched it in hopes of finding the diamond when I was a child. I particularly remember the smell of said septic system. But I digress - as family historians are wont to do.
Getting back to the point: The significant thing about this volume, I think, is that the arrangement is not chronological nor alphabetical nor by county of residence nor by city of residence. One must use the index to locate the biographical entries.
If you think that one or more of your ancestors who were alive before 1934 might be in it, contact me and I'll look in the index to see: bdc@bcgov.net.
I attended the ceremony for a number of reasons: The Society's researcher and I have spent (and will spend) a considerable amount of time together in the Research Room as she continues to work on the texts for the Society's historic markers. It was so close by I could hobble there. Plus, the BCHS is a particular friend to the BDC as we host the "Historically Speaking" local history series together. The Library and the BCHS have a special relationship of long standing, second only to the length and depth of its relationship to the Clover Club.
Besides, I do my best not to miss anything that Dr. Rowland does. No matter where we are or what we are doing, out of Dr. Larry Rowland's mind and mouth comes something that I did not know about the history of this place and its people. He helps me do my job by sharing what he knows so that in turn I know more to help my in-person and remote customers better. He is one of the District's true living treasures - and a genuinely lovely gentleman and human being.
The invitation will be added to the BCHS collection that is here in the Research Room.
You can read transcriptions of newspaper coverage of the Fire of 1907 on the BDC's WordPress blog.
And you may want to see if there are any seats still left at our next "Historically Speaking" local history program!
May 10, 2022 - The University of South Carolina's Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) sent the BDC its latest Legacy magazine issue (dated December 2021) in mid-March. It includes several articles related to this area: "Spanish Halberds in South Carolina?" by Chester B. DePratter and James Legg; "Santa Elena Research Trip to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center" by Heathley A. Johnson; "The Civil War at Santa Elena" by James Legg and Heathley Johnson; "Update on the Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey 2021" by Albert C. Goodyear and Joseph A. Lindler, Jr.; and "Prospecting for Shipwrecks off Port Royal Sound" as part of the "Maritime Research Division: A Year of Fieldwork in Review."
As of this writing (that is, 21 March), this issue of Legacy hasn't yet made it into the Scholar Commons. Make an appointment to read it here in the Research Room: 843-255-6446 or bdc@bcgov.net.
May 11, 2022 - "Black History Note Wednesday:" Gullah Woodburning Folk Art by Rev. Johnnie F. Simmons [2018] is a delightfully colorful little book (literally little, the book measures 5 inches by 4 inches) of his woodburned depictions of Gullah culture and life on St. Helena Island. He gave the BDC a copy of the booklet via former St. Helena Branch Manager, Maria Benac, a few years ago.
May 12, 2022 - The Library Board of Trustees voted last night to allow greater capacity in the system's meeting rooms. This means that there are now more seats than we originally expected available for Nelle and Ora Smith's Authors Book Talk about Paradise being held at the St. Helena Branch Library on May 17th! Sign up through the BHM website before all are taken.
May 13, 2022 - Sometimes I have a really, really hard time finding the upsides of certain situations. But here are two things that I can be happy about relating to work: 1) The vacancy of the BDC Circulation position and the elimination of the Preservation Associate position by others at least meant I didn't have to write any performance evaluation documents so far in 2022. 2) Unlike the folks at a historic home in Iowa asking for advice through the Connections to Collections Care list serv, I have not had to deal with "removing bat guano and urine from artifacts" this year. (I have had to deal with rat and roach feces in some incoming archival collections from time to time but never any bat poop - yet.)
May 14, 2022 - A customer inquiry led me to do some newspaper research in the year 1918. In search of an answer for the customer, I came face-to-face with local reaction to the Influenza Pandemic. Given that we've been dealing with a pandemic of our own for several years now, I was struck by just how much local newspaper reporting has changed in the past century.
Case in point: the Beaufort Gazette issue of 11 October 1918 (p. 4) declared "Oh dry and dead as an old navy bean, Is Beaufort town under quarantine!" The social column below that little ditty tells us who is afflicted or recovering from influenza - now a huge "No-No" HIPPA violation.
Those listed as ill or recovering were: "Little Sydney Smith; Miss Davidson and Miss Cooner (teachers); School children: Adelaide Colcock, Dolly Elliott, Florence Walpole, Pauline & Calhoun Thomas, Virginia Pollitzer, Frances Heath, Jennie Bostick, Margaret Raney, Hazel Varn, Margurite Long and Hammie Lea; Miss Lillian Long and Harold Long; Mrs. Junker; Little Louis Lengnick; Louis Hewlett; Sgt. Lucas (USMC); and Lt. Ryan (USMC).
The disease was so rampant "All schools in this county are to be closed until further orders are issued, on account of Spanish Influenza." (Which, by the way, we now know actually began in Fort Riley, Kansas in March 1918. )
The issue the previous week (4 October 1918, p. 4) announced that "Although many people on the Island both Marines and civilians, are under special quarantine as suspected Influenza patients, no positive cases have been reported to date. These precautions are taken, it is understood with all who have bad colds." What a difference 7 days can make in disease transmission.
See the CDC's History of the 1918 Flu Pandemic for more about this scourge that killed approximately 675,000 Americans (roughly 0.5% of the country's population at the time) and an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
Make an appointment to review the contents of the BDC's "History - World War, 1914-1918" to see clippings related to local news about the war and the Influenza Pandemic. (bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-4668.
May 15, 2022 - Please mark your calendars now that the Library system will be closed on Monday, May 30, 2022 in honor of Memorial Day.
May 16, 2022 - "50 Shades of Beige" Materials Monday: A daring Huguenot sea captain, Jean Ribaut (aka Ribault) landed on Parris Island on May 17, 1562 and established the first French colony in North America. It also just so happened to be the first Protestant settlement in the New World. Read more about Ribaut, the French presence in Beaufort District, and the 400th Anniversary commemorative events related to same in Connections. The highlight of the commemoration was the production of Prologue to Freedom, a lavishly staged local drama presented 6 times between March 26 and March 31, 1962 in the Depot Theatre on Parris Island.
May 17, 2022 - PSA: Virtual Lunch and Learn (from the Native American Studies Center in Lancaster, SC) on May 20th, 12:00 pm: Rice Culture in South Carolina, Past and Present,
Join Amanda McNulty of SCETV’s Making It Grow for a discussion of South Carolina rice culture. Rice culture shaped the society and health of freed and enslaved South Carolinians. Today, breeding has brought back the original “Carolina Gold” rice which at one time gave South Carolina the highest per capita income in the world. Registration required [but has since passed so I removed the link.]
And don't forget the "Rice Culture" list of resources on the BDC's WordPress blog!
May 19 , 2022 - SC Humanities works with organizations nationwide that create digital humanities content for the public. COVID-19 made all of us recognize just how valuable digital humanities resources are. Explore!
May 20, 2022 - One manual that a librarian/archivist hopes she will never need to consult: Documenting in Times of Crisis: A Resource Kit. [In light of recent events, I pray that neither I nor any of my successors in this office will have to use it for a tragedy in Beaufort County.]
May 21,2022 - The BDC has some antiquarian books - which sort of begs the question of what is an antiquarian book? Biblio.com shared a blog post by May Manikowski that answers that question.
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