BCL Wins!: "Civil War 150" Exhibit Coming in 2013

The Gilder Lehman Institute of American History has awarded Beaufort County Library a traveling “Civil War 150” exhibit for September 2013. The exhibit will be just outside the BDC Research Room doors from September 9 – September 30 next year.  (Big projects take time to prepare). 

The Beaufort County Library system’s supplemental programming will give our residents and visitors the opportunity to compare and contrast  how different the story of the Civil War was here in Beaufort County, South Carolina than elsewhere in the United States.

As part of the grant, we will highlight Civil War related materials from the Beaufort District Collection, the Library’s special collections and archives department, such as Dr. Johnson’s Medical Record Book, our Civil War illustrated prints and original newspapers, and period piano sheet music.

Programs relating to the Civil War, and our own local history, will be held for all age groups and at all our branch libraries.  

Initial plans will begin in earnest mid-September.  We welcome potential partners and co-sponsors. As I am the project coordinator for "Civil War 150," contact me at 255-6468 or gracec@bcgov.net if your organization would like to be involved in the Library's efforts to make the "Civil War 150" exhibit a success.

Major Library System Project Unfolds Soon

This is a system-wide exploration of Afghanistan, its peoples, culture, and its relationship with the United States and other countries.  Three books were chosen by the Programming Team as keystones to our discussions and events (for all ages) relating to this mesmerizing country and culture:

• Gayle Lemmon, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana (Adult Readers)
  
• Fabio Geda, In the Sea There Are Crocodiles (Young Adult and Adult Readers)
  
• Tony O'Brien, Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan (Children)
  

Although the scope and mission of the BDC doesn't usually include connections to mid-eastern cultures, we are a unit of the Library system.  Therefore, the Beaufort District Collection is contributing to this system-wide effort in several ways:

1. We are promoting the project through BDC social media.
2. We are designing and installing "History of Tea in Human Culture" displays for four of the branch libraries during September.  Library staff are sharing some of their personal tea paraphernalia in these displays.  
3. Child labor is a theme of In the Sea There are Crocodiles.  The BDC@ The Branches series includes a presentation about "Child Labor in Beaufort District" at two of our branch libraries.  Attend to learn more about local industries that used children as a significant part of their labor forces well into the 1930s.  The BDC@ The BDC session is set for Aug. 23rd; a reprise will be held in Bluffton Branch on Sept. 13th.

Details forthcoming via the Library's homepage about the myriad program opportunities in this project. "One County Reads One Country" has been made possible through a Library Services and Technology Act grant awarded to the Beaufort County Library and administered by the South Carolina State Library. 

Reminder: The BDC Research Room will be closed during lunchtime (Noon to 1 pm) starting Mon., July 23rd - Mon., Aug. 13th.

Clemson to digitize NPS documents for SCDL

Press Release: Clemson University Libraries is the proud recipient of an IMLS National Leadership grant for the development of the Open Parks Grid project. Over the next 3 years, over 3 million pages of printed information held by the National Parks Service and the state parks of South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia will be digitized and made full-text searchable. In addition, over 150,000 objects will also be digitized. These objects include maps, photographs and artifacts. Objects related to South Carolina will be made available through the South Carolina Digital Library.

For more information or questions, feel free to contact Emily B. Gore, Head of Digital Initiatives and IT at Clemson University Libraries.

Find the full press release here.

Beaufort Branch Wins New Harmonies Grant!

Beaufort County Library, Beaufort Branch was one of 12 public libraries in South Carolina to win a New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music grant.

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music is a traveling Smithsonian exhibit that explores Americans' creative expression through music - music known by names likes blues, country western, folk ballads, and gospel. Developed as part of the Museum on Main Street program, New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music is designed especially for small museums and rural audiences that lack regular access to traveling exhibitions. New Harmonies has been made possible in South Carolina by The Humanities CouncilSC.

The Library facility at 311 Scott Street will be hosting musical performers and the BDC will be mounting a display of some of the music resources we hold to add a local component to the Smithsonian traveling exhibit, expected to get here in 2011. The exhibit schedule has not yet been finalized. More information will come as we learn more. We are so excited by the award, we could not wait to share the good news!