Re-cap of BDC Facebook Posts in August 2024

We had a tropical event near the start of August that impacted one of our scheduled local history programs - and our overall schedule. Sometimes a specific post "fits" into more than one of the headings. --gmc

Finding Aid Friday Posts: 

Friday, August 2 - "Finding Aid Friday:" If you attended Cassandra's "Adventures in the Archives" presentation on July 24th, you would have been impressed with her research about the Presentation Album given to Mrs. Scheper. Read more about it: https://bit.ly/469kMUB

Friday, August 9 - "Finding Aid Friday:" Another "Adventure in the Archives" for Cassandra was getting intellectual control of the records of the Beaufort area League of Women Voters. https://bit.ly/3y7rgGV

Friday, August 16 - "Finding Aid Friday:" Cassandra highlighted the John C. Stevens III Research Files in her recent "Adventures in the Archives" presentation. Judge Stevens compiled the archival material described in the Finding Aid while researching his book "Court-Martial at Parris Island: The Ribbon Creek Incident" (1999, 2007). https://bit.ly/4bUph7

Friday, August 30 - "Finding Aid Friday:" Just uploaded: The Elizabeth Caldwell Collection of Samuel Doyle Materials, 1983-2003, undated Finding Aid https://bit.ly/4cUElSw

"Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday" Posts: 

Monday, August 5 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday" - The BDC has several lighthouse related folders of newspaper and magazine clippers in the Research Room, viz. HUNTING ISLAND - LIGHTHOUSE; also LIGHTHOUSES; LIGHTHOUSES - LEAMINGTON RANGE LIGHT; and LIGHTHOUSES--HARBOUR TOWN LIGHTHOUSE. You can read about the Haig Point Lighthouse in the DAUFUSKIE ISLAND vertical file and the LIGHTHOUSES file.

Monday, August 12 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" There's a phrase in the BDC's collection development policy that reads "materials to provide context" which is why the BDC has two titles about Vermonters in the Civil War. Today's post is about "Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890" by Elise A. Guyette. Loudon {sometimes spelled London] Langley was a Black Beaufort County official during Reconstruction. His ancestors were one of the few free Black and land-owning farmers in the state. At least one fought in the American Revolution; and Langley himself fought with the USCT. This well-researched book tells the fascinating story of closely related Black families in a small community in what was considered one of the whitest states in the country. The BDC is the only library within SCLENDS to have this title.

Monday, August 19 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" In 1860 there were 709 African Americans in Vermont. 152 of the men served in the Union Army during the Civil War. James Fuller provides biographical sketches of many of these men in "Men of Color, To Arms!: Vermont African-Americans in the Civil War" (2001). Louden S. Langley was one of them. He first served with the 54th Massachusetts and then with the 33rd USCT (AKA 1st South Carolina) stationed at Beaufort. Fuller also includes Langley's eyewitness account of his experience at the Battle of Honey Hill for the Weekly Anglo-African newspaper - and his complaints about pay inequity for Black soldiers. The BDC is the only SCLENDS library to have this title.

Monday, August 26 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" It's National Dog Day - and the Donner Brothers surely loved their dogs! Check out all the dogs in the Library's very first digital collection hosted by the Lowcountry Digital Library. Online since 2007 - https://bit.ly/4dspfUI

Black History Note Posts: 

Wednesday, August 14 - "Black History Note - and (Uniquely BDC):" Gen. David Hunter got himself in some political hot water when he decided to arm Black men to bolster the ranks of his army. The BDC is the only SCLENDS library to have his response to a series of Congressional questions about his actions: "South Carolina Volunteers. Letter from the Secretary of War, in answer to a resolution of the House of June 8, 1862, transmitting correspondence of Major General Hunter, in relation to arming South Carolina volunteers: fugitive slaves : July 2, 1862." Read more in Connections, the BDC's longest running blog: https://bit.ly/3SxlSUp

Wednesday, August 21 - "Black History Note:" Since it's American Artist Appreciation Month, I think that you would appreciate local folk artist Sam Doyle if you knew more about him and his work.

Wednesday, August 28 - "Black History Note:" Tonight's talk about the Hurricane of 1893 includes much information about what happened to the Black community as a result of the devastation. Almost all the known casualties in Beaufort County were African-Americans. Doors open to the Meeting Room at Beaufort Branch at 5:00; talk begins at 5:30PM. Free. We'll let people come as long as we stay below the Fire Marshal's capacity limit.

American Artist Appreciation Month Posts: 

Sunday, August 11 - Since it's American Artist Appreciation Month, we recommend the following library materials about Jonathan Green's work to you:

Tuesday, August 20 - While LeMoyne may not have been an "American artist," he is considered to be the first European to create art depicting America. "Art in South Carolina, 1670-1970" compiled and edited by Francis W. Bilodeau and Mrs. Thomas J. Tobias with E. Milby Burton (Columbia: South Carolina Tricentennial Commission, 1970) has Jacque Le Moyne's "Rene de Laudonniere and the Indian Chief Athone visits Ribaut's Column" (1564) gracing the cover. Sections are arranged chronologically and each is prefaced with an introduction about the art and artists featured. (Don't forget: our "Historically Speaking" lecture 6.1 will feature the art of LeMoyne on September 5th.)

Wednesday, August 21 - "Black History Note:" Since it's American Artist Appreciation Month, I think that you would appreciate local folk artist Sam Doyle if you knew more about him and his work.

Thursday, August 22 - Diligent research into identifying the artist of one of the most famous paintings of the enslaved led Susan Shames to some ground-breaking conclusions. Read more about John Rose of Beaufort District and his "The Old Plantation" painting. Better yet? Borrow her book and marvel at how Shames figured out which John Rose was the painter.

Tuesday, August 27 - James Reeve Stuart was born into a prominent Beaufort District family. He served in the Confederate forces during the Civil War. After the war, he became a well known artist, particularly of portraits of significant political and business figures.

Posts relating to Local History Programs: 

Monday, August 5 - Noon: PLEASE NOTE: Hurricane Debby has caused us to postpone the local history program scheduled for Tuesday. Monitor the Beaufort County Library's website for schedule updates due to the storm. - gmc 5 August 2024 at Noon

Tuesday, August 13 - Heads up: The "Historically Speaking" series Season 6 opens on September 5th with Larry Koolkin talking about the first European artist to depict life in what later became the southeastern United States.

Thursday, August 15 - The next local history program we're doing is the latest version of "Tide of Death: The Sea Island Hurricane of 1893" at Beaufort Branch. No registration. Just show up. Doors open at 5 on August 28th and we'll seat folks until we run out of chairs or meet Fire Marshal room capacity - whichever comes first.

Saturday, August 17 - We have rescheduled Ted Panayotoff's Author Book Talk about "Up Here: The Hunting Island Lighthouse and Its Keepers" (2024) at the Hilton Head Branch Library. Join us there on Tuesday, September 24th at 1:00 PM.

Sunday, August 25 - This week in the BDC: "Tide of Death" (a lecture featuring lots of our own archival materials) about the most devastating natural disaster to befall Beaufort County (to date) happens on Wednesday evening, the 131st anniversary of the hurricane at Beaufort Branch. We hope that you can join us.

Thursday, August 29 - One week to the return of the "Historically Speaking" series we co-sponsor with the Beaufort County Historical Society. Details: https://bit.ly/3LRd9bW

"Just Because" Posts:

Saturday, August 10 - Happy 223rd birthday, RWB.

Saturday, August 24 - Looking forward to the Meet-and-Greet at the newest branch of the Beaufort County Library system. I'll be there touting some of the BDC's online resources, upcoming programs, and pointing out the small local history section from 10 am to Noon today.

BDC Facebook Posts during July 2023

Because I was aware that I would be back to a one-person shop for awhile, Facebook posts had to be sacrificed. Thus, this post will be considerably shorter than heretofore customary. You will see a theme,  Reconstruction, because of our "Waving the Red Shirts of Redemption" local history program held on July 12th with National Park Service Supervisory Historian Nathan Betcher. More photos of that program are on the BDC's Facebook page. 

I covered the Overview of July 2023 in a separate Connections post. 

Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday

July 3, 2023: "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday" continues the theme of Black resistance. The BDC and Lowcountry Room Reference Collection at the Hilton Head Branch Library are the only two holders of A Profile of Runaway Slaves in Virginia and South Carolina, 1730 - 1787 in the SCLENDS consortium. Chapter titles are: The legal setting; The fugitive as a physical specimen; The fugitive's degree of acculturation; Fugitive demeanor and discourse; Flight and destination; and, The development of the fugitive slave clause in the Constitutional Convention.

BTW: If you want to learn more about the actions and opinions of the Beaufort District representatives at the Constitution Convention, we have a bibliography for that.

July 10, 2023: "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" As I was preparing a flyer of recommended materials to distribute at Nathan's program on July 12th, I found that the BDC has the only copy of Race and Politics in Post-Reconstruction South Carolina, 1876 - 1915 by Robert F. Kassinger. He wrote it as a Master's thesis for Kean College of New Jersey in June 1974. I ordered it on microfiche from ProQuest (document item EP11303) some years ago. This dissertation is not listed on WorldCat though one can still buy a reproduction via ProQuest. But buyers beware! The microfiche begins with a disclaimer: "Note to Users: This reproduction is the best copy available" - and they weren't joking. Most of the 114 page typescript is so light as to be illegible. However, the thesis contains some hand-drawn maps which are of interest in light of our upcoming program about politics in the 1870s. A reminder about that program [was included.]

July 17, 2023: "Uniquely BDC:" Editor Dorothy Sterling captures the words of former slaves about their personal histories during Reconstruction Era in The Trouble They Seen: The Story of Reconstruction in the Words of African Americans (Da Capo Press, 1994). Here one can find evidence "of unprecedented progress in the fields of politics, education, economics, and culture; and the inevitable tragic struggle by African Americans against southern white efforts to resume political power and to fetter black freedom with a thousand chains more durable than slavery."

BTW: The BDC has a small collection of Dorothy Sterling letters sent while she was researching her book about Robert Smalls in the 1950s. Learn more about those on our BDCBCL: Links, Lists and Finding Aids blog. (https://bdcbcl.wordpress.com) Make an appointment to come into our Research Room to see today's featured materials: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468.

July 24, 2023: "Uniquely BDC Materials Monday:" In honor of our most recent program, I recommend What Reconstruction Meant: Historical Memory in the American South by Bruce E. Baker (University of Virginia Press, 2007). We have the only copy in SCLENDS of this title. He "examines what both white and Black South Carolinians thought about the history of Reconstruction and how it shaped the way then lived their lives in the first half of the Twentieth Century." Several chapters are on topic with our most recent local history program, viz. "Wade Hampton's Legend in Ben Tillman's World; Celebrating the Red Shirts;" and "Memories and Countermemory." Baker looks at how different groups of people held different views of Reconstruction and how their respective views may have changed over time. He discusses how what happened in the past influences perceptions of the present and may well form projections about the future. Make an appointment to visit the Research Room to read this very interesting "social memory treatment" of a very important period of our past: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468

July 31, 2023: "Materials Monday: Uniquely BDC" - The only copy of The First Black Slave Society: Britain's Barbarity Times in Barbados, 1636-1876 by Hilary McD. Beckles (2016) within the SCLENDS consortium is in our Research Room. The book describes the brutal Black slave society and plantation system of Barbados and explains how this slave chattel model was perfected by the British and thence exported to Jamaica and South Carolina for profit. Factoid - and part of the reason why I chose to purchase this title for the BDC: The SC Slave Code of 1740 in the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion was based on the slave codes of Barbados.

According to reviewer Demetrius Eudell in the winter issue of the Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2018), "Beckles presents a political and economic history of Barbados from its founding as the paradigmatic 'pure plantation' slave society to the post-slavery era marked by the labor rebellions of the formerly enslaved. Using an extensive array of original sources from archival holdings in Barbados, London, and New York, Beckles chronicles the systematic subordination of Blacks for two and half centuries, enforced by “military machinery” and the execution of the law, beginning with the Slave Code of 1661 (24). Beckles also demonstrates that from the earliest moments, the enslaved challenged the conditions in which “the administering of physical and mental violence was the norm.”

Make an appointment to visit our Research Room and learn more about Barbadian influence in early South Carolina: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468

About Local History Programs and/or schedule changes:

July 3, 2023: Have a safe and pleasant Independence Day. The BDC will re-open on Wednesday for those who have a scheduled appointment already on our book.

July 6, 2023: Learn more about our next program presenter in "Connections." I do hope to see you there.

July 22, 2023: One month to "Tide of Death" at Hilton Head Island Branch Library.

July 23, 2023: In the spirit of transparency, I wrote about my plans and priorities on Connections earlier this month as the Library seeks to hire Olivia's successor.

Black History Note: Wednesday

July 5, 2023: "Black History Note:" This is very exciting! Volunteer-created transcriptions for the 54-ft long South Carolina voting rights petition signed in 1865 are now available on Library of Congress' website for search and discovery. - And you can't have an election without voters - and to learn more about the Reconstruction Era politics join us on July 12th for “Waving the Red Shirts of Redemption: Reconstruction Era Politics and the South Carolina Election of 1876” with Nathan Betcher (NPS) as an "Historically Speaking" Extra during Summer Reading Program 2023. We'll gather in the Beaufort Branch Library's Theresa Dunn Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street, beginning at 2:00 pm. This free program will be a "First Come, First Seated" local history opportunity. Thank you Beaufort County Historical Society for being one of the BDC's valued partners.

July 12, 2023: "Black History Note:" The Reconstruction period was the first time in which Black men in South Carolina could vote and hold office. Radical Republicans, Independent Republicans, Straight-out Democrats and Fusion Democrats all vied for votes and dominance during the 1876 Presidential election. Scandals, violence, malfeasance, and charges of voter fraud were rife. Some key local African American political figures were William Whipper and Robert Smalls. Join us at 2 pm today at the Beaufort Branch to learn more about this critical period in our nation's history from NPS Historian Nathan Betcher. First come, first seated. Doors open at 1:30 pm.

July 19, 2023: "Black History Note:" Recently I was evaluating additional sources re: the politics of the 1870s. I borrowed a number of titles from the SCLENDS consortium to evaluate if I should order one or more for the BDC. Among those items was a 7 page memoir written circa 1912 by John G. Guignard about the Election of 1876 and the turmoil in the SC Legislature. Therein I discovered two Black Beaufort County men mentioned on page 5 who had not been on my radar heretofore: Thomas Hamilton and N.B. Myers. I was intrigued.

Usually when I get curious about matters of Beaufort District's long and storied history, my next two steps are: 1) Check that Bible of Beaufort history, the 3 volumes by Dr. Rowland and 2) Check for the person(s) in the BDC's own Online Obituary Index. I found more in both.

The obituary cards shown here for Thomas Hamilton were published in the Palmetto Post newspaper on March 25, 1886. Next week, I'll share more about Nat Myers.

Even after almost 25 years here, I get the privilege of ahh ha! moments.

July 26, 2023: "Black History Note:" continuing the thread from last Wednesday, N.B. Myers, aka Nat, was the other Black man from Beaufort County who joined the Wallace House. His name is in our Online Obituary Index so I pulled his obituary card from our files. His death is noted in the Palmetto Post of 26 February 1885 on page 3 that recounts information found in the latest issue of the local Republican newspaper Sea Island News about recent deaths.

I am providing a transcription.

Harvest of Death

The past inclement winter has played havoc with a number of negroes in the vicinity of Beaufort enfeebled by insufficient food and clothing and other cause that add to the death among them. By the Republican paper published in Beaufort we counted no less than five or six deaths announced of negroes who had died in the week. By the manner of the announcement one would have supposed they were white people. After mentioning that in 400 or 500 feet of each other are buried three Republican sheriffs in the Catholic Cemetery in Charleston, the death of York Heyward, a mail carrier on St. Helena Island is announced, then Neil Mitchell, one of the town scavengers, then Peter Gibbes, then N. B. Myers and Daniel Major and now this week Moody Pinckney. [illegible] Judge Wright, who was of the same ilk, died in Charleston also last week.

Added values: 1. Few issues of the Sea Island News remain and the BDC does not have any issues at all, in physical form or on microfilm. 2. Only the first person named in a group of death notices is typed onto the actual obituary card. All deceased persons in a group of death notices are listed in our online obituary index (ooi). Most of the index entries point to the physical card(s) for the first named person of the group. 3. Try searching for your ancestors in the ooi.

Finding Aid Friday

July 7, 2023: In honor of Olivia's last day, I highlight the last archival collection she worked on: The Beaufort Power and Sail Squadron Records. She used Amanda Forbes' work in 2018 as the foundation for the revised Finding Aid and integrated more recently donated materials.

Summer Reading Program 2023 Related:

July 9, 2023: Looking for recommendations to fill that "Read about the Lowcountry" block on the Summer Reading 2023 Bingo card? Here's some under 200 pages for quick - entertaining - but educational reads.

... and now you have the information I provided on the BDC's Facebook page last month. As there is no new BDC Circulation Assistant as yet, the Redux plan will remain in effect throughout August 2023.

Just a reminder:

Limited access to the Research Room continues. Please email or contact me to make the necessary appointment: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6446. Because of a steady increase of in Research Room customers, I'd recommend that you contact us at least a week in advance of your proposed visit. Wouldn't you know that as soon as the BDC staff was cut in half - again - researchers would be clamoring for our slots.