Re-cap of July 2024 Facebook Posts

We had a pretty successful "Adventures Begin in the Library" season in June and July. We highlighted “Adventure” in our materials for our social media posts, in our display case, and through three programs that had 46 people attend. 

Thanks to Deb Henderson for tag-teaming with me about Library services in Bluffton Branch; Cassi did a great job explaining some of her own adventures with the BDC’s archival materials; and Meg Gaillard and her crew gave us a great tour of colonial Fort Frederick. Our Facebook posts during July frequently related to "adventure." 

Black History Notes: 

July 3 - "Black History Note:" Beaufort District’s Signer of the Declaration of Independence embodies the essential paradox of American history: Thomas Heyward, Jr., "Beaufort District's most ardent Patriot," was stridently in favor of independence and self-determination yet enslaved hundreds of people of African descent on his prosperous plantations. Learn more about Heyward in Connections.

Reminder: All units of the Library system will be closed tomorrow, July 4th. Regular operations resume Friday, July 5th.

July 10 - "Black History Note:" Civil War Times Magazine has an article "A Slave's Great Adventure" about the same person featured in Captain of the Planter by Dorothy Sterling (1958). That man with guts of steel was Robert Smalls.

As most of you know Smalls steamed the Planter into the Union's naval line under the nose of the Confederates in Charleston Harbor in 1862. Though the man and his feat were nationally famous during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, Dorothy Sterling (1913-2008) was the first author in the 20th century to take note of the significance of the act in her book. We have letters between Sterling and Beaufort Township Library staff from 1955 to 1956 in the Research Room as Sterling was doing her due diligence trying to separate fact from fiction and reconcile conflicting accounts of some of the details of Smalls' life before the book's publication. The Dorothy Sterling Letters Finding Aid is in the BDCBCL: Lists, Links and Finding Aids blog.

July 17 - "Black History Note:" School Acres: An Adventure in Rural Education by Rossa B. Cooley (1930) describes her time as Principal of Penn Normal and Industrial Agriculture School. She and Grace B. House were recruited from Hampton Institute following the death of Laura Towne. Cooley and House believed in "two principles of progressive education: leaning for living and learning by doing." They did much more than teach: they tried to improve life on St. Helena Island for the Black residents by providing child care services, introducing new cash crops and scientific farming methods, and setting up a credit cooperative for local farmers. The ladies were forced into retirement in 1944 and within a few years, Penn School ceased to operate as a school.

July 24 - "Black History Note:" Mary Long's Yesteryear was a series of programs about the history of South Carolina. All were part of the ETV Adventure series. Continuing the theme of Penn School, the BCL has multiple copies of the DVDs of "Penn School: An Experiment in Freedom"(2005; 1990) that you can borrow from one of our local history sections. OR you can stream it on the PBS website.

July 31 - Our final "adventure" of the Summer Reading Program re: "Black History Note" is another ETV Video Adventure DVD. Verve salutes South Carolina's rich tradition of African-American arts. Among the seven contemporary South Carolina artists featured is former St. Helena Island resident indigo processor and batik artist Arianne King-Comer. The BCL is the only SCLENDS library system to still have copies of this video disc. We have a DVD in the BDC plus a few in the Branch Local History collections for one to borrow. The program does not appear to be available for streaming.

Don't forget to turn in your SRP completed gameboard to your closest Branch Library before the end of today's business. Doing so will mean that your name will be in the pot for the Grand Prize Drawing.

Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday

July 8 - "Uniquely BDC in 'Adventure Begins at Your Library':" The Port Royal Sound Foundation and the Beaufort County School District have sponsored the River of Words series for a few years now. In the 2015 issue - which only the BDC has and will have in perpetuity as the permanent part of the BCL - a fifth grader wrote about her "Pinckney Island Adventure."

July 15 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" Shrimp Boats are Coming by local author Robert L. Chaplin, Jr. (2002) is a light-hearted adventure novel that tells of love, friendship, and competition in a small coastal town. A married couple buy and operate a shrimp boat and there's a mysterious death aboard. The BDC is the only SCLENDS library to have this title.

July 22 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" Two Faces of Paradise by Charles McLaughlin is a fictionalized account of a real adventure on Capers Island. Ann and Susan go to the barrier island with Uncle Charlie for the day. They have engine trouble and are marooned. Long delayed, the Beaufort rescue boats begin searching for them. All's well that ends well. The BDC is the only SCLENDS Library to have a copy of this title.

July 29 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday" - As our final "unique" adventure, I will use an inset on Map 685 entitled "Historic Beaufort Gem of the South Carolina Sea Islands" by Marie Fenner (1970). The map has a lot of border images. In the bottom left corner is "England: Cap't. William Hilton, Commander, Capt. Anthony Long and Pete Fabian on the ship Adventure explored Port Royale waterways ; landed Saint Ellens, September 14, 1663." [Aren't all those variant spellings fun?]

Local History Programs

July 12 - I'm sure that Cassandra will talk about at least a few of the Finding Aids she's edited and created since she came aboard in January. Come see her shine later this month.

July 21 - "This Week in the BDC:" Don't forget that Cassandra will be sharing what she's found and learned on Wednesday evening. No need to register. We'll open the doors for seating at 5 PM.

July 29 - Cassandra and I will be heading over to Fort Frederick later this morning ... Tour starts at 10 AM - in case you'd like to join us!

July 26 - Finally got some photos posted for our June 22nd program at Bluffton Branch

Finding Aid Fridays

July 26 - "Finding Aid Friday:" One of the archival collections Cassandra highlighted in her presentation "Adventures in the Archives" earlier this week was a conveyance from 1869. It is one of a very few deeds which we have in the Research Room.

Just Because

July 3 - Enjoy your Independence Day. We'll be back in the office on Friday, July 5th.

July 7 - It's Shark Week.

July 16 - It's National Snake Day. One of the brochures we have in our SNAKES vertical file, "Common Snakes of SC (1977)," just so happens to be part of the State Library's State Documents Collection. Take a look-see to educate yourself re: venomous and non-venomous snakes you might encounter here in the Palmetto State.

July 18 - Just for fun: Beaufort District newspapers of the past (and present) have fairly traditional names. (I'd vote for the Bluffton Eccentric published between June 1987 and December 1991 as the best local newspaper title). However, Amber Paranick of the Library of Congress wrote about some funny newspaper titles that are to be found within the Chronicling America database that you might enjoy.

July 23 - On 19 July 2024, Library marketing sent out the BDC local history e-newsletter to subscribers. If you want to get this news quicker (that is, before it is reposted to Connections and then to our Facebook page), go to the Library's subscribe page, enter your email address, name, and check the Local History box to get on the BDC's email distribution list.

July 25 - We're always adding materials about the people and history of our geographically defined scope. Here's what came in since Valentine's Day.

July 27 - Heads up: The Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL - as well as SCDL) has a planned IT outage scheduled for today, Saturday, July 27 from 7:00am – 7:00pm. This means that the BDC's digital collections hosted thereon will not be available for at least 12 hours today. (Fingers crossed that all goes well and the LCDL is back up and running at 7:01 pm.) Note: It did.

Also, please join us Monday morning for a tour of Fort Frederick with Heritage Trust's archaeologist Meg Gaillard.

July 28 - Thomas Heyward, Jr., son of Daniel Heyward and his wife Mary Miles Heyward, was born at Old House Plantation, St. Luke’s Parish, 278 years ago today. Learn more about his life and times on our Links & List blog.