BDC Map #276 : Rough Map of Eustis Plantation on Ladies Island, S.C., 1879, 1908

Given that it's Archives Month, I thought that some of you might like to know a little more about the preservation issues inherent in taking care of BDC Map #276. The BDC does not have a lot of laminated materials left in the vertical files as we have been making photocopies during the integration project whenever possible and discarding the laminated items. I'm pretty sure that Map #276 is the only laminated map still remaining in our holdings. Unfortunately, its dimensions are too large for our workroom scanner to duplicate. We keep it in an oversized acid-free folder now to minimize the off-gassing exposure to other maps in the cabinet drawer. 

The BDC Research Room is the only place within the SCLENDS consortium that you can find this Rough Map of Eustis Plantation on Ladies Island SC originally drawn by George Gage in 1876 and filed at the Beaufort County register of deeds in 1879 but copied here by F.H. Swain on 22 January [19]08. It certainly looks like the reason for the map was to separate the plantation into lots for sale at what would be considered below bargain basement prices today.

Like many maps, there are layers of information. Arrows point to the Beaufort Ferry and to the St. Helena Island Bridge. Among the people, plantations, and other features shown are: Andrew Robinson, Bob Jenkins, Laurel Hill, Buzzard Island, Red Bluff, Fernanda Fields - which could be a person's name or an agricultural product, Punkin Hill, the "Hill", two gardens, cotton gin, pasture, woodlands, several dams, some structures, and a graveyard at the waters edge along the [C[h]owan] Creek.

You can see the acid migration in the center of the map. It looks like it was once in two pieces that were joined perhaps before or at the time of the lamination process. It's hard to tell.

Libraries, museums and archives had a vested interest in preserving and strengthening fragile paper documents, particularly those produced using wood-pulp fibers. An American engineer, William Barrow (1904-1967) invented the first lamination machine in 1936. He was an avid promoter of his lamination process, sometimes referred to as the Barrow Process, which was later found to be highly suspect as a way to extend the life of paper-based library and archival materials. According to Wikipedia, "Barrow's greatest significance is perhaps as an aggressive promoter of paper preservation, as in retrospect his scientific discoveries have not been entirely sound."

This map was laminated before I arrived on the job in 1999. My hunch is that it probably happened in the 1960s when lamination became widespread and cheap. I can remember seeing a laminating machine for Social Security cards in the Rose's Dime Store in Georgetown when I was a child. At that point in time, lamination became something of a standard practice. Archivists, librarians and curators were well intentioned but as the Wikipedia article noted, the science did not hold up to scrutiny. Once thought to help preserve and protect important documents, lamination as a preservation practice fell into disrepute in the mid-1970s when scientific tests proved how destructive the fusing of plastics into historic documents was. The saddest fact is that lamination, like light damage, cannot be undone. (If you'd like to geek out: here's a good summary of the difference between encapsulation - which the BDC does now -- and lamination.)

Though the service is still available through many vendors for personal use, archivists definitely do not apply the process to any materials within our safekeeping and do not recommend that anyone else with important documents to preserve does so either. Use in schoolrooms is still okay since those items tend not to be of an enduring historic value.

Local residents may recognize that Eustis plantation was on the Township One South and One West of St. Helena Meridian, S.C. map, more or less in the general area between the Walmart on Lady's Island and the Cowan Creek bridge today.

We encourage appointments to view the materials in our care: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468 because we'd hate for you to go to the trouble of driving downtown, finding a parking spot, paying the meter, entering the building and find that we were not here or had an appointment already and could not accept a walk-in customer. 

"Historically Speaking" Series 5.1A & 5.1B: Beaufort District's European Origin Story

Latest update: 20 September 2023 - gmc

We're celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 - October 15 with a program held twice: once North of the Broad River and once South of the Broad River. Both are expected to reach capacity rather quickly. 

                                                                                                   

The Beaufort County Historical Society and the BDC are pleased to host Dr. Larry Rowland and retired Army Colonel and current National Parks Service Ranger Chris Allen in the "Historically Speaking" series Season 5 opening lecture: "Beaufort Before Britain: Our District's European Origin Story." And by the very kind offer of the presenters and due to meeting space availability, this presentation will be done twice to accommodate "local history nerds" on both sides of the Broad River. A word to the wise: I expect that seats will go quickly for both sessions.

A century before the Mayflower made its Plymouth Rock landfall, Spaniards were plying our coastal waters. "Santa Elena", or its English derivation of "Saint Helena", is America's third oldest European place name in continuous use.  In the shadow of Columbus and predating Jamestown by almost 90 years, Larry Rowland frames Beaufort's European origin story.  Col. Allen will underscore Larry's narrative using rare Italian, Spanish, and French charts from the 15th and 16th Century.  Look as hard as you want, but you will not find Boston, New York, Charleston, or Saint Augustine ... but you will see our home prominently annotated.  As "Santa Elena", Beaufort District drove European strategic thinking about the New World during America's First (and Lost) Century. Dr. Rowland is famous for saying "All of American history actually began in Beaufort."  At the talk's conclusion, you will likely agree that if Dr. Rowland exaggerates, it is not by much.

The premiere lecture (5.1A) will be held at Beaufort Branch:

Thursday, September 21, 2023 - "Beaufort Before Britain: Our District's European Origins" with Dr. Larry Rowland & Col. Chris Allen | 11 AM - 12:15 | "Historically Speaking" series 5.1A | Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street | Registration required. Register for the Beaufort Branch session beginning September 7, 2023 through the BCHS website.  If you have any questions, please contact beaufortcountyhistorical@gmail.com. If you don't get into the Beaufort session, perhaps you can register and attend the Bluffton session set for October 5th. 

The reprise lecture (5.1B) will be held at Bluffton Branch two weeks later:  

Thursday, October 5, 2023 - "Beaufort Before Britain: Our District's European Origins" with Dr. Larry Rowland & Col. Chris Allen | 11 AM - 12:15 | "Historically Speaking" series 5.1B | Bluffton Branch Library, 120 Palmetto Way | Registration required. Register for the Bluffton Branch session beginning September 21, 2023 through EventBrite. 

Presenter Biographies

Dr. Lawrence S. Rowland is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina Beaufort where he taught for almost 50 years before his retirement. Other roles he performed at that institution were Associate Dean of Academics and Professor of History. He is a past president of the South Carolina Historical Society as well as the local Beaufort County Historical Society. He sits on a number of history related advisory boards. 

His dissertation topic at the University of South Carolina was Eighteenth Century Beaufort: A Study of South Carolina's Southern Parishes to 1800 and the history of Beaufort District has been the major focus of his work ever since. He has authored numerous articles and book reviews relating to the history of this area. I could not work nearly so well if not for his three volume series that I call the "Bible of Beaufort History:" The History of Beaufort County, 1514 - 1861; Rebellion, Reconstruction and Redemption, 1861 - 1893; and Bridging the Sea Islands' Past and Present, 1893 - 2006. Other works include Window on the Atlantic: The Rise and Fall of Santa Elena, South Carolina's Spanish City and The Civil War in South Carolina: Selections from the South Carolina Historical Magazine. He is a very popular lecturer so be sure to sign up as soon as registration opens on September 7, 2023. BTW: The books are available in the Research Room and through the Local History sections of the BCL Branch Libraries. The dissertation is available only inside the BDC Research Room. 

Christopher Allen graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1980. Commissioned in the Infantry, he transitioned to Special Forces in 1985.  He served in Berlin during the Cold War, Gulf War I, the containment of Iraq throughout the 1990’s, the US Embassy Baghdad in 2007 and had multiple Afghanistan and Pakistan tours from 2003 to 2017. He retired as a Colonel.  

Allen earned a Masters of National Security and Strategic Studies from both the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and from the National War College in Washington, DC.

Though government service impeded his physical presence, Chris committed to making the Low Country his home in 2002.  A student of Steve Wise and a disciple of Larry Rowland, he served as a Beaufort History Museum docent, on the Santa Elena Foundation Board of Directors, and as a National Park Service Ranger at the Reconstruction Era National Park.

Please note: Just don't get your hopes up that every BDC sponsored program can be duplicated North and South of the Broad River as we are the smallest public service unit in the entire Beaufort County Library system and providing and maintaining the Research Room is always and ever shall be priority #1. It's just by happenstance that we are able to do both "Historically Speaking" 5.1 and 5.2 at two locations this Fall.