As is my established practice, events that have taken place are omitted. The entire BDC staff contributed Facebook posts during May: Cassandra focused in on preservation - Preservation Week and National [Historic] Preservation Month; Sydney on postcards; and I did most of the remaining ones. - gmc
May 1 - (12 AM) My historical hero, Benjamin Franklin wrote "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" which means that it is easier and better to stop a problem from happening than to fix it afterward. Though he coined the phrase in 1736 as a reference to fire safety, the phrase has a much larger application. The proverb emphasizes that proactive, small efforts (prevention) prevent much larger, costly, or difficult fixes (cure) later. Here in the BDC we observe MayDay in just such a way: risk assessment, mitigation, analysis, risk assessment, mitigation, analysis is a frequent cycle of activity when it comes to being a good steward of historically important materials.
May 1 - (Noon) May Day, May Day! Save your archives! In honor of May Day and Preservation Week, the BDC wants to make sure that your collections will be safe in a disaster.
Here are some disaster planning and response tips for personal collections:
- Create an emergency preparedness plan and a disaster kit, along with a check-list of “must have” records and treasured heirlooms to bring during an evacuation. Make note of the locations of your records and heirlooms in your emergency plan if they are not kept in one spot. Doing so will make grabbing your collections during an evacuation much easier!
- Make digital copies and back-ups of your most important records and documents. Store those back-ups in safe locations or on the cloud so they are not lost in a disaster.
- After a disaster, follow professional salvage advice from organizations like NEDCC and NPS, and contact a conservator to restore any damaged heirlooms. Wear proper PPE during salvage efforts. Do not prioritize the safety of objects over your own health and safety!
May 1 - (6 PM) Monthly overview
May 2 - It's the last day of Preservation Week, and the BDC has one final tip for you. Since National Postcard Week begins tomorrow, we're taking the time to share some advice on preserving your postcard collections.
- Like photographs, postcards should be stored in archival-safe plastic sleeves, like those made of polypropylene.
- Organize your postcards upright in an archival box that best fits the postcards. Oversized postcards might need to be stored in separate boxes or in a folder near the main collection. Do not fold materials.
- Postcards can be arranged in any order that makes sense to you: by date, name, subject of the postcard's image, etc.
- If the correspondence on the postcard is valuable to you, consider transcribing it! Writing in cursive is growing less common, and as a result the ability to read it is also decreasing in younger generations. Transcribing the messages on postcards now preserves the content for your descendants.
May 4 - (AM) Independence (Mon)Day: The Battle of Coosawhatchie happened 247 years ago. A small Patriot contingent led by Col. William Moultrie and his subordinate Col. John Laurens encountered a British force of about 2400 Redcoats under the command of Gen. Augustine Prevost. Laurens was supposed to fall back with his men. Instead he crossed the river and set up a battle line on poor ground to engage the enemy. His men suffered from well placed long range artillery fire; Laurens was wounded. His subordinate, Capt. Thomas Shubrick, ordered the Patriots to fall back to the Tullifinny River and then back towards Charleston. The Battle of Coosawhatchie was a British victory.
"Battle of Coosawhatchie, May 3, 1779" is SC PRINT 138 in our holdings.
2 Asides: 1 ) That's Major William Hazzard Wigg riding upon his horse "Independence" to Col. Laurens' rescue. 2) The victor British General Augustine Prevost was called "Old Bullet Head" on account of a disfiguring wound to his face acquired during the Seven Years' War.
61 days until Independence Day 2026 - and the official 250th anniversary of our republic!
May 4 - (PM) National Postcard Week: Today we have a postcard from our Artificial Beaufort County Postcard Collection, 1900-present. Titled “Ruins of Old Sheldon Church between Beaufort and Walterboro, S.C.,” this postcard depicts the ruins draped by a plethora of oaks and Spanish moss. The church was estimated to have been built between 1751 and 1757 but was partially burned by local Loyalists during the American Revolution. General Augustine Prevost ordered a raid in 1779 which initiated the action.
You may be wondering, what exactly is an “artificial” collection? Great question! Artificial collections are collections created by archivists out of materials given by different donors that share a similar subject matter or format. A standard archival collection is donated by a single person and consists of a distinct grouping of items that archivists do not add to or adjust. In regard to this specific collection, these postcards were all donated by library staff, anonymous donors, and purchased specifically for the collection.
If you would like to learn more about Sheldon Church or would like to see one of our many different postcards of the ruins, schedule an appointment today: bdc@bcgov.net or (843) 255-6468.
May 5 - (AM) National Postcard Week: Today we have a postcard from the Lucille Hasell Culp Postcard Collection, 1940 – 1981. Titled “Beaufort Waterfront, Beaufort, S.C.,” you can see a shrimp boat floating in the water with a man standing toward the back. A note is even scribbled on the bottom that states “a shrimp boat coming in.” The Beaufort District Collection holds quite a bit of Beaufort’s long and storied history of shrimping. Our vertical file collection contains multiple files of the subject, including shrimping, boating, shipwrecks, shipbuilding, ship captains, ship registers, and so much more.
What are vertical files, you may ask? 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. You never know what you may find!
If you want to learn more about the economic fluctuations of the shrimping industry in Beaufort, the environmental impacts of shrimp farming, or why there has been such a drastic decrease in Lowcountry shrimp boats over the last one hundred years, schedule an appointment today: bdc@bcgov.net or (843) 255-6468.
May 5 - (PM) The BDC staff are enjoying the Revolutionary festivities, too! After our most recent program on Hilton Head, we took a quick pitstop at the Charles Cotesworth Pinckney historical marker to complete that question on our BCHS/BCL/Beaufort County 250 Revealing the Revolution Scavenger Hunt sheets (and we even snapped a selfie!). How many markers have you visited so far? If you haven't started, you can pick up a brochure for the County-wide scavenger hunt or the shorter library edition at your closest BCL branch library. Learn more about everything the Library has planned to celebrate America's 250th in Grace's post on the Library's new Soundings blog.
May 6 - “Black History Note” and National Postcard Week: Today we have a postcard from the Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection, 1900 – 1985 titled “The Mather School.” This postcard is a two-in-one, offering two glimpses into what life was like for young Black girls attending school in early twentieth century Lowcountry South Carolina. The postcard does not have a publication date, but the correspondence on the back is postmarked March 25, 1955.
In the top photo you can see three girls standing outside of a building wearing what is most likely their school uniform: midi dresses and skirts, knee length socks, and cardigans. The cardigans paired with the baren tree next to them indicates that it was most likely winter. The second photo appears to be taken during a class change period. The girls are passing each other while carrying their bags and books; some are chatting while some are determined to be elsewhere. The short sleeve shirts, knee length skirts, and freshly blooming trees could point to springtime, but in the Lowcountry, who knows?!
There are a few postcards of the Mather School scattered throughout our postcard collections. The Beaufort District Collection holds quite a bit of history on the school itself; from titles to yearbooks, vertical files and more. If you are interested in seeing any of these materials for yourself, schedule an appointment today: bdc@bcgov.net or (843) 255-6468.
May 7 - (AM) National Postcard Week: Today we have a postcard from the Robert E. H. Peeples Postcard Collection, 1910 – 1989. Titled “Bay St. Showing new Bank Building, Beaufort, S.C.,” it is exactly as it sounds. You can see the bank and many other notable buildings still standing on Bay Street today. The correspondence on the back of the postcard was dated 1910, placing the production date either in the early twentieth or late nineteenth century. Bay Street is rich in history, and this single postcard offers a solid, but restrained, view of it.
The Beaufort District Collection contains books, files, maps, prints, videos, and more that offer detailed descriptions of downtown’s storied past. If you are looking to learn more about Bay Street, perhaps you may want to view VF MAIN STREET BEAUFORT, one of our residential files located on Bay Street, or one of our surname files of a family that lived and/or conducted business downtown.
If you would like to learn more about Bay Street’s history or view more of our Bay Street postcards, schedule an appointment today: bdc@bcgov.net or (843) 255-6468.
May 7 - (PM) Curious about what's new (or new-to-us) in the Research Room?
May 8 - (AM) "Finding Aid Friday" - April showers are said to bring May flowers - which brings to mind yet another garden club. The Sea Island Garden Club is the second oldest garden club in Beaufort County. We take care of some of their records in the Research Room. Read the Finding Aid.
May 8 - (PM) National Postcard Week: Today we have another postcard from the Artificial Beaufort County Postcard Collection, 1900-present. Titled “National Cemetery, Beaufort, S.C.,” the postcard depicts the entrance of the cemetery, including what is now the main office. Fun fact: The oldest postcard in the BDC is a "Privately Printed Card" from the Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection of the Beaufort National Cemetery made between 1898 and 1901. This particular postcard is available to view online through the Lowcountry Digital Library.
The Beaufort National Cemetery is located in Beaufort, South Carolina at 1601 Boundary Street and is open daily for self-guided tours. The cemetery was founded in 1863 to provide eternal resting places for those who died while serving the United States. It was officially placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
The Beaufort District Collection holds various maps and vertical files on the Beaufort National Cemetery, Civil War Burial Records from the cemetery, and multiple arachnological and inventory surveys completed on the land. If you are interested in viewing any of these materials, schedule an appointment today: bdc@bcgov.net or (843) 255-6468.
May 9 - National Postcard Week: From the Beverly Bowers Jennings Postcard Collection, 1900 – 2018 we have a postcard titled “Bridge to Hilton Head, South Carolina.” The bridge was built in 1956 and became the Island’s first permanent connection to the mainland. Named for the notable South Carolinian politician, the bridge was formally dedicated to James F. Byrnes on May 19, 1956. The Beaufort District Collection is home to the Beaufort Scrapbook, 1944 – 1959 which holds images from the bridge’s dedication ceremony pamphlet. The BDC contains a variety of materials on all of the many bridges in Beaufort District, including books, inventories, maps, prints, studies, vertical files, and more. If you are interested in learning more, schedule an appointment today: bdc@bcgov.net or (843) 255-6468.
May 11 - Independence (Mon)Day: 246 years ago tomorrow Major General Sir Henry Clinton, Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot and Major General Charles Lord Cornwallis of the British forces successfully seized Charleston, forcing Patriot General Benjamin Lincoln to surrender the town and his entire army to the Redcoats on May 12, 1780.
Among the captured and imprisoned in Charles Towne was Beaufort District's own Thomas Heyward, Jr.
And Then There Were Thirteen: Second Charleston 1780 (AKA The Siege and Capture of Charleston, South Carolina) is narrated by historian Henry Lumpkin. It's considered one of SCETV's classics. You can watch it online OR you can watch the video on the DVD player in our Research Room. Tip: If you want to come view it in the Research Room, it's best to let us know you're coming so we can have the equipment set up and ready for you upon your arrival: 843-255-6468; bdc@bcgov.net.
54 days to the 250th anniversary of our republic - which means you have only 52 days to complete our "Revealing the Revolution" challenge, co-sponsored by the Beaufort County Historical Society and the Beaufort County 250th committee. Pick up the game sheets at any Library branch or bookmobile.
May 12 - (AM) 164 years ago tonight, Robert Smalls was ready to take the biggest risk of his life - stealing away "The Planter" and sailing into the Union blockade in Charleston harbor. Learn more about this "War Hero, Public Servant, and Man of Mark" on the BDC's [other] blog.
May 12 - (PM) This Place Matters, particularly in National Historic Preservation Month.
A new historic preservation database has begun: Mapping Our Shared History funded by the Mellon Foundation. As the website notes, "For decades, the story of America’s historic places has been told in bits and pieces. Information about them sits scattered across agency hard drives, historic commission meeting minutes, and decades-old surveys. While thousands of properties have been formally designated as historic, we lack a nationwide understanding of what they are, where they are located, and what rules protect them."
Nevada and Connecticut are completed; South Carolina is yet to come.
May 13 - "Black History Note in National Preservation Month:" This year's theme is "All People are Created Equal" so it is fitting for us to draw your attention to materials about freedman Cyrus Garvin's house built on the property of his former enslaver Joseph Baynard ca. 1870. The Garvin family owned the structure until 1961.
The property was in dire physical condition when the Beaufort County Land Trust acquired the house and property in 2001. Beaufort County and the Town of Bluffton partnered to maintain and restore the Garvin House in 2004 as part of the Oyster Factory Park. Restoration of the historic house was completed in 2017.
We have a vertical file on the property and a copy of The Garvin House : a preservation & interpretation plan for an 1870 freedman's home : July 15, 2009 : and Appendix, August 15, 2009 by Laura Budak (2009) in our Research Room. You can also read Charlotte Adams' thesis, Beyond Preservation : Reconstructing Sites Of Slavery, Reconstruction, And Segregation (2018) that discusses the Garvin House online.
May 15 - "Finding Aid Friday": People like to see pictures. In Archives Land, the Finding Aid is meant to precede the digitization - but sometimes the cart comes before the horse.
6 of our 9 digital collections hosted on the Lowcountry Digital Library website are image collections. One of Cassi's performance goals for this fiscal year was to write and post Finding Aids to all of the collections we've partnered with the Lowcountry Digital Library to host so far over the years. Cassi finished writing the Finding Aid to the "Civil War and Reconstruction Era Stereoscope Photographs of the Port Royal Region Collection." Only one more to go before we can check this off my pre-retirement list of projects to oversee.
May 16 - Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Why not try the Revealing the Revolution Scavenger Hunt by BCHS, BCL, and Beaufort County 250? Michaela K. was one of the first to complete the library edition of the Scavenger Hunt. She had a great time searching the Beaufort Branch for each marker.
Pick up a brochure for the County-wide scavenger hunt or the shorter Library edition at your closest BCL branch library. Learn more about everything the Library has planned to celebrate America's 250th in Grace's Soundings blog post.
May 18 - "Independence (Mon)Day:" Last week I highlighted the capture of Charleston by the British. What happened to the revolutionaries after Charleston fell on May 12, 1780? Patriots in Exile: Charleston Rebels in St. Augustine during the American Revolution by James Waring McCrady and C.L. Bragg (2020) explores that tale.
Their book began began as a family history project but soon became a "chronicle ... of sixty-three-patriots-in-exile", including Beaufort's owner signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Heyward, Jr., and Charleston and Beaufort merchant Daniel DeSaussure who was part of the Beaufort Council of Safety in 1775; a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress, 1776-1776, South Carolina House of Representatives, 1776 – 1780 and a captain in the Beaufort militia.
We're another week closer to the big day - Independence Day 2026! Have you finished the BDC/Beaufort County Historical Society/Beaufort County 250th Committee "Revealing the Revolution" challenge yet?
This book highlights the British perspective on the matter. Loyalist attorney, Royal official, and Charleston resident who became Gen. Henry Clinton’s personal secretary in 1780, James Simpson was the architect of a crackdown on paroled rebels after the fall of Charleston on May 12, 1780. Simpson worked hand-in-hand with Lt. Col. Nisbet Balfour to punish “that set of villains” with the concurrence of Gen. Lord Cornwallis. Heyward was arrested in the first round-up of revolutionaries on August 27, 1780. DeSaussure’s arrest came later on November 15, 1780. Both men would be transported to St. Augustine.
Following news of the first round-up, Gen. George Washington was instructed to inquire about the justification of the transfer of paroled citizens to St. Augustine on October 6, 1780. British Gen. Cornwallis wrote back: “In regard to [Washington’s] complaint … I have only to say that the insolence of their behavior, the threats with which they in the most daring manner endeavoured to intimidate our friends, the infamous falsehoods which they propagated through the town and country, and the correspondence which they constantly kept up with the enemy, rendered it indispensably necessary that they should either be closely confined or be sent out of the province. The milder measure was adopted, and they were sent, with every convenience which their situation would admit of, to a better climate than South Carolina.” (p. 63).
I particularly like Appendix A in which the authors provide short biographical sketches of the exiles.
Only 47 days left to July 4th; only 45 days left for you to finish the BDC/ BCHS/ BC250th "Revealing the Revolution" Challenge. Pick up your game sheet, correctly answer the questions, and return to be entered to receive an appropriate prize!
May 20 - “Black History Note in National Preservation Month:” On Wednesdays this month, the BDC is highlighting some of the historical sites in Beaufort County that tell a story about Beaufort’s heritage and show us that “All People are Created Equal.” Today, we’d like to share the story of the Cotton Dike Cemetery on Dataw Island with you all.
When the Cotton Dike Cemetery was established, possibly as early as 1785, it was part of the Sams Plantation. It was the “slave” cemetery, used to inter the bodies of enslaved men and women who worked in the nearby cotton and indigo fields. For nearly 200 years, enslaved people and their descendants were buried in graves along the marshy shore, often without a headstone (or perhaps with markers that have degraded or washed away) and without a written record.
Despite this lack of records, family members knew where their loved ones had been buried, so the area remained a sacred site. However, the extent of the graveyard was not understood. In 2006, the Dataw Historic Foundation hired a firm to use ground-penetrating radar to survey the cemetery grounds to record and count the grave sites. At least 38 sites were found and, through the help of local families, 24 of the interred were identified. A rededication ceremony was held at Cotton Dike Cemetery in December of 2007 to honor the departed by their families. DHF also installed a marker which shares the history of the cemetery with visitors and names the known individuals buried there.
You can learn more about Cotton Dike Cemetery, and other historic cemeteries on St. Helena Island, in the St. Helena Island Cemetery Inventory Records archival collection housed in the BDC.
May 21 - The Juan Pardo Expeditions by Charles Hudson, (1990) revised edition with new index with documents relating to the Pardo Expeditions, transcribed, translated and annotated by Paul E. Hoffman and afterword by David G. Moore, Robin A. Beck, Jr. and Christopher B. Rodning (2005) covers Pardo's two journeys with a contingent of 120-125 Spanish soldiers that commenced from Santa Elena. The first expedition ran from December 1, 1566 to March 7, 1567; the second from September 1, 1567 to March 2, 1568.
This volume mines the Pardo documents to reveal a wealth of information pertaining to Pardo's routes, his encounters and interactions with native peoples, the social, hierarchical, and political structures of the Indians, and clues to the ethnic identities of Indians known previously only through archaeology. The new afterword reveals recent archaeological evidence of Pardo's Fort San Juan -- the earliest site of sustained interaction between Europeans and Indians - -demonstrating the accuracy of Hudson's route reconstructions.
May 22 - "Finding Aid Friday:" The Gullah Festival going on this weekend was established in 1987 to honor and recreate the atmosphere of a celebration called Decoration Day. It is held over the Memorial Day weekend. Rosalie Pazant, her family, and Deloris Nevils helped found the event. The BDC has a vertical file of clippings about the festival and the Pazant Family, and a small archival collection, the Deloris Nevils Papers, that include information about the festival.
May 23 - Survey says ... You want more reading suggestions (or at least the folks who participated in the Library system's strategic plan said so).
Because NPS Ranger Eric Ellis gave us an excellent talk on a complicated series of events in the 1870s and the BDC has a lot of resources on the topic, I put together a Connections post, "Reading Suggestions about Party Politics during the Reconstruction Era" for some recommended titles about the tumultuous political shenanigans of the post-Civil War era for all you BDC history nerds to explore.
May 26 - It's Hurricane Preparedness Month. Nothing reinforces the need to prepare for the next major storm quite like a new digital exhibit about the recovery efforts after the Great Sea Island Hurricane.
"Mapping Recovery: The 1893 Hurricane and Black Sea Island Communities" curated by Caroline Grego is a Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. Some of the BDC's resources are featured in the online exhibit. See "Credits" and "Further Reading" sections for additional details.
Our digital partnership with the LCDL just keeps on giving. Deciding to partner with LCDL was the 2nd best decision of my library career.
May 27 - “Black History Note in National Preservation Month:” For the last few weeks, we’ve been sharing some of Beaufort’s historical sites which show us that “All People are Created Equal.” We’re wrapping up the month with a recent preservation success story: Tabernacle Baptist Church!
Many of you know the Tabernacle Baptist Church, which sits proudly along Craven Street in Downtown Beaufort. The church is believed to have been constructed in 1811 during a brief schism that occurred in the congregation in the nearby Beaufort Baptist Church. When the schism ended, the congregation used the Tabernacle building as a lecture hall up until the Civil War. Then, during the War and as a result of the “Great Skedaddle,” Black Beaufortonians began using the Tabernacle for their own Baptist services. The Tabernacle Baptist Church was officially organized in 1863, and the building was purchased by the congregation in 1867.
Over the years, the Tabernacle Baptist Church became a fixture in the community, offering weekly services while also serving an additional purpose as a community meeting space. However, the centuries began to wear on this beloved structure. The steeple, added to the building in 1873, was especially in need of repair.
In 2021, the Tabernacle Baptist Church was awarded a National Fund for Sacred Places grant by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The funds were to be used to restore the church’s steeple. Work began last year, in May of 2025, and was finished in December.
You can learn more about Tabernacle Baptist Church, and other historic churches in Beaufort District, at the BDC.
May 29 - "Finding Aid Friday in National [Historic] Preservation Month:" Architect and architectural photographer Charles Bayless captured exteriors and interiors of historic buildings in Beaufort County as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey in the late 1970s. Contact us to see the 466 black and white photographic prints; 2 letters; and one 16 page detailed typed index in the Finding Aid to the archival collection.
May 30 - I can't let National [Historic] Preservation Month go past without a mention of the history of Auldbrass Plantation, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's two houses in South Carolina. There's a recently updated Connections post about Auldbrass in case you'd like to learn more about this historic structure - the only FLW designed plantation complex.
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