September 2022 Posts to Facebook

Here's a recap of what I posted to the BDC's Facebook Page during Library Card Sign-up Month. 

Materials Monday: 50 Shades of Beige:

September 5: Even though the Library system is closed today for Labor Day, "50 Shades of Beige" must proceed. Molly Gray donated diaries from her ancestors that include entries about President U.S. Grant's visit to Beaufort in 1881; the earthquake of 1886; the Great Sea Island Hurricane and the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 among other topics. Ellen Chapman Crofut (Mrs. James Crofut) kept the diaries from 1874 until shortly before her death in 1905. Mrs. Crofut's hand is rather easy to read after one gets the hang of it over 5 to 10 pages of manuscript on beige paper. Please contact bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468 to make an appointment.

PS: I am aware that I'll be one "50 Shades of Beige" post short for 2022 but I promise to make #50 as part of a 2-fer-1 deal on January 2, 2023.

September 12: "50 Shades of Beige: Materials Monday" : A job applicant asked me earlier this year what it was that I did here. My answer was "Build relationships." I went on to explain that I have worked with some of my researchers for a decade or more on one or more projects. There is a non-transactional nature of my reference work in the special collections and archives room that one doesn't necessarily find at a public library's regular reference desk. Yes, there are some one-time only brief interactions, but there are also plenty of through-the-years extended transactions as well. And honestly, the through-the-years extended transactions are the ones that make my job interesting, the ones likely to result in additional materials for permanent retention in the Beaufort District Collection, and sometimes evolve into future local history programs presenters.

Case in point: Today's beige selection is Last Ferry to Beaufort: The Life and Times of Captain Willie Roberts, 1865 - 1952 by Charles D. Wersler (2014). I became acquainted with this local author as he working on a newspaper article about truck farming - but as he did so, he also kept coming upon tidbits about one of his ancestors. One thing led to another. He told other members of his family what he had found and soon he was fleshing out memories of his grandfather with conversations with his elders, family photographs and documents, and some historical records that were in our Research Room. The result is a small self-published book about the life and times of Captain William P. Roberts. "Captain Willie" was best known as the last operator of the White Hall Ferry that once connected Lady's Island and Beaufort, South Carolina before the first bridge was built across the river in 1927.

The Beaufort County Library system has the only copies of this book within SCLENDS.

Limited publication numbers + very local content about Beaufort District = Perfect acquisition for the BDC and BCL Local History sections

Generations hence will thank the Library for this small gem of a book.

September 19: "Materials Monday: 50 Shades of Beige" The BDCBCL: Links, Lists and Finding Aids blog is published online in shades of beige. Keeping with a theme of education I recommend "Missionary Teachers to the Freedmen" to you.

September 26: "Materials Monday: 50 Shades of Beige" A Yankee Scholar in Coastal South Carolina: William Francis Allen’s Civil War Journals edited by James Robert Hester (University of South Carolina Press, 2015) is today's selection.

Transcribing the Civil War journals of William Francis Allen required a unique skill set. Allen was a New Englander with impeccable academic and abolitionist credentials who was "a perceptive observer of culture and events" in Civil War and Reconstruction era South Carolina. Taking an anthropological view of the former enslaved, Allen analyzed and collected their music to compile the first published anthology of Negro spirituals, Slave Songs of the United States (1867). He studied the syntax of their communication and dispassionately watched their interactions with others sharing his observations with his journal and a series of essays published in the Nation and the Christian Examiner.

Hester, an engineer by trade, is well accustomed to paying attention to all the details so vital in a scholarly transcription of manuscript material. Hester also has a deep interest in musical performance, theory and arrangement that equipped him to transcribe those portions of the journal relating to Gullah musical forms.

Professor George Rable, Charles Summersell Chair in Southern History at the University of Alabama calls A Yankee Scholar "fascinating reading" and says that Hester's work "immediately becomes an important new primary source for studying the Civil War era."

The BDC has a copy for permanent reference but there are a few copies in the SCLENDS catalog that you can borrow to read at home.

Black History Notes: 

September 7: "Black History Note Wednesday:" Now that in-person schools are in session, I recommend that you consider Schooling the Freed People: Teaching, Learning, and the Struggle for Black Freedom, 1861-1876 by Ronald Butchart (2010), The blurb calls this title "the definitive book on Freedmen's teachers in the South as well as an outstanding contribution to social history and our understanding of African American education."

September 14: "Black History Note Wednesday:" A few months ago a BDC customer shared pdfs of issues of the Bluffton Newsletter from 1932 with me. They now reside in a vertical file.

Most of the news is about the white community but occasional glimpses of daily life and conditions in the Black community living in Bluffton are revealed. For example, in the undated initial issue "BLUFFTON THREATENED WITH RIOT" is on page 1, immediately under "Mrs. Mulligan Dies on Saturday Afternoon Candler Hospital." I can confirm with a Georgia death certificate that Mrs. Ella did indeed die on Saturday, January 23, 1932 - what I cannot confirm is the actual date of the threatened riot because January 20th wasn't on a Tuesday in 1932. (I think that the editor misdated the event.)

Obviously, things got out of hand on that mid-January Tuesday in Bluffton in the year 1932: The constable was loaded, his gun was loaded, he fired shots, women were exchanging fisticuffs, some arrests were made and some resisted, warrants were issued, and the Black community objected to all of the above in front of Mayor Heyward's house in the aftermath.

September 21: "Black History Note Wednesday:" Explore SCETV's Penn Center and Brick Church "Let's Go"

September 28: "Black History Note Wednesday:" Stay in de Boat is a 25 minutes long College of Charleston student film on DVD in the Research Room. Elder Carlie Towne, Ron Daise, Carolyn "Jabulile" White, and "Queen Quet" and others are interviewed about their experiences, dreams and hopes for the future of the Gullah/Geechee people, their language and their culture. St. Helena Branch has a copy you can borrow from the Local History section if you don't want to make an appointment to view it inside the Research Room.

Being a Good Historical Community Citizen

September 8: The rubric for official BDC programs is rather strict. Sometimes our partners include topics much, much broader than those that the BDC can provide or hold a members only event that does not allow open general admission or registration - which means the BDC cannot be a co-sponsor. There are two such events on Thursday, September 15th: 1) The Beaufort County Historical Society is hosting a program about the Middle Passage and 2) The Beaufort History Museum has a members only program re: Hidden Treasures. Check their respective websites for event details.

Looking ahead: The first BHM-BCL local history Season 6 program is October 4th; The first "Historically Speaking" BCHS-BDC Season 4 program is in January 2023. I hope to release the full BDC Local History programs and Community Events roster through June 2023 by October 10th.

September 15: A free webinar that just might help out the family historians: Join Library of Congress Reference Librarian Amber Paranick and Digital Conversion Specialist Mike Saelee to learn how to search for primary source materials in Chronicling America, a free digital collection of almost 20 million pages from American newspapers published between 1777 and 1963 for National History Day research. The presentation will cater to this year’s theme, "Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas," and will discuss the collection, its search interface, how to navigate the challenges of working with historic newspapers, and additional resources to assist students and educators. Chronicling America is jointly sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. [Note: It was supposed to be recorded for later viewing but as of 12 October, it was not among the Event Videos on the Library of Congress' website.]

September 24: Just sharing: One of our cultural heritage sister agencies is hosting a "What The Heck Is It?" session soon. Again just sharing: The Archaeological Society of South Carolina Hilton Head Chapter presents its annual "What the Heck Is It?" artifact identification program on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at the Coastal Discovery Museum from 1 pm - 4 pm. Dr. Jon Leader, the State Archaeologist, and Ron Anthony, retiree from the Charleston Museum, will be on hand to identify your objects. This event is free and open to the public.

Banned Books Week, September 18 -24, 2022

September 18: Banned Books Week (September 18 - 24, 2022) was founded in 1982 as a response to a big increase in the number of book challenges being submitted to school and public libraries. It's not an unfamiliar issue: The first book banning in what later became the United States occurred in 1637, a mere 385 years ago.

The thing to remember is this: Public library collections are designed to serve its community members, regardless of age or religious, political, social, racial, ethnic or sexual identification. That mission more or less guarantees that something we share is likely to upset someone sometime.

To cover just that probability, the BCL Board of Trustees passed a Challenged Materials Policy. It is posted on the Library's website under the "About" tab 's drop-down box under the "Policies and Forms". You can read the other policies passed by the BOT there as well.

Bottom line: BBW celebrates a person's freedom to read whatever he/she/they want to read - and lets someone else choose NOT to read the same title under the exact same principle. Each person gets to decide what to read.

September 20: EveryLibrary Institute, an advocacy group for libraries, recently conducted a national survey about book banning. Some people might find the results surprising. Read the full report for yourself.

September 23: Make sure that you read "Why Book Banning is Awesome" all the way to the end of the article.

Local History Programs

September 20: Registration opens today for the "History of Beaufort's Forgotten 11th South Carolina Volunteers" presented by Jackson Canaday. The program will be held on Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at the Beaufort Branch Library at 2 pm. Space is limited. Registration is required: https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-4884467. Registration will close once capacity is reached.

September 27: One week to program time. Do you have your seat at the next BHM-BCL local history program? Register at https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-4884467. Registration will close when we reach meeting room capacity.

Hurricane Ian

September 28: This just in from the Hilton Head Chapter, ASSC: "Due to concerns of the hurricane the "What the Heck is It?" event scheduled for Saturday October 1st is CANCELLED. - Stay safe, George Stubbs"

September 28: Public Service Announcement: Due to Hurricane Ian, the library will be closed Thursday, September 29 - Saturday, October 1. Please monitor the Beaufort County Library website at https://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org for updates regarding library services during this period of inclement weather.

Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 - October 15, 2022

September 29: Beaufort District has one of the longest Spanish histories in North America. Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by learning more about this area's earliest colonial period, the 16th century.

Other Posts about Special Days, Library Materials and Behind-the-Scenes in the BDC:

September 1: Valerie of the Technical Services department reported to me yesterday that she has finished getting the fading labels and barcodes replaced in the BDC vertical files we have. Look how nice the heavy blocked letters labels look! In other words, phase 1 of the vertical file project is done. She started back on 11 July so I am delighted that this part of the project got done so quickly and so well. Val has worked steadily and diligently on phase 1 of the much larger vertical file project. Thank you, Val!

Next up: Photocopying newsprint, citing appropriately, merging and filing content from Hilton Head and Beaufort Branches vertical files that were transferred to the BDC several years ago.

September 6: Celebrate National Read-A-Book Day with one of these short local history books about Beaufort District's long and storied history.

September 9: Among the 646,144 e-book titles on Hoopla, the Library's streaming and electronic format service, are the Arcadia Press titles. Arcadia Press titles are short usually very illustrated local history related paperback books that appeal to the general public. Tip: If you are searching the SCLENDS catalog and run across an Arcadia Press title, odds are you can find that title as an e-book on the BCL's Hoopla platform as well.

September 11: Today is a solemn day of remembrance for much of the world - September 11, 2001 was a momentous day of tragedy that fundamentally altered our view of the world. Do you remember where and what you were doing when the world understood that the hijacked airplanes that struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and that the passengers forced down over Shanksville, Pennsylvania were an orchestrated attack on the United States?

In 2004 Beaufort Branch Library participated in the September Project gathering personal reflections about what that day meant to some Beaufort residents. We are proud to take care of the tapes in our Research Room.

September 13: Obit update from Beloved Docent, Kathy Mitchell: There were 1032 published obituaries in the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet newspapers for the year 1990. She has now indexed these for inclusion in the BDC's Obituary Online Index. Note: Some obituaries appear in both newspapers; some only appear in one. Next up: The year 1992 ...

September 17: Happy United States Constitution Day! September 17 is designated as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787. Learn more about Beaufort District's role in creating it in this recently updated "Connections" blog post.

September 22: With plans for commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the United States underway, expect to see rather more frequent posts about all things Revolutionary War over the next 8 years or so.

Case in point: American Migrations 1765 - 1799 by Peter Wilson Coldham (2000) contains records of the American Loyalist Claims Commission including applications, correspondence, depositions, affidavits, and legal transcripts of 5,800 individual claims that affected at least 15,000 persons of which approximately 75% left after the American Revolution. This is an important source for understanding the consequences of the War for Independence. All copies within SCLENDS must be used inside the building of the owning library. Make an appointment to see the BDC's copy: 843-255-6468 or bdc@bcgov.net.

September 30: Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database is a database run by researchers at Emory University which aims to present all documentary material pertaining to the transatlantic slave trade. It's a massive project that the Middle Passages Project uses to identify landings of human cargo as well as contributes to as their research discovers formerly undocumented enslaved people disembarkations.

Banned Books Week: September 23 - 29, 2018

For 36 years now, librarians, library customers, publishers, teachers, booksellers, journalists and reads of all ages and types have been observing "Banned Books Week" the last week of September to highlight the value of free and open access to information. It's probably fitting that the Beaufort Branch is hosting its Great American Read Book Discussion Group right in the middle of Banned Books Week.

Read more about why and where many classics that have been taken off the shelves of some school and public libraries.


Though the list of most challenged books tend to change each year, some titles are on the list virtually every year since publication. Prime examples? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath; and Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut.

Learn about this year's most challenged books - and what you can do to combat censorship -- in this video produced by the American Library Association:

Banned Books Week, September 25 - October 1

This post is cut-and-pasted from the Banned Books Week website: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek.


Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community; librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types, in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

Check out the frequently challenged books section to explore the issues and controversies around book challenges and book banning. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.

The Top 10 Most Challenged Books for 2015 were:

1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
   Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).
3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
   Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.
4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
   Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”).
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
   Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”).
6. The Holy Bible
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint.
7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
   Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”).
8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson
   Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence.
10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
    Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”).

Each title is available through our Library system and the SCLENDS consortium catalog.



Reminder #1: The Beaufort County Library system will be closed Wednesday, October 5th for Staff Development Day. Regular hours resume on Thursday October 6th.

Reminder #2: The Beaufort District Collection and the busiest branch libraries begin new hours of operation on October 1st. Please be sure to check the schedule for your favorite branch library.

New hours for the Beaufort District Collection are:

• Mondays 9 am to 5 pm
• Tuesdays by advance appointment only. Contact gracec@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6468 to schedule.
• Wednesdays by advance appointment only. Contact gracec@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6468 to schedule.
• Thursdays 9 am to 5 pm 
• Fridays 9 am to 5 pm (This is an extension of public service by 2 hours each Friday.)
• Saturdays and Sundays closed

Banned Book Week, Sept. 22 -28, 2013

(Please note: I have heavily cut-and-pasted from the Banned Books Week website):

Don’t close the book on your freedom to read by reading your favorite banned book during Banned Books Week, September 22 to 28.  Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982.  If you don't already have a favorite banned book, there are loads to pick from. You may be surprised by the titles targeted. Read the Banned & Challenged Classics list. According to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.

Check out the frequently challenged books section to explore the issues and controversies around book challenges and book banning. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events.  The Library has such displays at the branch libraries. 

Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.


Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; PEN American Center and and Project Censored.  It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.


For more information on Banned Books Week, click here. According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012, and many more go unreported. The 10 most challenged titles of 2012 were:

1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
   Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
3. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
   Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group
4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
5. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group
6. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
8. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
   Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence
9. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
10. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
    Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence