Happy September! From the 15th of September to the 15th of October, Americans all over the world celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. What originally began as a weeklong appreciation under the Johnson administration was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan.
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| Display case. |
Every year, the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers vote on what the theme of National Hispanic Heritage Month will be. This year, the theme is “UNIDOS, SOMOS MAS.” which translates to “TOGETHER, WE ARE MORE.” The winning quote was submitted by Meleny Gomez, a Management and Program Analyst for the Federal Aviation Administration. The poster was designed by Meleny Gomez and Kirby Quiles-Brown, Equal Employment Specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration. You can see the poster pinned to the back of the first shelf of our display.
All of the following materials are available to view inside of the Beaufort District Collection. Some may even be available for checkout through SCLENDS which I will denote with an asterisk. If your home branch does not have the title available, you may place the item on hold and it can be transferred to your branch.
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| Shelf one. |
Poster 433: "Beaufort County School District Pre-K Screenings Now Open for the 2026-2027 School Year." Posters are an item that we are constantly collecting as they visually display the ongoing events in Beaufort District. Though we primarily focus on the "historical stuff" (50+ years), we do collect present day material so it will be here for generations to come. This particular poster is double sided; one side is in English and one side is in Spanish, which has become a common practice for school districts and library systems. I could have chosen any year's back-to-school poster or even this year's summer reading game board, but this poster happened to be our newest addition!
From our ever-evolving collection of Beaufort County Library Records, we have surrogate photographs of the 2003 Sabor Latino Festival held at St. Francis by the Sea Catholic Church on Hilton Head Island. The library set up their own booth to celebrate, pass out flyers, and it even looks like they brought a craft for attendees to interact with. There were a plethora of other booths set up as you can see in the other photos; presumably filled with delicious food and talented craft vendors. There appears to have been an parade with bands, flags, and adults and children alike dressed in traditional Hispanic garments such as huipils and polleras. As I mentioned before, this collection is constantly expanding as the library is consistently adding new records. The collection covers the period of 1914 up to the present day and provides wonderful insight into the evolution of our community.
La Isla is a bilingual magazine that began on Hilton Head Island in 1999. The company was founded at a time when Beaufort's Hispanic immigrant community began to exponentially increase, and it has only continued growing since! The magazine is published monthly and can be found all over the county, including in your local library branches. The BDC collects one copy of every publication to store within our archives, so we will always have a holding of La Isla to look back on. This specific copy is the October 2001 publication that served as a memorial honoring those we lost on September 11th.
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| Shelf two. |
Seeds of Change: A Quincentennial Commemoration by Herman Viola (1991) is a companion volume to the National Museum of Natural History's exhibition "Seeds of Change" which ran from October 1991 through April 1993. The exhibition, as well as its companion volume, set out to showcase the extreme, and at times nonexistent, differences between the Old and New Worlds, using 500 years since Christopher Columbus' voyage as a time marker. The main focal points, or "seeds," were corn, disease, the horse, the potato, and sugar. This volume contains numerous scholar written articles. The one I would like to highlight is Hispanic American Heritage by Joseph P. Sanchez. Sanchez covers Spanish exploration of the Americas through the American Revolution. He even calls attention to crediting Hispanic contribution in the development of the Americas. *Available for check out through SCLENDS.
Poems and Paragraphs by Robert Elliot Gonzales (1918). Gonzales was a journalist and a poet who attended the University of South Carolina. He founded the school's student ran newspaper in 1908, The Gamecock, and became its first editor-in chief. He was an editorial writer for The State, where he became well known for various columns. Unfortunately, he died only a few years later of pneumonia. The State began receiving numerous tributes for Gonzales, all of which The State included in Poems and Paragraphs along with Gonzales's articles and poetry from his time with the paper. His time may have been cut short, but his legacy will live on in this compilation of his craft. *Available for check out through SCLENDS.
Poster 214: "Santa Elena 1566-1587: 450th Anniversary: 25th Annual South Carolina Archaeology Month, October 2016." Another poster from our collection depicts Pedro Menéndez de Avilés by Francisco de Paula Marti (1791) from a painting by Tiziano Vecellio above a map of what was referred to at the time as "New Spain." The poster contains an entire back page full of incredible archaeological facts in honor of the 450th anniversary of Santa Elena. We have a physical copy of the poster here in the BDC, but you are also able to access a copy of the poster online.
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| Shelf three. |
One of our many wonderful online resources is our WordPress Blog. On our WordPress Blog is an entire post dedicated to Spanish Legacy in Beaufort District. The post begins with a brief overview, including a history from the Beaufort County Comprehensive Plan (2010), and then provides various continuing resources that you can find online, check out through SCLENDS, and view inside the BDC.
Port Royal Under Six Flags: The Story of the Sea Islands by Katharine M. Jones (1960) spans five centuries of history, all of which took place across the Sea Islands. These Sea Islands, most notably the Santa Elena area in 1526, were discovered by none other than Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón, a Spanish explorer and judge. Another Spanish squadron was sent by Phillip II in June of 1564 to destroy what had become Charlesfort. Mission accomplished, they set off to Cuba and returned to Santa Elena two years later to solidify their stronghold in the Sea Islands. This is truly the simplest summary of events; if you would like an in depth, chronological overview with primary documentation, this is a terrific title for you. *Available for check out through SCLENDS.
Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena by Stanely South, Russell K. Skowronek, and Richard E. Johnson (1988). If you enjoy both archaeology and history like I do, then this is the piece for you. Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena is an almost 500 page anthropological study on the artifacts found at the sixteenth century capital. This was a joint project between the University of South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology and the National Science Foundation. This volume begins with a preface and introduction that acquaints the reader with the excavation. Then, an historical background is provided on the area followed by a project background. Finally, there are the most incredible figures, photographs, sketches, tables, and more, all of which show images from the excavation, artifacts found at the site, and recreations of how materials would have looked at the time.
The Spanish Pioneers in United States History, Santa Elena: Spanish Settlements on the Atlantic Seaboard from Florida to Virginia 1513 to 1607 by Eloy J. Gallegos (1998). Gallegos labels each of the Spanish pioneers in Santa Elena's history with fitting titles. Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón is The Scholar, as he was known to be a very "learned and wealthy man" that came from a noble family "trained in the art of war." Tristán de Luna Y Arellano, The Veteran, was originally tasked with establishing a Spanish colony with a route to Santa Elena on the Atlantic facing side of the continent. This however, did not come to pass. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who excelled in purpose, skill, and paved his way in the name of the King of Spain, is named The Colonizer. His strengths aided him in founding Santa Elena as the capital of La Florida in 1566. For more on Juan Ponce de León, Father Juan Baptista Segura, and explorer and military captain Juan Pardo, you can view Gallegos's in-depth analysis here in the BDC. *Available for check out through SCLENDS.
Vertical files hold materials such as clippings, pamphlets, or articles pertaining to the subject of the file. These files act as a gateway; they can provide context that may point researchers to a new path of resources. If you are interested in learning more about the importance and use of these files, you can check out The Value of Historical (and Permanent) Vertical Files. The following vertical files offer researchers an informative glance into Beaufort District's Hispanic communities:
- VF ACERCAMIENTO HISPANO DE CAROLINA DEL SUR
- VF BEAUFORT--LIBRARY LATIN AMERICAN COUNCIL FOCUS GROUP
- VF FORT MOSE
- VF HISPANIC COMMUNITY
- VF LATIN AMERICAN COUNCIL OF SOUTH CAROLINA
- VF SANTA ELENA
- VF SANTA ELENA HERITAGE FOUNDATION
- VF SCHOOLS--HISPANIC STUDENTS
- VF 1430 AM
You can find all sorts of valuable information in vertical files. For example, on the first shelf you can see a newspaper clipping that was published in the Island Packet dated April 30th, 2006, on page 1D. The clipping is covering the Family Fiesta Latina held on Hilton Head Island by the Hispanic Cultural Committee and the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. The festival celebrated the colorful contributions and customs that Hispanic families have gifted to community. Attached to the back of the second shelf is the beginning of an article entitled “Bridging the Border” which was published in the June 1998 issue of the Hilton Head Monthly. At the time, Hilton Head was experiencing a massive increase in its Hispanic population, with numbers almost tripling. Paula Magrini, author of this article, interviewed recent immigrants to Hilton Head to share their first-hand stories and the change they wish to bring to their new community. Both of these articles were found in the Hispanic Community vertical file.
If you would like to take a closer look at these publications, we have the Island Packet available to view on microfilm from July 1970 to March 2015 and we have the following years of the Hilton Head Monthly available: 1993, 1995-2015.
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| Shelf four. |
Mary Long’s Yesteryear: Conquistadors and Explorers, South Carolina under the Spanish Flag from the South Carolina Educational Television Network (1988). This episode of Mary Long's Yesteryear, hosted by the educator herself, is available to view online with an SCETV account, or you can come view it the old fashioned way on VHS here in the BDC! Long tells the intense tales of two well know Spanish conquistadors, Hernando de Soto and Juan Pardo. De Soto made his way all through the Southeast, exploring Mexico all the way to North Carolina based on a rumor of gold. Pardo's journey went the opposite direction from South Carolina to Mexico, with a mission to expand outward from the capital of Santa Elena.
El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America by Carrie Gibson (2019) begins with Juan Ponce de León's arrival to Florida in 1513, all the way to present (publication) day. Events are covered from across the country, but here in the BDC we try to stick to Beaufort District. Chapter one spans from 1492 to 1550 and encompasses the Spanish settlement of Santa Elena; moving forward with pivotal moments in Spanish exploration, expansion and contribution to American development. El Norte strings together these various events to emphasize the fact that cultural issues surrounding belonging, community, and so much more have existed from our arrival and still continue to this day. *Available for check out through SCLENDS.
American Conquistador: An Action-Adventure that is More Robin Hood than Robin Hood. And the Story is True! by Daryl Arden Ferguson (2022) is an historical adventure that begins with two young European boys, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés of Spain and Gaspard de Coligny of France. Coligny comes from wealth while Menéndez and his family works for everything in their lives. As the two grow into adulthood, their callings clash when they both strive to place the first European colony on America. Of course, we know how this story ends; but sometimes it is fun for historical material to whisk the reader away on an epic journey. *Available for check out through SCLENDS.
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If you are interested in any of the materials I have shared today or wish to explore our collection for yourself: walk-ins are sometimes accepted, while appointments are always encouraged. To make an appointment, send an email to bdc@bcgov.net or give us a call at 843-255-6468. We hope to hear from you soon!
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