Re-Cap of Facebook Posts, April 1 - May 15, 2025

I decided to adjust the former monthly re-cap into a 4 to 7 week re-cap depending on what else is going on. This one will cover the 6 weeks from April through mid-May. I have culled most references to local history programs that have already occurred. Some wording has changed here and there as well for clarification. 

1 April 2025 - No foolin': This is what the BDC has on our calendar for April.

2 April 2025 - "Black History Note" in Jazz Appreciation Month: "Master of African Drums", James Hawthorne Bey was a jazz percussionist and African folklorist whose musical career spanned more than a half century. He was born in Yemassee, SC in 1913 but grew up in Brooklyn NY. He was a consummate performer, under the stage name Chief Bey, playing drums into his 90s. He toured with Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" with Leontyne Price and Cab Calloway in the 1950s and made a number of albums with Herbie Mann, Art Blakely, Harry Belafonte, Pharoah Saunders and others. He appeared on Broadway and in two films.

Percussionist and member of the Howard Roberts Chorale, Bey presented a lecture about African music concentrating on African percussion instruments, including the shekere which he plays during a lecture presented at the University of Connecticut on January 25, 1977. The University of Connecticut's Special Collections has a digital recording of Chief Bey's lecture posted online for all to enjoy.

You can also hear him playing on the excerpt of "At the Village Gate" album by Herbie Mann (1961) on Hoopla and "African Beat" album by Art Blakey (1962) on Hoopla. (Note: You can access Hoopla through your Beaufort County Library card.)

3 April 2025 - River of Words is a series of annual compilations of art and poetry created by students of the Beaufort County School District. This poem from the 2022 issue is a tribute to the talented teachers and students and to the ever-evolving ecosystem of Beaufort. Below you will see the cover, title page, and an inspirational poem titled “The Day Starts with the Sunrise,” written by Andy Sheriff with art created by Teagan Rehbein. Just in case you're wondering: We have copies of the issues for 2013, 2015-2018, 2020-2022 so far.

4 April 2025 - Finding Aid Friday - The Sea Island Garden Club (SIGC), founded in 1937, is a Beaufort-based women’s organization focused on community service through gardening and flower arranging. The SIGC collection, spanning from 1977 to 2018, primarily documents the club’s regular activities, including monthly meetings, flower shows and gardening projects, and partnerships with other local organizations. It also includes meeting minutes, yearbooks, scrapbooks, and a large variety of photographs from the mid-1990s to 2018.

6 April 2025 - "This Week in the BDC": National Library Week is a pretty big deal here at the Beaufort County Library -- and Sydney found the perfect poem in the POETRY vertical file to set the mood for celebration of the Beaufort County Library.

“A Town’s Peculiarities, #2” was a poem written by Edith Bannister Dowling on May 20th, 1979 about the love and lore one can find in the Beaufort County Library system. When she wrote the poem, the system was considerably smaller - just the branches in Beaufort and Hilton Head and one bookmobile. The vertical file has a typescript of the poem and a photocopy of the poem in Dowling's own hand.

If you've been in any of our facilities, you're sure to have seen the posters highlighting some of our daily events this coming week. BDC Staff will be visiting BCTV staff on Tuesday; we're hosting a behind-the-scenes tour of the BDC on Wednesday evening; and on Thursday, we have a local history program at Bluffton Branch. As of this writing, we still have some spots available for our free but exclusive tour: bdc@bcgov.net ; 843-255-6468.

7 April 2025 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday" in Jazz Appreciation Month: "The Jazz Corner Story" began in 1999 when Bob Masteller opened his club featuring live jazz music and fine dining on Hilton Head Island. Author Martin J. McFie's narrative combines the history of jazz as a musical genre with the history of the club, brief biographies of some of the musicians who perform at the club, and recipes from some of the club's signature dishes into a lavishly illustrated book with 2 music CD's. Proceeds from the sale of the book/CD package support the Junior Jazz Foundation. Local publishing house Lydia Inglett first printed the volume in 2012. The BDC has the only permanent copy of this title in SCLENDS. There are two circulating copies you can borrow: one at Hilton Head Branch and the other at St. Helena Branch. 

8 April 2025 - 'Tis Library Workers Day. Every wonder about how the BDC staff ended up in the BDC - or what our personal interests and backgrounds might be? If so, read this Connections post.

9 April 2025 - "Black History Note Wednesday:" One of the items that we'll share tonight during the "Drawn to the Library" stacks tour is Gullah Woodburning Folk Art by Rev. Johnnie F. Simmons [2018]. It 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. Contact us before 4 PM for a spot for tonight's tour: 843-255-6468; bdc@bcgov.net.

9 April 2025 - We continued our celebration of National Library Week by visiting with Tony Virga and Jan Beaudrie over at BCTV yesterday. There could be an exploration of how we can work together on a thing or two as a result ... Just saying. To see some of our past collaborations, visit the "Beaufort County Moment" series.

10 April 2025 - (AM) We're heading over to Bluffton this morning with our friends from the Beaufort County Historical Society and National Park Service. Our program is free for anyone to attend. All that's required is an interest in Beaufort District's long and storied history.

10 April 2025 - (PM) It's "Poem in Your Pocket Day"! All you have to do is print out your favorite poem, fold it, and carry it in your pocket all day. But the Academy of American Poets would be happiest if you were to share that poem with another human being. Some participants even like to fold their poems into origami - designs for which Sydney has included in the photos. If you choose to participate, feel free to share a photo of your poem in the comments below!

11 April 2025 - (AM) "Finding Aid Friday" in National Garden Month - The Camellia Garden Club was established in 1939 in Beaufort, South Carolina. The collection includes yearbooks, scrapbooks, photographs, and other materials which document the club's history and activities. Samantha Perkins, Kristi Marshall, Cassandra Knoppel and I worked on this archival collection over several years.

Mid-day I posted photos from the reprise of the BDC/BCHS/NPS joint venture about the Freedom Seekers on the Planter with Robert Smalls with NPS' Chris Barr.

11 April 2025 - (PM) The BDC staff did our part to celebrate National Library Week: 2 programs; 1 outreach; and 3 "special days" in Library and literacy related clothing.

15 April 2025 - Red Letter Day in Local History - For a Native American group only recently arrived, the Yamasee played a critical role in the most important colonial war that few remember. Their best hope of pushing the English back into the Atlantic Ocean began with a massacre of Indian traders at Pocotaligo here in Beaufort District on Good Friday, April 15, 1715. We have lots of materials to share with you on this topic. If you're wondering what an Indian trader was and did, the "Indian Trade" entry on the South Carolina Encyclopedia has got you covered.

16 April 2025 - "Black History Note:" - Today's post was inspired Sydney Derrick's post on the South Carolina Historical Society's blog earlier this month. That post begins:"In April of 1868, men of all races in South Carolina got the chance to do something they never have before or since – vote in a public referendum on the state constitution" - which led me into the BDC stacks to look at the two copies the BDC has of the Convention's proceedings - which led me to re-discover a true treasure in our holdings: W.J. Whipper's personal copy of the 1868 proceedings donated to the Beaufort Township Library by former Beaufort County Clerk of Court E.B. Rodgers. Which sort of begs the question: How did Rodgers get the volume? Odds are, we'll never know.

In case you're wondering who W.J. Whipper was and why he's important in Beaufort District's history, these Connections posts and All or Civil Rights : African American lawyers in South Carolina, 1868-1968 by William Lewis Burke (2017) will explain. As you probably suspect for good stewardship reasons, customers will use the 1968 reprint edition published by Arno Press and the New York Times for their research because the Whipper copy is quite fragile.

I am delighted that even after 26 years, the contents of the BDC still surprise and delight me and spark curiosity: The positioning of the Beaufort Township Library bookplate does make one wonder what it covers up ... Read Derrick's post that sparked mine.

20 April 2025 - "This Week in the BDC" includes a closure on Tuesday for Staff Day. It also just so happens to be National Volunteer Week and the BDC has a cadre of awesome docents who deserve to be celebrated! Otherwise, BDC staff will be in the Research Room performing our respective usual and customary work duties.

In what has become something of a tradition, I share "At Easter Dawn" by Samuel Henry Rodgers (1845 - 1919) in honor of National Poetry Month and Easter. Rodgers wrote the poem and printed it in his newspaper, the local Palmetto Post newspaper for the first time in 1905:

At Easter Dawn

Sweetly the birds are singing

At Easter dawn;

Sweetly the bells are ringing;

On Easter morn.

And the words that they say,

On this Easter day,

Are, "Christ the Lord is risen."

Birds! forget not your singing

At Easter dawn;

Bells! be ye ever ringing

On Easter morn.

In the spring of the year,

When Easter is here,

Sing, "Christ the Lord has risen."

Buds! ye will soon be flowers

Cheery and white;

Snowstorms are changing to showers,

Darkness to light.

With the awakening of spring,

Oh, sweetly sing,

"Lo! Christ the Lord has risen."

Easter buds were growing

Ages ago!

Easter lilies were blowing

By the water's flow.

All nature was glad,

Not a creature was sad,

For Christ the Lord had risen.

We have copies of the Palmetto Post newspaper on microfilm for you to use in your research. BTW: It had the best masthead ever!

21 April 2025 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday" in Jazz Appreciation Month - Though the BDC does not have a lot of audio recordings, we do have some - including this one. Bob Masteller's Jazz for All Ages features live performances captured at the Jazz Corner in 2006. Running time is 67 minutes. Please make an appointment to come hear this so we can have the equipment all ready for you to enjoy the music! bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468.

22 April 2025 - A reminder: All units of the Beaufort County Library are closed today for Staff Day. We'll be out at Burton Wells learning how better to serve you.

And speaking of service: The BDC Research Room is very lucky to have 7 talented and dedicated volunteers. Here’s a shout out to Alison Cody, Molly Gray, Clinton Hallman, Laura Lewis, Kathy Mitchell, Joe Noll, and Peggy Scott. Each has a project that contributes to the BDC's goals and mission to provide access to research materials about local history. Currently underway are 3 transcription projects; 2 indexing projects; a vertical files project and a preservation re-housing project – each of which extends what BDC can do to protect and share the long and storied history of Beaufort District, its peoples, its places, and its challenges through time. Hip! Hip! Hooray! Hip! Hip! Hooray! Hip! Hip! Hooray! Thank you, Beloved BDC docents.

23 April 2025 -  (AM) "Black History Note" in National Poetry Month: Alvin J. Green is a Lowcountry native has a gift for reflecting upon life’s moments, both big and small, and turning them into pieces of poetry. Here in the BDC, we have Green’s collection of poems, The Struggle for Peace of a Gullah Mind (2009) which happens to contain one of Sydney's favorite poems in the BDC's holdings: “Cry at Midnight”.

23 April 2025 - (PM) I discovered an error in yesterday's post so I am including three nature poems selected by Sydney in the attached photos that were omitted in my Earth Day / Staff Development Day post. The poems can be found in the books "Heading Out" by Virginia Linton, "Island Anthology "by Jim Jackson, and "Apostrophe: USCB Journal of the Arts," Winter 2005/Spring 2006 edition.