Pictorial Annuals & Directories in the Research Room

As regular readers are likely aware by now, the BDC adapted to Library's theme for Summer Reading 2025 as "'Color Our World' with History" - which inspired me to a search for pictorial works related to local history and the BDC's holdings. 

The catalog search that I did for "pictorial works" in the BDC had a bit of a surprise for me. The hit list included a lot of school annuals - which, when I thought a moment or two about it - does indeed make sense. School annuals mostly consist of images of students, teachers, administration, staff, and groups of the above. 

Accordingly, I updated the "School Annuals in the BDC" post first made in 2020 to include the latest school annuals to arrive in the Research Room. 

BTW: We always, always appreciate the opportunity of first refusal when it comes to local school annuals. Perhaps we are gifted a year we do not have. Perhaps we are gifted a cleaner copy of a year we do have. If we cannot add the gift to our holdings, we give the school annual to the Friends of the Beaufort Library. Sometimes, though, due to the mold and water damage apparent when the school annual arrives, we must properly dispose of the donation in order to protect our materials. 

Directories in the BDC are a mixed bag. Some directories are indeed pictorial, while others, such as telephone directories, Polk City Directories for Beaufort and Hilton Head Island, and InfoUSA City or Hill Donnelly Cross Reference directories have few, if any, pictures. We have select news media directories, vacation directories, literary directories, directories of County officials, biographical directories and chamber of commerce and other business directories too. 

Church directories sometimes have portraits of members. For example, the BDC has a copy of the 2009 Directory of St. Peter Catholic Church and Holy Cross Mission that I gave the BDC myself some years ago. I figure that going forward more people will benefit from it being in the Library's special collections and archives unit than within my own descendants. Perhaps you have a local church directory that you could donate too. I know of a recent reference question that was answered by access to the directory of a different local church. Going forward interest in the people and family groups who were photographed for a church's directory will only grow more "historic" with time. 

Just like the school annuals, we appreciate the getting a "first refusal" offer. Reach out if you'd like to discuss the donation process: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468.  As I try to continually emphasize, the BDC is designed for the long haul by accepting contemporary materials now that future generations will be delighted to have access to in 2050 or 2125.