BDC Facebook Posts during July 2023

Because I was aware that I would be back to a one-person shop for awhile, Facebook posts had to be sacrificed. Thus, this post will be considerably shorter than heretofore customary. You will see a theme,  Reconstruction, because of our "Waving the Red Shirts of Redemption" local history program held on July 12th with National Park Service Supervisory Historian Nathan Betcher. More photos of that program are on the BDC's Facebook page. 

I covered the Overview of July 2023 in a separate Connections post. 

Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday

July 3, 2023: "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday" continues the theme of Black resistance. The BDC and Lowcountry Room Reference Collection at the Hilton Head Branch Library are the only two holders of A Profile of Runaway Slaves in Virginia and South Carolina, 1730 - 1787 in the SCLENDS consortium. Chapter titles are: The legal setting; The fugitive as a physical specimen; The fugitive's degree of acculturation; Fugitive demeanor and discourse; Flight and destination; and, The development of the fugitive slave clause in the Constitutional Convention.

BTW: If you want to learn more about the actions and opinions of the Beaufort District representatives at the Constitution Convention, we have a bibliography for that.

July 10, 2023: "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" As I was preparing a flyer of recommended materials to distribute at Nathan's program on July 12th, I found that the BDC has the only copy of Race and Politics in Post-Reconstruction South Carolina, 1876 - 1915 by Robert F. Kassinger. He wrote it as a Master's thesis for Kean College of New Jersey in June 1974. I ordered it on microfiche from ProQuest (document item EP11303) some years ago. This dissertation is not listed on WorldCat though one can still buy a reproduction via ProQuest. But buyers beware! The microfiche begins with a disclaimer: "Note to Users: This reproduction is the best copy available" - and they weren't joking. Most of the 114 page typescript is so light as to be illegible. However, the thesis contains some hand-drawn maps which are of interest in light of our upcoming program about politics in the 1870s. A reminder about that program [was included.]

July 17, 2023: "Uniquely BDC:" Editor Dorothy Sterling captures the words of former slaves about their personal histories during Reconstruction Era in The Trouble They Seen: The Story of Reconstruction in the Words of African Americans (Da Capo Press, 1994). Here one can find evidence "of unprecedented progress in the fields of politics, education, economics, and culture; and the inevitable tragic struggle by African Americans against southern white efforts to resume political power and to fetter black freedom with a thousand chains more durable than slavery."

BTW: The BDC has a small collection of Dorothy Sterling letters sent while she was researching her book about Robert Smalls in the 1950s. Learn more about those on our BDCBCL: Links, Lists and Finding Aids blog. (https://bdcbcl.wordpress.com) Make an appointment to come into our Research Room to see today's featured materials: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468.

July 24, 2023: "Uniquely BDC Materials Monday:" In honor of our most recent program, I recommend What Reconstruction Meant: Historical Memory in the American South by Bruce E. Baker (University of Virginia Press, 2007). We have the only copy in SCLENDS of this title. He "examines what both white and Black South Carolinians thought about the history of Reconstruction and how it shaped the way then lived their lives in the first half of the Twentieth Century." Several chapters are on topic with our most recent local history program, viz. "Wade Hampton's Legend in Ben Tillman's World; Celebrating the Red Shirts;" and "Memories and Countermemory." Baker looks at how different groups of people held different views of Reconstruction and how their respective views may have changed over time. He discusses how what happened in the past influences perceptions of the present and may well form projections about the future. Make an appointment to visit the Research Room to read this very interesting "social memory treatment" of a very important period of our past: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468

July 31, 2023: "Materials Monday: Uniquely BDC" - The only copy of The First Black Slave Society: Britain's Barbarity Times in Barbados, 1636-1876 by Hilary McD. Beckles (2016) within the SCLENDS consortium is in our Research Room. The book describes the brutal Black slave society and plantation system of Barbados and explains how this slave chattel model was perfected by the British and thence exported to Jamaica and South Carolina for profit. Factoid - and part of the reason why I chose to purchase this title for the BDC: The SC Slave Code of 1740 in the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion was based on the slave codes of Barbados.

According to reviewer Demetrius Eudell in the winter issue of the Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2018), "Beckles presents a political and economic history of Barbados from its founding as the paradigmatic 'pure plantation' slave society to the post-slavery era marked by the labor rebellions of the formerly enslaved. Using an extensive array of original sources from archival holdings in Barbados, London, and New York, Beckles chronicles the systematic subordination of Blacks for two and half centuries, enforced by “military machinery” and the execution of the law, beginning with the Slave Code of 1661 (24). Beckles also demonstrates that from the earliest moments, the enslaved challenged the conditions in which “the administering of physical and mental violence was the norm.”

Make an appointment to visit our Research Room and learn more about Barbadian influence in early South Carolina: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468

About Local History Programs and/or schedule changes:

July 3, 2023: Have a safe and pleasant Independence Day. The BDC will re-open on Wednesday for those who have a scheduled appointment already on our book.

July 6, 2023: Learn more about our next program presenter in "Connections." I do hope to see you there.

July 22, 2023: One month to "Tide of Death" at Hilton Head Island Branch Library.

July 23, 2023: In the spirit of transparency, I wrote about my plans and priorities on Connections earlier this month as the Library seeks to hire Olivia's successor.

Black History Note: Wednesday

July 5, 2023: "Black History Note:" This is very exciting! Volunteer-created transcriptions for the 54-ft long South Carolina voting rights petition signed in 1865 are now available on Library of Congress' website for search and discovery. - And you can't have an election without voters - and to learn more about the Reconstruction Era politics join us on July 12th for “Waving the Red Shirts of Redemption: Reconstruction Era Politics and the South Carolina Election of 1876” with Nathan Betcher (NPS) as an "Historically Speaking" Extra during Summer Reading Program 2023. We'll gather in the Beaufort Branch Library's Theresa Dunn Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street, beginning at 2:00 pm. This free program will be a "First Come, First Seated" local history opportunity. Thank you Beaufort County Historical Society for being one of the BDC's valued partners.

July 12, 2023: "Black History Note:" The Reconstruction period was the first time in which Black men in South Carolina could vote and hold office. Radical Republicans, Independent Republicans, Straight-out Democrats and Fusion Democrats all vied for votes and dominance during the 1876 Presidential election. Scandals, violence, malfeasance, and charges of voter fraud were rife. Some key local African American political figures were William Whipper and Robert Smalls. Join us at 2 pm today at the Beaufort Branch to learn more about this critical period in our nation's history from NPS Historian Nathan Betcher. First come, first seated. Doors open at 1:30 pm.

July 19, 2023: "Black History Note:" Recently I was evaluating additional sources re: the politics of the 1870s. I borrowed a number of titles from the SCLENDS consortium to evaluate if I should order one or more for the BDC. Among those items was a 7 page memoir written circa 1912 by John G. Guignard about the Election of 1876 and the turmoil in the SC Legislature. Therein I discovered two Black Beaufort County men mentioned on page 5 who had not been on my radar heretofore: Thomas Hamilton and N.B. Myers. I was intrigued.

Usually when I get curious about matters of Beaufort District's long and storied history, my next two steps are: 1) Check that Bible of Beaufort history, the 3 volumes by Dr. Rowland and 2) Check for the person(s) in the BDC's own Online Obituary Index. I found more in both.

The obituary cards shown here for Thomas Hamilton were published in the Palmetto Post newspaper on March 25, 1886. Next week, I'll share more about Nat Myers.

Even after almost 25 years here, I get the privilege of ahh ha! moments.

July 26, 2023: "Black History Note:" continuing the thread from last Wednesday, N.B. Myers, aka Nat, was the other Black man from Beaufort County who joined the Wallace House. His name is in our Online Obituary Index so I pulled his obituary card from our files. His death is noted in the Palmetto Post of 26 February 1885 on page 3 that recounts information found in the latest issue of the local Republican newspaper Sea Island News about recent deaths.

I am providing a transcription.

Harvest of Death

The past inclement winter has played havoc with a number of negroes in the vicinity of Beaufort enfeebled by insufficient food and clothing and other cause that add to the death among them. By the Republican paper published in Beaufort we counted no less than five or six deaths announced of negroes who had died in the week. By the manner of the announcement one would have supposed they were white people. After mentioning that in 400 or 500 feet of each other are buried three Republican sheriffs in the Catholic Cemetery in Charleston, the death of York Heyward, a mail carrier on St. Helena Island is announced, then Neil Mitchell, one of the town scavengers, then Peter Gibbes, then N. B. Myers and Daniel Major and now this week Moody Pinckney. [illegible] Judge Wright, who was of the same ilk, died in Charleston also last week.

Added values: 1. Few issues of the Sea Island News remain and the BDC does not have any issues at all, in physical form or on microfilm. 2. Only the first person named in a group of death notices is typed onto the actual obituary card. All deceased persons in a group of death notices are listed in our online obituary index (ooi). Most of the index entries point to the physical card(s) for the first named person of the group. 3. Try searching for your ancestors in the ooi.

Finding Aid Friday

July 7, 2023: In honor of Olivia's last day, I highlight the last archival collection she worked on: The Beaufort Power and Sail Squadron Records. She used Amanda Forbes' work in 2018 as the foundation for the revised Finding Aid and integrated more recently donated materials.

Summer Reading Program 2023 Related:

July 9, 2023: Looking for recommendations to fill that "Read about the Lowcountry" block on the Summer Reading 2023 Bingo card? Here's some under 200 pages for quick - entertaining - but educational reads.

... and now you have the information I provided on the BDC's Facebook page last month. As there is no new BDC Circulation Assistant as yet, the Redux plan will remain in effect throughout August 2023.

Just a reminder:

Limited access to the Research Room continues. Please email or contact me to make the necessary appointment: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6446. Because of a steady increase of in Research Room customers, I'd recommend that you contact us at least a week in advance of your proposed visit. Wouldn't you know that as soon as the BDC staff was cut in half - again - researchers would be clamoring for our slots.