It's a Busy Week for Programs

We've got a busy week, June 24 - June 30th. We have 2 local history programs at Beaufort Branch (one on Tuesday about contemporary history and one with the Beaufort County Historical Society on Thursday about Revolutionary War history) plus there's free admission to select area museums participating in Liberty Week Free Museums Saturday.

"Paradise: Memories of Hilton Head" with Nelle and Ora Smith | Tuesday, June 26 | BDC@ Beaufort Branch, 311 Scott Street | 2 PM

Two days later we honor the first decisive American victory of the Revolutionary War (a.k.a. "Carolina Day") with a  local history program presented by one of our most popular presenters, Douglas Bostick. Indeed, native South Carolinians consider June 28 as our state's Independence day and we're hosting a second anniversary "Carolina Day" lecture to celebrate.

On 28 June 1776 nine British naval ships began a bombardment  of Charles Town (Charleston), the fourth largest and by far the wealthiest city in its American colonies. In a battle lasting about 9 hours, a small force of patriots comprised of South and North Carolinians and their Native American allies commanded by Colonel William Moultrie and Colonel William Thomson successfully defended the harbor and town from a sand and palmetto log fort on Sullivan's Island. Using the 31 guns inside the fort to concentrate "hot shot" fire on the British's two largest ships, American forces prevented the landing of 2500 British soldiers and marines. Patriot actions that day helped delay British occupation of Charleston for another 4 years.

The anniversary was first observed in 1777 as Fort Moultrie Day eventually becoming known as Carolina Day in 1875. The modern observance dates from 1995 when Charleston  historical groups helped reinvigorate the celebration of Carolina Day to help raise awareness of South Carolina's and Charleston's role in the Revolutionary War. The State Legislature agreed and passed a law: South Carolina Code Ann. sec. 53-3-140, "June twenty-eighth of each year, the anniversary of the Battle of Sullivan's Island in 1776, is declared to be 'Carolina Day' in South Carolina."

"Carolina Day Lecture" with Doug Bostick | Thursday, June 28 | BDC@ Beaufort Branch, 311 Scott Street | 2 PM  This lecture is co-sponsored by the Beaufort County Historical Society.


The Carolina Day Lecture at the Library kicks off the Liberty Week celebration here in Beaufort County (June 28 - July 4).

The Beaufort County Historical Society is sponsoring its 2nd Annual Super Museum Saturday on June 30th, 2018, 10:00 am - 3:30 pm during which some of Beaufort District's premier historical and cultural heritage sites, Daufuskie Island to Ridgeland, will open free of charge to the public to show our shared history.The countywide collaborative effort began last year as an opportunity to showcase South Carolina's Liberty Week's Colonial and Revolutionary history.

We hope that you will create your own casual day trip thru the County by checking the sites you want to see on their Facebook or websites. Some sites will have special presentations others staff on hand to answer questions. If you decide to visit the Parris Island Museum, please remember that to gain access to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot you will need to provide your driver's license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance at the gate.

Heads up: All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed on Wednesday, July 4th.

Local History Programs in June 2018

We had such a good time in Hilton Head Branch talking with authors Nelle Smith and Ora Smith that we're going to do it again! On Tuesday, June 26th join us at Beaufort Branch to learn more about what life was like on Hilton Head Island from the early 1960s into the mid-1990s. 

Two days later, we celebrate the survival of Fort Moultrie with a Carolina Day lecture by the Executive Director of the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust, Douglas Bostick. Learn about the course of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina from this fine historian and author.

And two days after that, (Saturday, June 30, 2018) it's free Liberty Week Super Museums Saturday at at least 10 area museums. Please watch local media for details.

Black History Month 2014

Carter G. Woodson began highlighting the distinct and crucial history of African-Americans in 1926.  Since then, a week long celebration has turned into a month-long emphasis and reminder of the role that African Americans have made to American life and culture.  The 2014 theme for Black History Month is "Civil Rights in America."

The Beaufort District Collection makes an extra special effort to draw attention to the deep and broad history of African-Americans through our Facebook  and Connections posts, genealogy workshops, and emphasis on Library materials and services about Black History. Be sure to check out the posts in this blog labeled "African Americans" and "Black History Month" to get started.  

 

Already underway, in cooperation with Penn Center, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the St. Helena Branch Library is hosting "Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle" a film and lecture series.  Schedule.  

In addition, several of our sister cultural heritage organizations are hosting special exhibits or workshops on topics of African and African American history to commemorate Black History Month:

UPDATE: 14 Feb 2014, 4:27pm:The Toni Carrier Presentation at the Heritage Library scheduled for this Sunday, February 16, at 2:00 pm is CANCELLED. Please pass the word! -- Linda Piekut, Executive Director, Heritage Library Foundation,843-686-6560,lindapiekut@gmail.com

The Heritage Library Foundation is hosting a workshop: 

Breaking Through the 1870 Brick Wall: Locating Your African American Ancestors in SC Freedmen’s Bureau Records Toni Carrier, Founding Director of Lowcountry Africana and the USF Africana Heritage Project

Sunday, February 16, 2014;

2:00 – Wine Reception; 2:30 – talk

$10/Person

Researching African American family history before 1870 has always been difficult because of the lack of plantation and civil war records documenting the enslaved peoples of the lowcountry. Toni’s special research interest is finding and digitizing records to assist African American famly history researchers in tracing ancestors back before the 1870 federal census.

Call the Heritage Library at 843-686-6560 to reserve a seat.

Visit the Coastal Discovery Museum on Hilton Head Island to see "Finding Freedom's Home: Archaeology at Mitchelville."Recent archeological discoveries at the site of one of the first self-governed Freedmen's communities include evidence of possible homes, several barrel wells, a large refuse pit, and more than 20,000 artifacts, including personal belongings, tools and household goods.The exhibition will be on display through December. Details: 843-689-6767 or www.coastaldiscovery.org.

Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2014/01/30/2920834/exhibit-highlighting-mitchelvilles.html#storylink=cpy

Penn Center has "Bunce Island, a British slave castle in Sierra Leone" on exhibit through the end of May in the York W. Bailey Museum.  Bunce Island was one of about 40 slave castles, or fortified trading posts, that European merchants built along the coast of West Africa during the period of the Atlantic slave trade. Details: 843-838-2474, www.penncenter.com.

Parris Island Museum exhibits focus on the long and honored history and traditions of the Marine Corps, including the history of African-American Marines before Harry S. Truman desegregated the military. Museum: 843-228-2951

Support History This Holiday Season

Beaufort County is blessed to have more than a dozen cultural heritage agencies, many of which hosting special events and programs during December. Why not support local history and cultural heritage organizations - and entertain your holiday guests - at the same time?  (Please be sure to check with each institution about its holiday hours.)  

Old World Christmas Gala 

Description of event:  Come support historic preservation in Bluffton with BHPS and friends. Enjoy a traditional meal and dance the night away under the stars in a live oak grove near the Oyster Factory Park on the May River. Period dress is encouraged, hoop skirts are optional.
Time and date of event:  Friday, Dec. 13th from 6-10 pm
Location of event: Colcock-Teel Property, 46 Colcock Street, Bluffton
Price:  Fee.
Contact: 843-757-6293; info@heywardhouse.org


Beaufort Model Railroaders Exhibit
Description of event: Scaled models of trains run through cities, countryside, and villages and towns courtesy of the Beaufort Model Railroaders hobby group.  For the young and young-at-heart!  A time-honored and celebrated tradition for more than 20 years at Beaufort Branch Library. 

Time and date of event:  Tuesday, Dec. 17th - Saturday, Dec. 21st during regular Beaufort Branch Library hours.

Location of event: Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, 1st floor, Beaufort
Price:  Free.
Contact: 843-255-6456; www.beaufortcountylibrary.org

Beaufort County's Most Hated Man: William Henry Brisbane, Planter-Turned-Abolitionist
Description of event: Dr. J. Brent Morris (USC-B) discusses how Brisbane, a staunch supporter of slavery and a plantation until the 1830s had a turn of heart and became an active abolitionist.  In the 1840s he sold his land and moved to Ohio, only to return to his birthplace as a Federal Tax Commissioner during the Civil War.  On January 1, 1863, it was Brisbane who publicly read the Emancipation Proclamation in Beaufort - including to some men and women who he had owned. 

Time and date of event:  Wednesday, Dec. 18th at 3 pm

Location of event: Coastal Discovery Museum,
Price:  Fee.
Contact: Reservations and details:  843-689-6767, ext. 223 www.coastaldiscovery.org

PS: For those of you who live North of the Broad River, Dr. Morris will be speaking about Brisbane during the Beaufort County Historical Society meeting at the Beaufort Yacht Club on Jan. 16th, too.

First South Carolina Volunteers Exhibit
Description of event: As a special treat to the residents of Beaufort County, the Beaufort History Museum is offering free admission during December.  The First South Carolina Volunteers exhibit closes on December 22nd.
Time and date of event:  10 am - 4 pm, Monday through Fridays; 1 - 4 pm Sundays
Location of event: Beaufort History Museum, 1911 Boundary Street, Beaufort (In Town Hall) 

Price: Free for residents during December; Fee for everyone else.

Contact: 843-277-1443; www.beauforthistorymuseum.com

Parris Island Museum
Description of event: In addition to documenting the history of the United States Marine Corps, Parris Island Museum has exhibits about the Spanish and French settlements on the island and the Civil War history of the area.
Time and date of event:  10 am - 4:30 pm, Daily (closed Christmas Day)
Location of event: Parris Island Museum, 111 Panama Street, Marine Corps Recruit Depot

Price: Free.
Contact: 843-228-2951; http://parrisislandmuseum.com/

Civil War Exhibits at the John Mark Verdier House
Description of event: Historic Beaufort Foundation maintains the John Mark Verdier House museum.  Historic images illustrate text panels of the town during the Civil War and there is a scale-model diorama of Bay Street 1863 currently under construction.  In addition with paid admission, visitors can see "Robert Smalls: Beaufort Hero" and the "Unsurrendered Flag" featuring the history of the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery and its recently restored 1858 flag.
Time and date of event:  10 am - 4:00 pm, Monday - Saturday 
Location of event: John Mark Verdier House, 801 Bay Street, Beaufort

Price: Some free; some fee.
Contact: 379-6335; historicbeaufort.org

York W. Bailey Museum

Description of event: The Education for Freedom permanent exhibit chronicles Penn Center's most important history as a place of education, leadership and service, offering a glimpse into the stories of the Gullah Geechee people whose lives were changed by this important American institution. Rare artifacts, photographs, writings, and letters documenting Sea Island life during the 18th-20th century are on display.

Time and date of event:  9 am - 4 pm, Mondays through Saturdays 
Location of event: Cope Building, Penn Center Historic District, St. Helena Island
Price: Fee.

Contact:  843-838-2474



N.B. Please forgive the formatting issues. On the creation page, this looks just fine, all spacing, typefaces, and size of font are the same.  The posted version looks different because the free version of Blogspot (what we have to use) gets a little off kilter when one cuts-and-pastes text and images and proceeds to resize things to suit itself. Alas, it's the price one pays for free versions of software and a desire to "pretty" things up for readers. 

Beaufort History Museum

Earlier this month, I visited our sister cultural agency, the Beaufort History Museum, located in Beaufort City Hall. Designed to showcase the collection of historic artifacts that belong to the City originally housed in the now defunct Beaufort Museum, the museum is like a survey course on Beaufort history, with a sampling of a little bit of quite a lot — from arrow points that are evidence of the first technology, ca 8000 BC, to a picture of Beaufort taken from space in this century. Not to mention a few artifacts from the intervening years.

As Larry Rowland says, “All American history begins in Beaufort.” Go visit and see why.  It's free to all visitors until June 30th!  Active military and their families get a special deal - free admission between Memorial Day and Labor Day because Beaufort History Museum participates in the Blue Star Museum program.  

Hours of operation are 10-4, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays;  and 1-4 on Sunday afternoons.

Celebrate International Museum Day

On  May 18, museums throughout the world will celebrate International Museum Day. The event was created in 1977 by the International Council of Museums to encourage awareness about the role of museums in the development of society. The theme for 2012 is "Museums in a Changing World."

"Museums in a Changing World: New Challenges, New Inspirations" is recognition that institutions are faced with interpreting, and existing in, a field that is becoming increasingly fluid. Each museum faces a unique set of goals, interests and audiences while sharing its resources and interpretations of social, cultural, and environmental history with others.  According to ICM: 

• Museums face unique challenges related to their social, political and ecological environment. They play a key role in development through education and democratisation, while also serving as witnesses of the past and guardians of humanity’s treasures for future generations.

•  Museums ensure they are the intergenerational guardians of the world’s heritage and create an ongoing link to the past thanks to universal messages.

Our loose confederation, Beaufort County Historic Resources Consortium, includes a number of member museums.  In honor of International Museum Day, why not go visit their facilities?  You might be surprised by the breadth, depth and scope of our local museums.

• York W. Bailey Museum, Penn Center
• Verdier House, Historic Beaufort Foundation
• Union Church Museum, Historic Port Royal Foundation
• Parris Island Museum
• Heyward House, Bluffton Historical Preservation Society
• Coastal Discovery Museum 
• Billie Burns Museum, Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation
• Beaufort History Museum Opening May 19th! And, for a short while after opening, admission is free.

Speak Up for Museums on Feb. 28th

Today's entry is about advocating for museums based upon information provided by the American Association of Museums.  Museums, like libraries and archives, are under duress.  Perhaps you will feel moved to help.      

Over the Christmas holidays, our home had a revolving door and was occupied by a mobile and ever changing set of people.  We hosted out-of-town family members and beaus of our children.  What did we do for entertainment and enlightenment? 1) Went to the Parris Island Museum, twice. 2) Went to the Kazoo Museum and factory, made our own kazoo - and had a ball.  3) Saw the "New Harmonies: Roots of American Music" Exhibit at the Beaufort Branch Library three times.  4) Visited the Hunting Island Lighthouse complex.  So for my family, the ability to visit local museums with high standards is a crucial factor in why we continue to live here in Beaufort.   

What is a museum? There are many definitions. Among those with currency today are, in no particular order, pillars in our educational infrastructure, protectors and interpreters of our historical, scientific and cultural heritages and bastions of authenticity in an increasingly virtual world. Yet in a stubbornly stagnant economy, museums can be seen as crucial economic cogs for communities, large and small, all across America.

These days, museums are serving what is perhaps an unexpected function for U.S. communities, but a role our institutions have served for decades: as economic engines, creating jobs and generating business for companies large and small, but particularly small, in communities everywhere.

In direct expenditures alone, museums annually inject more than $20 billion into the U.S. economy. America’s estimated 17,500 museums employ more than 400,000 individuals. And perhaps most compelling in these times of tightening local budgets – and the slash and burn approach to budgeting at the federal level -- was a recent U.S. Council of Mayors study that found that, for every $1 invested in cultural institutions (including museums), municipalities saw $7 in tax revenues come into their coffers. That’s a rate of return that would make even Warren Buffett swoon.

And that astounding return is due to the thriving cultural tourism industry in our country. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, cultural tourism accounts for $192 billion in economic activity annually. And many of those monies are spent with the local eateries, the local bed and breakfast, or the local gift shops in communities across the country.

And museums have long been cultural destinations in and of themselves. Trips including cultural and heritage activities comprise one of the most popular and significant segments of the travel industry, accounting for 23% of domestic trips. And clearly those trips generate economic activity for local businesses. Visitors to historic sites and cultural attractions, including museums, stay 53% longer and spend 36% more money than other kinds of tourists.

One need look no further than Beaufort County to see the impact our museums have on our economy. 

• Parris Island Museum
• Coastal Discovery Museum
• Verdier House Museum
• Heyward House Museum
• Penn Center Museum 
• Gullah Museum
• Daufuskie Island Museum
• The soon to open Beaufort History Museum
• Hunting Island Lighthouse complex
• ... And, I may have left out some others

Hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors go to one or more of these local institutions each year.  Along the way, they spend dollars in our local community for food, gas, lodging, tours, and souvenirs. 

How do museums generate such economic benefits? The enduring popularity of museums is a major factor. Nationwide, there are an estimated 850 million museum visits each year – that’s more than attendance at all professional sporting events and theme parks combined. Witness the fact that the Smithsonian Institution alone attracts 30 million visits each year.

Our own "New Harmonies: Roots of American Music" exhibit had 5,000 visitors from Dec. 17 through Feb. 4th - and that's excluding Sundays - a very busy "Let's visit a museum" day. 

All of this is to share the value museums bring to our communities every day, as economic sparks, as pillars of our education system, and as major contributors to the overall quality of life here in America. 

If you value our local museums, we urge you to visit the American Association of Museums website (www.speakupformuseums.org) for action points.  

Museums are vital to our communities and their economies. Help us keep our museums ─ and our communities ─ strong by lending your voice to ours, ensuring that the cause of museums is heard on February 28.