What to Expect in February 2025

The shortest month of the year is often one of the BDC's busiest. It definitely is in 2025. 

In case you didn't complete your Winter Reading during the recent wintry weather, there's still time. We're half way through the Winter Reading Program and we have plenty of reading suggestions to share. Go for "Short" books with titles on the flyer:  

But if you want to explore local history topics in more depth, we suggest that you take a look at the BDCBCL: Links, Lists and Finding Aids blog. Here are just a few of the topics with some book recommendations: 

• Spanish Legacy in Beaufort District
• Battle of Port Royal Ferry, 1862
• Bootlegging
• Crime, Murder, and Mayhem ... and much more

It's Black History Month. All the "Uniquely BDC" will feature items about Gullah history on Facebook in addition to our customary "Black History Note Wednesday" posts. You could choose some of the titles from the Gullah Culture flyer shown below to honor Black History Month and complete the 6 hours of reading benchmark for the Winter Reading Program.  (Just saying - or writing -- in this particular case.)

Or you can take a deeper drive into these Gullah related topics on the BDCBCL: Links, Lists and Finding Aids blog in honor of Black History Month - and still find more than 6 hours of reading's worth of choices to complete the Winter Reading Program:  

• Praise Houses in Gullah Religious and Social Practices
• Understanding Hags in Sea Island Culture
• Sweetgrass Baskets in the Lowcountry  ... and much more

February happens to be National Library Lovers Month, too. Libraries and librarians of all stripes have been under a lot of stress in the past few years so we particularly embrace (figuratively, not physically - since that could get us in even more hot water) all you Library Lovers out there.

We celebrate Valentine's Day with a change of Research Room decorations and a "Love in the Archives" Connections post - both by our newest staff member, Sydney. One thing that she's done since her arrival in November is to select an item from our holdings, create a surrogate, and then feature it near the Researcher Registration book. It's a nice touch. I've decided that she should continue the practice going forward. 

Even though the Library will be closed on February 17, 2025 for Presidents' Day, I've written some posts about US Presidents who have visited Beaufort District and Beaufort County in the past that you could read as part of your observance of the holiday.

BDC staff will be meeting, greeting, and sharing information about the autobiographical and memoirs present in the BDC in the USC Performing Arts Center lobby at the February 10th Friends of the Beaufort Library Books Sandwiched In session. The featured book Black Boy by Richard Wright will be presented by Jeffery Blount.  

Programs-wise: The BDC has 4 local history programs scheduled this month. We're covering topics from the American Revolution to current digital offerings by the BCL in February. I have a particularly fond spot in my heart (See how I sneaked a seasonal Valentine's Day reference in?) for the BDC's own Cassandra Knoppel who will share some of the treasures and challenges she's had processing archival collections over the past 6 months on Wednesday February 19th. For those who came to her presentation in July, Cassi is talking about different collections this time - so please feel free to join us again.

We're also working on re-scheduling the 3 programs that got cancelled in January. As soon as those details get finalized, we will announce the new dates.