Showing posts with label archival collections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label archival collections. Show all posts

21 June 2026

A History Student Gets Schooled at the Archive, or, What I Learned in My Internship by Laura Moore

Our guest post was written by Laura Moore who finished her internship with us last week. BTW: She was a great pleasure to teach and mentor. - gmc

This spring, I experienced a history nerd’s dream- getting to work in an archive dedicated to my all-time favorite historical subject - Beaufort, South Carolina. The Beaufort District Collection, located upstairs in the Library building at 311 Scott Street, posted a job listing open to college history students for an internship in archival preservation. It sounded like an amazing opportunity, and since I was nearing the completion of a master’s degree in history from The Citadel and looking for a part-time job, I applied, interviewed, and was accepted.

The first few weeks of the internship were a crash course in archival principles and preservation practices. I read manuals, watched webinars, and took copious notes. The learning curve was steep but the prize at the end of the study was tantalizing – a real-life collection that I would be able to preserve and archive, and for which I would produce a finding aid. This collection was donated by lifelong Beaufortonian Beekman Webb, and includes, among other things, photographs, maps, and vintage postcards. His affection for his hometown shines through the group of items dedicated to the natural beauty, history, and unique people of the Lowcountry.

Cassandra and Laura survey documents during archival process
When I finally got to survey the collection, armed with my notebook full of archival process notes and an initial inventory from my supervisor, the extremely knowledgeable (and patient!) library specialist Cassie Knoppel, my first task was simply to observe it all, in its context. I slowly went through each item, flipping over antique documents dating to colonial times, hundred-year-old postcards that testified to both the change and the continuity of Beaufort’s scenes, and photographs that evoked as many questions as connotations. And then, I went through it again. I sat with it. I thought about it - looking for patterns, trying to understand the collector’s arrangement instead of assuming my own. I had learned that a tenet of archival ethics is to try to maintain, as much as possible, the original organization of a records collection. The historian in me greatly appreciated this as an invaluable aid to understanding the context and import of each item.

An archive is a collection of collections, and each individual collection is its own little universe. The order of that universe reflects its creator, and in this case, I was looking for the order that Mr. Webb had used, not trying to impress an artificial one of my own. Part of Mr. Webb’s collection is a series of several hundred vintage postcards. As I flipped through them, I quieted the inner urge to organize them by subject (“houses, boats, etc.”) or the urge to try and find dates for them and then arrange chronologically. Slowly it dawned on me that Mr. Webb indeed had an order – he envisioned the streets of Beaufort when he organized this part of the collection. The first postcards were of historical structures on the west end of Bay Street and then progressed eastward, past where the beautiful old Sea Island Hotel stood. Then, he enters the downtown commercial area and we see Luther’s Pharmacy. He turns left on Carteret Street, and we get images of the old post office, the Methodist Church, and the historical buildings of what is now USCB. Eventually we move to the barrier islands and outlying attractions. The order is not perfect or complete – but it is there, and it tells us something about the mind of the collector.

Sometimes, a researcher can find searching a collection cumbersome : Why can’t all the records just be alphabetized and digitized for quick and easy reference? One reason records should not be arranged this way is because historical veracity demands context, and the original collector’s arrangement can reveal clues to that historical context (and clues about the collectors themselves), that would be lost permanently if it were simply dissected to fit into a retrieval system. Our Beaufort District Collection archivists, led for many years by Grace Cordial (whose brain is itself a South Carolina state treasure) do their part to help historians and researchers understand the history of our area in many ways - through physical preservation by way of archival housing in a controlled environment, as well as through providing the access point between the researcher and the records. They seek to maintain, as far as it is possible, the original collector’s order as part of their mandate to accurately preserve and provide access to researchers.

My time at the Beaufort District Collection has instilled in me a great respect for the serious thought and professionalism that goes into archival work. I now encourage all my fellow history students and local history buffs (many of whom, in our day, have grown overly dependent on the internet alone) to take a trip to an archive. Many archives have their “finding aids” listed online. These are like restaurant menus for each collection and allow the researcher to know ahead of time what they would like to “order up” when they come in person. At our Beaufort District Collection, the friendly and knowledgeable Sidney Whiteside will most likely be the one helping you with your selection in the research room.

The archive is a quiet place in our community, but it is one that should be deeply valued and honored for providing vitality and integrity to the cultural legacy of the Lowcountry. If you love the Lowcountry, you should revere this repository of its infinitely intriguing story.             

 
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29 April 2026

New (and New-to-Us) Materials in the Research Room, 1st Quarter 2026

We are running a bit behind posting what has arrived in the Research Room from January through March this year. Below Sydney and Cassi share information about some new (and new-to-us) materials we have acquired recently.  -- gmc

Books and other donated items on shelves
New Materials on Display

Library Materials 

Blessed Experience: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black by James Clyburn, 2014. 

Book cover: Blessed Experience by James Clyburn
Blessed Experience
U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn tells the extraordinary story of his journey from growing up as a young African American boy in Jim Crow-era South to becoming the third highest ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. Both Clyburn and his parents knew he was destined for civil rights leadership at the age of twelve when he became president of his National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) youth chapter. All of his efforts and experiences have made him the leader that he is today, which Blessed Experiences does an outstanding job of emphasizing.

Homecoming: The Pyrography of Reverend Johnnie Simmons, February 1 - May 1, 2025 by Johnnie Simmons, 2025. 

Reverend Johnnie F. Simmons was raised on St. Helena Island and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1969. He served in the Vietnam War until 1972 when he returned to St. Helena and held a variety of jobs. He retired as a preacher in 2003. With time to focus on himself, Reverend Simmons was enrolled into a program for managing PTSD where he began to explore his more artistic side through art workshops, including pyrography. Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks created by a heated tool. Simmons would draw a design on a piece of wood with pencil, burn the design into the slab, and finish by painting his desired work. Homecoming includes nine of Reverend Johnnie F. Simmons’s woodburning folk art images. 

True Crime Stories of the Lowcountry by Cathy Pickens, 2025. 

A South Carolina native, Cathy Pickens is known for her loves of the Palmetto State, crime, and mystery. True Crime Stories of the Lowcountry dips into the scandals and transgressions that have occurred in and around the area. From bootlegging to poisonings, serial killers to swamp creatures, you are bound to learn something new (and gnarly) about the Lowcountry.  

Indigenous Carolinians: A History from Original Peoples to Present-Day Tribes

Indigenous Carolinians
by David R. Webb
 by David Rahahe-tih Webb, 2025. 

From the Rappahannock River of current day Virginia to the Edisto River of South Carolina, David Rahahe-tih Webb explores the histories and cultures of this region's First Peoples. The author weaves oral tradition, language, archaeology, and ethnography into a narrative that uplifts four diverse ethnolinguistic cultures in such a way as to challenge long-held colonial assumptions about the First Peoples of the southeastern seaboard. Indigenous Carolinians is an in-depth history of the reclamation of heritage by a valiant group of people who refused to allow their tribal identities to fade any longer.  

Social Roots: Lowcountry Foodways, Reconnecting the Landscape by Sarah V. Ross, 2024. 

In many ways, "you are what you eat." Social Roots is an interdisciplinary anthology that explores the relationships between nature and culture as expressed in the foodways of the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. There are invisible threads that connect the land to its people through the food that is harvested and shared among the population. Looking across time and geography, this book interweaves fundamental ecological principles as it honors three early cultures: Native American, European, and African.  People have always relied on the land for life, and that is something that will always keep us connected.  

Datha by Rev. James Julius Sams, n/d. 

Datha is a manuscript by Reverend James Julius Sams that focuses primarily on the genealogy of the Sams family as well as the people, places, structures, and agriculture of Dataw Island. This is an interesting source because it is quite rare to find such detailed accounts of what it was like to have grown up on Dataw in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Reverend Sams had very strong feelings about the Civil War which he wrote about in his memoir. He also wrote of anger and forgiveness, feelings that are often difficult for people to express.  

Sankofa Shadow Work: Diaries of a Diasporic Diviner by Sara Makeba Daise, 2025.

Sankofa Shadow Work
by Sara Makeba Daise
Sara Makeba Daise is a Gullah Geechee author, cultural worker, and public historian that specializes in Black History and medicine through a variety of mediums. Sankofa Shadow Work is a cultivation of her experiences as an interpreter, living historian, and tour guide, all of which included considerable amounts of multidimensional interaction with other people as well as the land below her. This mixture of memoir and public history explores many realms, including conjuring, healing, rebirth, and spirituality, with special attention to their origins from native Africana and Indigenous communities.

The History of Dorchester County South Carolina by The Dorchester County Historical South Carolina, 2023.  

The BDC accessions South Carolina county histories as general reference works though our collection does not include every county history ever written. This 566 page volume begins with some topical chapters about history, plantations, transportation, medical development and politics. Chapters 7 - 15 emphasize the people, government officials, schools, churches, cemeteries, businesses, structures, etc. of certain communities. These chapters include useful biographical sketches, genealogical information and chronologies relating to ownership and organizational histories. Coverage ranges from the explorations of De Soto in 1540 into the 2020s. 

The Fishing Co-op Role in the BASF Conflict: May 20, 2014 by Thomas Barnwell, 2014.  

The author donated this transcription of his talk for the series "Hilton Head in the Modern Era" co-sponsored by the Heritage Library and the Coastal Discovery Museum. Barnwell is a Gullah elder and Native Islander resident who was personally involved in the Hilton Head Fishing Cooperative and the Baden Aniline and Soda Factory (BASF) conflict of the the early 1970s. Linda Piekut's introduction of Barnwell provides a thoughtful and thorough background of Barnwell's achievements, interests and contributions to the Hilton Head community. After Barnwell's keynote address about the history of the co-op and the BASF controversy, Henry Driessen who had made a film showing the damage a chemical factory in Texas had done on the environment as a cautionary documentary, joined Barnwell for a question and answer session. The final section contains documents about the co-op and BASF.

Yoruba Traditions & African Religious Nationalism by Tracey E. Hucks, 2014. 

Yoruba Traditions &
African Religious Nationalism
by Tracey E. Hucks
Tracey E. Hucks, professor in the Department of Religion at Haverford College, shares her interest and knowledge in the historical development and religious traditions of African-descended populations in the Americas and the Caribbean in this book. She explores the development of Yoruba tradition in the United States, such as the establishment of the Shango Temple in 1959, the Yoruba Temple in 1960, and the Oyotunji African Village in 1970. These spaces allowed for safe practices and transformation of religious expressions for individuals in underrepresented communities. 

Lowcountry Lost and Other Poems for Everyday Life and Port Royal, SC: A Spiritual Place by Moultrie Townsend, 2024. 

Moultrie Townsend, a Charleston native now living in Port Royal, is a writer expresses his love for the Lowcountry through writing both nonfiction and poetry work. The blurb on the back  cover of Lowcountry Lost and Other Poems for Everyday Life  describes the content as "a simple, emotional and gripping poetic look at nature, life and our place in it." Townsend divided his poem into four sections, "Remembrances" that express the love and loss he has experienced in the Lowcountry; "Beaches"; "Mountains"; and "Sundries." Port Royal, SC: A Spiritual Place is a tribute to his current home that mentions all of the best historic and social spots in Port Royal. 

South Carolina Provincials: Loyalists in British Service during the American Revolution by Jim Piecuch, 2023. 

This is the first published comprehensive history of the known South Carolinian Loyalists and their actions in support of the British during the American Revolution. Based on primary source research including records rarely consulted, the result provides a much clearer picture of the Revolutionary War at the local level in southeastern states. South Carolinians living in the backcountry were often far away from government administration and affiliation with the Patriotic cause. The backcountry Royalist troops experienced varying degrees of success. In 1781, the troops withdrew from the backcountry into British held Charleston, then to British East Florida. From there some relocated to Canada or other British colonies to begin new lives after the conclusion of hostilities.   

Paper Heroines: Women Writers in Conversation and Community Across the Sea Islands, 1838–1902 by Mollie Barnes, 2026. 

Paper Heroines: 
by Mollie Barnes
Mollie Barnes, Associate Professor of English at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, specializes in Nineteenth-century U.S. literature. Paper Heroines is a deep dive into how women reformers documented their everyday lives and their work. This book concentrates on women reformers that traveled to the Sea Islands to provide relief work. She compares and contrasts the contributions and efforts made by both Black and white women in this area. This is an interesting title that is not afraid to point out the flaws and tensions from past texts and approach them with current insights.  

The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway by Virginia McGee Richards, 2026. 

The Inner Passage is a route of canals and waterways that were constructed during colonial times by enslaved people to facilitate water travel through the South Carolina Lowcountry. Virginia Richards, a photographer, historian, and environmental lawyer, captures these forgotten landscapes in her book. View sixty stunning photographs and read her essay depicting and describing what it is like for one to journey through the Inner Passage. Immerse yourself in the photos of witness trees, praise houses, hurricane damage, and narratives. 

South Carolina's County Courthouses: An Illustrated History by W. Clay Young and Rita Williams Livingston, 2025. 

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the history of South Carolina’s many county courthouses? Look no further! Learn more about the architecture, origins, and technological advances of the 46 county courthouses that make up the state of South Carolina. You will find more than 700 photographs of the exterior of Palmetto State courthouses, original floor plans of select buildings, centuries old, uncovered artifacts, and so much more. 

Yearbooks 

Our collection of school yearbooks in the Beaufort District Collection has come from donations through time. This means that our coverage of schools is completely dependent on donations.

A request: If you happen to have a yearbook from schools within Beaufort, Jasper or Hampton counties, South Carolina, please contact the BDC at (843) 255-6468, we would love to have first dibs on "those old yearbooks."

 

Posters 


New Archival Collections

George Waterhouse Collection, 1869-1905 
George Waterhouse (1838-1894) was a local businessman who operated a storefront, warehouses, and a wharf on Bay Street. The George Waterhouse Collection contains documents, letters, and photographs related to his life and the impact of the Hurricane of 1893 on his business. 
 
John J. Dale Correspondence Collection, 1893, Undated 
John J. Dale (1844-1896) was a Beaufort businessman at the time of the Sea Island Hurricane in 1893. Following the devastating hurricane, he advocated for relief efforts for affected Sea Islanders and was appointed to the Sea Island Relief Committee by Governor Benjamin Tillman. This collection of correspondence from the fall of 1893 is believed to have been written by Dale. 

The Revolutionary War themed shelf on our New (and New-to-Us) bookcase.
If you are interested in any of the materials we have shared today or wish to explore our collection for yourself: appointments are encouraged, and walk-ins are sometimes accepted. 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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