All Collections

For residents of Columbia and the many communities throughout the state, the 2015 flood was much more than statistics suggest. The oral histories in this collection begin to humanize the experience of the flood, as residents confronted loss and destruction of homes and businesses, and found support and resilience within their communities. Those willing to share their story are farmers, professors, artists, retirees, web designers, business owners, and more.

This collection includes letters from Munro’s purchase of a house which served as the Mt. Pleasant Home for Destitute Children, as well as legal documents from parents and guardians who signed care of impoverished African American children over to the home, financial documents, photographs, and an extensive run of the Laing School Visitor newsletter.

Digitized in 2017, these 18 books are a combination of rare, unique and invaluable, and were digitized in collaboration with the UofSC Press. Some of the titles you’ll see are books on South Carolina and its citizens, and others are more far-ranging in their geographical coverage.  The types of bound volumes you’ll find include memoirs, biographical sketches, historical accounts, and veteran’s experiences.

Ada Clare (1836-1874) was the pseudonym and later legal name of Jane McElhenney, a journalist, writer, actress, poet, and feminist, of Charleston, S.C., and New York, N.Y.

Aerial photographs of Richland County, South Carolina.

Alan Seeger, a poet of the Foreign Legion. His letters and poems, written during the war, are brought together here by his father and translated by Odette Raimondi-Matheron.

This beautifully illustrated alphabet book, published in 1775, is an excellent example of early children’s literature from the eighteenth century.

This collection brings together material from numerous South Caroliniana Library collections to document the experiences of South Carolinians during the American Revolutionary War—both within and outside of the state.

This collection of travel diaries and an autograph book gives a first-hand account of early to mid nineteenth century aristocratic life in The United States and abroad.

This collection of photographs, newspaper clippings and various manuscripts documents one of America’s foremost early twentieth-century African-American magic acts.

The Birds of America consists of 435 plates representing the life-sized and realistically posed birds illustrated by John James Audubon and printed mainly in London by Havell. The hand painted engravings constitute a significant contribution to works of ornithology. This digital collection of Audubon’s prints connects his names for the birds with their modern equivalents where there have been changes.

Augusta Baker was born in 1911 in Baltimore, Maryland, and would go on to become one of the country’s most well-known and widely celebrated storyteller, librarian and author. Augusta Baker’s legacy continues on through various outlets such as this collection, the Augusta Baker Papers, that were digitized here and consist of materials spanning her career from the 1930s-1990s.

Beatrice Ross served as South Carolina’s first female state park superintendent from 1954 to 1979. From 1944 to 1954, Ross’ husband, D.I. Ross, Sr., lived in and ran the park as superintendent, and Bea Ross worked as an unofficial, and unpaid, park employee. When D.I. Ross unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 1954, Mrs. Ross, with the help of some powerful state politicians, took over as superintendent.

Shallow Water Marine Benthic Macroinvertebrates of South Carolina:
Species Identification, Community Composition and Symbiotic Associations
by Richard S. Fox and Edward E. Ruppert

Once part of an album, the photographs (circa 1900) show plantations, African Americans, horses, hunting, rice threshing, wagons and carts, and churches in Berkeley County, S.C.

This small sampling of images by Miss Beulah Glover includes prints and negatives and covers the years 1941 to 1952.

This collection of family letters, land papers, and other items documents several generations of a free family of color from the 18th through the 20th centuries in South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, east Texas, and elsewhere.

This collection of correspondence, financial records, and land records, spanning from the late Colonial Era through the twentieth century documents the lives of members of the Bratton Family from York County, South Carolina and the enslaved persons that labored on their estate.

This collection includes John Milton’s A Brief History of Moscovia: and Other Less-Known Countries Lying Eastward of Russia as Far as Cathay. Gathered from the Writings of Several Eye-Witnesses and a map of Russia dating from 1625.

Comprised of special collections and archives from UofSC’s South Caroliniana Library and South Carolina Political Political Collections, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Richland County Public Library, and the S.C. State Library, this digital collection provides a contextual glance into primary sources surrounding the legal case Briggs v. Elliott.

Broadsides from the Colonial Era to the Present at the South Caroliniana Library.

Documents from the Papers of Butler C. Derrick at South Carolina Political Collections.

Forty-four letters, 1862-1864, of Union soldier Calvin Shedd from Company A, Seventh New Hampshire Regiment, are written primarily from locations in coastal South Carolina.

Camilla Urso was one of the leading violinists of the 19th century. She accomplished this at a time when the violin was not considered to be a suitable instrument for a woman to play.

The Carolina Bands Collection is comprised of hundreds of letters, pages of drill, photographs, football programs, and newspaper clippings.

The Carolina Student’s Handbook offers a glimpse of the campus culture at the University of South Carolina from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Leather bound book, 133 pages with hand-written entries in ink, pencil, and blue-colored pencil. List of mineral specimens, beginning with 20a, Coal – anthracite and ending with number 2335, Gold on page 133.

Published by subscription in installments from 1729-1747, Catesby’s Natural History is a scientific account of the flora and fauna of North America and contains 220 illustrations of the plants and animals Catesby encountered in his travels.

Report on the Census of Cuba, 1899.

The papers of the Rev. Charles Stuart Vedder (1826–1917) consist primarily of letters as well as diaries spanning a period of over sixty years.

The photographs in this collection show the aftermath of the 1886 Charleston earthquake shortly after it occurred.

This digital collection contains correspondence, family papers, business records, and church records from Chester County.

Part of the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections’ Pamphlets, this collection features one title, “Sunday afternoons with Mamma: a book for very little children” from 1866, by Agnes Giberne.

Christopher Pearse Cranch (March 8, 1813 – January 20, 1892) was a Unitarian minister and American Transcendentalist author and artist, most well-known for his poetry, caricatures, and landscape paintings. He was also known for his illustrations of other authors’ work, such as in Emerson’s “Transparent Eyeball”.

Salem M. E. Church South was located in Richland County, SC (now Fort Jackson property). It dates back to 1887 for sure and possibly even earlier to 1876. The church register is mostly from this Church.

The City Directories of South Carolina are housed at UofSC’s South Caroliniana Library. Many of the Columbia (S.C.) City Directores are at the Richland Library. It includes directories from the cities of Anderson, Camden, Chester, Clinton, Gaffney, Laurens, Newberry, Sumter, and Union.

This curated collection brings together diverse archival footage documenting the Civil Rights movement.

One of two original student organizations established at South Carolina College in 1806, to prepare their members for future leadership roles by strengthening their oratorical skills.

The photographs, clippings and ephemera in this collection reflect Claude Casey’s personal and professional lives.

This collection contains the mementos Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Franklin Eshleman, a former commander of the Washington Artillery battalion, saved in his scrapbook.

This is a collection of photographs documenting the activities of the Columbia Fire Department between the 1940s the 1960s.

This searchable collection of Columbia (S.C.) City Directories from 1859 is an invaluable source for historians and genealogists. City directories offer an alphabetized listing of residents and businesses as well as a street-by-street listing of occupants.

This collection was created in May 2020 as a product of a service-learning class taught in the Honors College at the University of South Carolina to document the perspectives and experiences of those impacted in a variety of ways by the COVID-19 pandemic, using oral history skills to tell the stories.

This collection of papers of the Cox and Chesnut families discusses political, economic, and social aspects of life in the United States during the Early National and antebellum periods.

This collection contains a diary, letters and other materials surrounding the life of five-term U.S. congressman David Wyatt Aiken, who biographers have styled “South Carolina’s Militant Agrarian.”

This collection contains 32 letters and postcards to and from Delbert Claire Brandt (Claire Brandt), who served with the 1st Cavalry in World War I, was wounded, and died on November 16, 1918.

The images in this collection have been created from a portfolio of book and manuscript leaves that was compiled and sold by The Society of Foliophiles in 1964.

This collection consists of five items that represent some of the earliest publications describing the diamond fields of South Africa.

Documentation for the People: Celebrating 125 Years as a Federal Depository Library.

E. Don Herd created these negatives while a student at Belton High School, Belton, S.C. and a few later while at Erskine College.

The E. E. Burson Collection consists of 253 glass plate negatives, as well as 253 contact prints made from the negatives, depicting Voorhees College students and buildings as well as townspeople and town scenes from Denmark, South Carolina.

E. T. Start of New York State moved to Camden South Carolina in 1903, as the photographer at the Kirkwood Hotel. Photographing the Winter Colony and local scenes, he spent time in Camden until c. 1945.

Digital collection of over 80 of popular 19th century author E.D.E.N. Southworth’s books.

Edwin E. Gordon is internationally known as a preeminent researcher, teacher, author, editor, and lecturer in the field of music education.

The Edwin Hughes Collection is a large collection containing a wide variety of materials, including correspondence, scores, photographs, concert programs, magazine and newspaper clippings, published materials, and scrapbooks.

The photographs, diary entries, and souvenirs that comprise this collection document Eleanor’s visits to the Panama Canal, the Taj Mahal, and the Valley of the Kings, as well as dozens of cities and other historic sites all over the globe.

This collection reflects coursework by students at the University of South Carolina Honors College exploring the 2020 election and civic engagement.  Developed in 2019, before COVID-19 and before the presidential match-up was determined, the course emphasized exploration of all viewpoints and the many ways citizens can engage with their larger community around the political process.

This digital collection is a sampling of some of the hundreds of folders relating to the Equal Rights Amendment held at South Carolina Political Collections.

This report is submitted in response to Section 402 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Ethelind Pope Brown Collection of South Carolina Natural History is comprised of 32 opaque watercolors, or gouaches, on paper.

Papers documenting the life of a twentieth century AME minister and leader in the fields of education, civil rights, and business.

The Euphradian Literary Society was one of two original student organizations established at South Carolina College in 1806. This collection includes constitutions and bylaws, membership lists, minutes, roll books, and treasurer’s reports. Also present are critic’s books, which contain descriptions of speech topics and how speakers conducted themselves.

The thirty-six interviewees in this collection describe community, family, educational experiences, and race relations in Winnsboro, Ridgeway, Simpson and surrounding areas of Fairfield County, South Carolina.

This collection contains Bible records for a number of South Carolina families. They date from the late 1700s to the late 1900s. The Bible records contain information on births, marriages, deaths, and other notable events that occurred within the families.

Books printed in the 15th century, alternately referred to as fifteeners or incunabula, comprise the earliest examples we have of the mass production of books by mechanical means during the late medieval period. Derived from the Latin word for cradle or swaddling, incunabula are books printed between 1450 and 1501, the first 50 years of printing in Europe.

The collection contains seven million feet of nitrate motion picture film and four million feet of safety motion picture film documenting the national and global politics and culture from 1919 through 1934 and from September 1942 through August 1944. Paper holdings provide detailed notes generated by original camera crews as well as ephemera related to individual stories.

These 8 to 10 minute Fox Movietone News newsreels record how the world appeared on screen to the American public during the war.

A selection of French language children’s books from the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.

Documents from the Papers of Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings at South Carolina Political Collections.

The G. Ross Roy Collection goes back to 1892 when Roy’s grandmother, Charlotte Spriggings, inscribed an edition of the works of Robert Burns to her friend W. Ormiston Roy. The collection was inherited by the grandson in 1958 and has since grown fivefold.

University of South Carolina’s Garnet and Black Yearbooks from 1899 to 1994, all available and keyword searchable.

This collection of glass plate negatives of Charleston and Summerville was made by George LaGrange Cook in the 1880s and early 1890s.

Letters and photographs from Charleston-native George William Walker (b. 1894) who served as a lieutenant in the 52nd Infantry Regiment, World War I.

Glenn Drayton’s journal is a bound volume consisting of Drayton’s rules of conduct expected of a U.S. sailor, 1814; and records, 1814-1864, of Rusticello plantation, Pendleton District, S.C., continued after Drayton’s death.

This is a collection of informational pamphlets from the Government Information Library.

This collection contains USDA Periodicals titled, The Cotton Situation (1947-1948), The Farm Income Situation (1946-1955), The Fruit Situation (1946-1949), The Marketing and Transportation Situation (1947-1948), and The Market Reporter (1920-1921).

Harbison Agricultural College began in 1885 when the Rev. Emory W. Williams of Washington, D.C. founded a school to educate young African Americans in Abbeville, S.C.

Over 40 hours of film, photographs, and papers document the careers of two distinguished Chicago news cameramen, father and son.

These two bound volumes from the collection each have a distinct focus: one on popular piano music from the mid-1800s, and the other on popular songs for piano and voice from 1899 to 1902 with an emphasis on blackface minstrelsy.

Manuscripts and diaries documenting the family life and natural history interests of a 19th century planter, botanist, and agricultural writer.

This Civil War-era photograph album contains cartes-de-visite photographs of members of the S. C. Secession Convention, Confederate and U.S. Governments, officers of the Confederate and U.S. Armies, S.C. governors, and officers of the South Carolina Volunteers 1st Regiment of Rifles.

This website cross-references digitized images of object and archival collections documenting the work of significant naturalists associated with the University, who worked in the South.

Historical Newspapers of South Carolina provides free online access to historical local and regional newspapers originating throughout South Carolina since 1815.

At the close of the 19th century the U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with individual state agencies, began the collection of vast amounts of pedogenic information for the sake of not only farmers but also for developers and industry.

This collection of textbooks and printed works on nineteenth century American education have been drawn from the collections of both the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections (including the William Savage Textbook Collection) and the South Caroliniana Library.

Moving Image Research Collections’ holdings of amateur films and home movies documents family life, holiday celebrations, vacation travel and much more. These films, created in many locations across the United States and across the globe as well, represent a period of time spanning from the early 20th century to the 1970’s.

This volume, the atlas to the exhibition, was printed in Paris between 1805 to 1834 and is a comprehensive work in the fields of physical geography and geology, natural history, and ethnography that served as a model for future scientific expeditions.

In 1969, Senator Ernest Hollings went on a tour of South Carolina’s most impoverished areas in several trips known as the “Hunger Tours” – trips that ultimately culminated in the book The Case Against Hunger. The collection includes records from the Ernest F. Hollings Papers on such topics as the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and more.

This series of 31 maps of the South Carolina coastline depicts water-surface elevations, high water marks, and landward extent of storm-tide inundation caused by Hurricane Hugo, September 21-22, 1989.

The Hypatian Literary Society was one of two literary societies for women. When women were admitted to the University of South Carolina in 1895, the Clariosophic and Euphradian Societies banned them from joining their all-male organizations. There are only three known volumes still in existence for the Hypatians, and none for Euphrosyneans.

Several collections in SCPC contain material dating from the Great War.

An alternative lifestyle magazine published in Columbia, SC from 1994 to 1998, In Unison Magazine focused on LGBTQ+ rights, news, politics and entertainment.

A historical records survey known as the Inventory of Church Archives was completed by W.P.A. workers between 1937 and 1939.

Isaac Rosenberg, recognized as the first significant Jewish poet in English literature, was one of the major poets whose life was cut short by the Great War, and the only one who served in the ranks. He died on the Somme in 1918 at the age of 27.

Isaac Samuel Leevy (1876-1968) was an entrepreneur and civic leader in Columbia, South Carolina best known for directing Leevy’s Funeral Home and staunchly supporting a two-party political system in the state as a Republican (until late in life) and Richland County Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.

I. DeQuincey Newman was a Methodist pastor, activist, entrepreneur, and a leading figure in the Civil Rights movement in South Carolina.

This collection of postcards from donor J.B. Hawley focuses primarily on buildings found on university campuses across the United States.

This collection includes both a bound (1944-1949) and an unbound (1935-1969) scrapbook, and each book offers a snapshot into the life of Jim and Marian Robinson. Letters, photos, and newspaper clippings are all included in this collection.

The papers of colonial governor James Glen (1701-1777), who served as Governor of South Carolina from 1738 to 1756, include official government documents, papers concerning relations with Native American Indians, business papers relating to his ownership of a South Carolina rice plantation, and correspondence between Glen and South Carolina planter, John Drayton (1713-1779).

The oral history interviews in this collection seek to tell the story of Lt. Col. James H. Davis and his brother, John Sherwood Davis, by sharing recollections and experiences of those who knew or served with them. Family members, college friends, and fellow Marines have been interviewed, and those interviews form the foundation of ongoing efforts to preserve the stories and experiences of those who served our country.

This collection contains diaries of James Kershaw, 1791-1825, with meteorological observations, recipes, and home remedies, including advice for treatment of pimples, boils, baldness, and unwanted hair.

This digital collection includes calendars, notebooks, letters, publications, essays, speeches and other papers documenting McCain’s involvement with local and national civil rights organizations. The bulk of the items evidence his interest in local issues such as illiteracy, integration of public schools, and voter turnout in South Carolina’s African American community.

The Metz Recipe Book Collection includes more than 500 manufacturers’ cookbooks.

This collection contains over 300 letters, photographs, page proofs, and various other items connected with many prominent persons of nineteenth-century American literary culture from New England and beyond.

The John Abbot Watercolors collection at the University of South Carolina consists of 149 illustrations of butterflies and moths. Along with the work of Audubon, Catesby, and other famous natural illustrators, Abbot’s watercolors reveal the intersection between art and science during a period in history when scientific understanding of new species was taking off.

The John and Mary Osman Braun and Hogenberg Collection contains a variety of maps from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, primarily from the Civitates Orbis Terrarum (Cities of the World) by Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg.

John Caldwell Calhoun (1782-1850), born in Abbeville, South Carolina, rose to prominence as a politician and statesman. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1810, and quickly became instrumental in pushing the United States to declare war on Britain, launching the War of 1812.

This collection of manuscripts and photographs documents the life and work of journalist and politician John H. McCray (1910-1987).

A native of Kenton, Ohio, John LeRoy Hensel came to Columbia during World War II, upon being stationed at the Columbia Army Air Base as a bomber pilot instructor.

Letters, postcards, and photographs from Columbia native John Hodge Bollin, Jr. (1894-1950), a member of Company M, 323rd Infantry, 81st Division and served during World War I.

This scrapbook contains recital and concert programs, playbills, clippings, photographs, awards and certificates collected throughout John Kenneth Adams’ career as a performer and teacher.

The series of photograph albums document the time that John Shaw Billings (1898-1975) and his extended fmaily spent at the Redcliffe plantation in Aiken County, South Carolina.

Documents from the Papers of John West at South Carolina Political Collections.

This core unit of three hundred fifty items covers chiefly the period from 1942, when Joseph Armstrong DeLaine submitted his annual report as secretary of the Clarendon County Citizen[s] Committee, to 1974, when he delivered an address entitled “History leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision outlawing Segregation in Public Schools.”

The Joseph E. Winter (1920–1992) Collection reflects the career of Joseph E. Winter, housing inspector (1955–1965) and director (1965–1980) of the Columbia Rehabilitation Commission.

The Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection includes over 200 separate postcards. Most were printed in the United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany.

The posters in this digital collection represent only one small part of the Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection at the University of South Carolina. The Collection was established in 1997 by Matthew J. and Arlyn Bruccoli in memory of Joseph M. Bruccoli, Matthew J. Bruccoli’s father, who fought in the first World War.

The Joseph M. Bruccoli Collection includes over a thousand pieces of sheet-music from the First World War.

The photographs of Kenneth Frederick Marsh (d. 1968) were used to illustrate the following books by photographer Marsh and his wife, Blanche Marsh: Historic Flat Rock (North Carolina), Plantation Heritage, Robert Mills, and The New South, Greenville, S.C.

Records daily activities, 22 July 1860 – 13 Apr. 1861, of a widowed plantation mistress, including the management of slaves; preparation and preservation of food; menus offered to guests; winery procedures; and the distribution of supplies to the slaves at her Sand Hills and Cabin Branch plantations.

Kline Iron and Steel Company (1923-2003), known for its high quality products and services, had a reciprocal reputation of loyalty and respect between employees and owners. Through the thirty-plus oral history interviews in this collection, narrators share their stories of family, community, friendship, and work.

Léon Bakst (1866-1924) was a Russian portraitist and designer who spent much of his career in Paris. This book reflects his extraordinary collaborative work with Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes as well as the dancers Ida Rubinstein and Vaslav Nijinsky.

Lanny and Sidney Palmer were well known, highly accomplished pillars of South Carolina’s cultural life for over 50 years. Their many accomplishments and activities were varied and touched upon a full spectrum of creative disciplines including classical music performance, composition and conducting, opera and choral performance, musical theater, dance, television production, photography, music education and voice pedagogy. This significant collection includes musical scores, audio and video recordings, photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, performance programs and ephemera associated with their lives and careers.

The Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections’ Anthony P. Campanella Collection contains over 2,500 titles, 410 original letters to and from Garibaldi, 350 nineteenth-century newspapers, a major collection of medals honoring and relating to Garibaldi, and a variety of prints, realia, and memorabilia.

The illustrated annual giftbook is one of the most distinctive publishing genres on both sides of the Atlantic, from the mid-1820s through to the 1850s.

The Local Television News Collections at Moving Image Research Collections (MIRC) comprise approximately 1.5 million feet of 16mm motion picture film outtakes dating from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, donated by several South Carolina television stations.

Loretta & Hamish Dunbar’s recorded letters home to her mother and step-father while serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa in the 1970s

Parish registers, with records of baptisms, marriages, burials, and communions, in addition to lists of members, pastors, and church officers.

This digital collection consists chiefly of reports relating to implementation of school desegregation that were sent to M. Hayes Mizell in his role with the American Friends Service Committee, his own speeches and writings, and photographs.

A Bit of History and some Recollections of Bamberg with Appendix of Data Concerning a few Bamberg County Families and their Connections
by D. Graham Copeland.

This collection is comprised of the personal papers and effects of Civil Rights activist and cabaret singer Marian Bruce Logan (1920-1993).

Martha Cunningham Monteith was the first trained speech therapist employed by the South Carolina public school system, establishing the inaugural program at Richland County District One in 1949.

Owner of Clear Springs Plantation, or Tipse Boo in St. Andrew’s Parish, Charleston, SC.

Selected, signed first editions of Massenet operas.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ledger is one of the richest primary source documents in existence for any literary author. Fitzgerald began recording information in this business ledger sometime in 1919 or 1920 after leaving the Army and moving to New York to begin his professional life as a writer.

This collection includes Maxcy Gregg’s Sporting Journal (1839–1860) as well as letters and reports from his service during the Civil War. Letters and newspaper clippings commemorating his death at the Battle of Fredericksburg are also included.

This collection is the beginning of a community wide effort to record the contemporary culinary history of the Southeast.

In 1847 and 1857, Micajah Adolphus Clark (1822-1905) traveled from Mississippi to South Carolina and kept detailed accounts of his journeys.

Millage J. Gomillion served in World War I as a corporal in Co. I, 371st Infantry. The 371st Infantry Regiment was comprised of African American soldiers, and formed at Camp Jackson on 31 August 1917.

Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians in South Carolina have often disagreed on matters of liturgy and theology and have even competed for members.

Columbia civil rights activist Simkins was a founder of the Victory Savings Bank and proved to be a key influence in many SC political campaigns.

A Columbia civil rights activist, Simkins served as the South Carolina State Secretary for the NAACP, 1941 to 1957. She also had leadership roles in the renovation of Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital and the Richland County Citizens Committee.

SEARCH ACROSS ALL MOVING IMAGE RESEARCH COLLECTIONS HERE

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With the first edition in 1954 and the final edition in 1965, Names of South Carolina is dedicated to locating, contextualizing, and explaining famous family names found in the state. Authored by Claude and Irene Neuffer, and totaling 12 volumes, this compendium spans from the post-Civil War era to the Civil Rights era. Rights and …

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Natural history is a broad term used to describe the study of the natural world and the history of nature. With origins dating back to the Greco-Roman period, the medieval Arabic world, and Renaissance Europe, natural history sought to categorize and explain the totality of nature. The Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections has extensive holdings in natural history and its related fields, with collections focusing on the work of Mark Catesby, Alexander von Humbolt, John James Audubon and Charles Darwin and with topics ranging from astronomy, botany, and ornithology, among others.

The Negro Travelers’ Green Book was a travel guide series published from 1936 to 1964 by Victor H. Green.

South Carolina Council on Human Relations (SCCHR) played a key role in fostering better living and social conditions for African Americans and promoting racial harmony within South Carolina and the South generally.

The New South offers a glimpse into an era of unprecedented social upheaval in the South Carolina Lowcountry. In the Battle of Port Royal Sound of Nov. 7, 1861, Union Navy forces seized control of Port Royal Harbor, and Beaufort District’s white residents fled in their wake.

A primer for newly-enfranchised voters, this pamphlet lays out the goals and purposes of the South Carolina League of Women Voters and provides a tutorial on government and elections.

Revision of the mice of the American genus peromyscus

This collection contains two volumes of local history and genealogical information regarding Fairfield County, South Carolina, including families who settled in the region, as well as related lines in Charleston, Orangeburg County, Richland County, and elsewhere in South Carolina.

This collection is comprised of first hand accounts, logs, and photographs of life on the U.S.S. Landing Craft Infantry 759 during World War II.

This item documents the 1923 meeting in Columbia, S.C., of the Bishops’ Council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Correspondence, diaries, and sermon notes from colonial and Revolutionary periods in Charleston, S.C.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi was an innovative graphic artist most known for his architectural studies of Rome and imaginary prisons.

Pages from the Past comprises a digital record of all the medieval manuscripts in South Carolina’s institutional archives.

Panoramas are not unique to photography, as artists have employed the technique to capture wide-angle views since 20 A.D. Early panoramic photographs are rare and consisted of daguerreotype plates being pieced together to form the picture. Even with the later albumen process, prints were stitched together. With the invention of film negatives in 1888, followed …

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The Paul Cross (d. 1784) papers span the years 1768 to 1803 and include accounts, lists of goods exchanged for enslaved Africans, inventories, invoices, correspondence, receipts, and a memorandum book.

This small collection of letters written by U.S. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton (1762-1816) documents concerns and developments during the months preceding the War of 1812.

The first book published by an African-American author, and the frontispiece portrait of Wheatley is the only surviving work by the African-American slave artist Scipio Moorhead (born ca. 1750).

During the late 19th century the discovery of phosphate deposits in the Charleston and Florence areas marked the beginning of a rapidly growing industry in South Carolina.

This collection of presidential campaign buttons, bumper stickers, brochures, and other ephemera documents U.S. Presidential races from 1932 to 2000. The collection includes materials from donor collections as well as materials curated and collected by South Carolina Political Collections staff.

Objects from McKissick Museum’s permanent collection focused on the ethics, culture, and effects of World War I, encouraging audiences to think about how views of art, propaganda, and service rewards from the war have changed over time.

Academic papers, articles, clippings, and speeches from the Papers of Richard L. Walker at South Carolina Political Collections.

Richard Theodore Greener was the first black graduate of Harvard University in 1870. He taught philosophy, Latin, and Greek at the University of South Carolina, and served as the school’s Librarian. He was the first African-American member of the faculty and served until 1877.

Over the past half-century, Mr. Ariail built a collection that encompassed both historic telescopes and astronomical instruments, now at the State Museum, and more than 5,000 rare books and other published items, now housed in the University’s Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections.

This travel journal was originally conceived of as a way to assist the friends of Baltimore merchant Robert Gilmor in their future travels, with information about mileage and taverns along various routes.

Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel about the adventures of young David Balfour, is one of the Scottish author’s most famous works.

First published in the children’s periodical Young Folks Paper under his pseudonym “Captain George North”.

Documents from the Papers of Robert E. McNair at South Carolina Political Collections.

Roman Vishniac pursued studies in biology, zoology and oriental art. As a young man his interest in microscopes and photography led to his contributions to the early development of microphotography.

Originally conceived in the late 18th Century, fire insurance maps provided structural and urban environmental information necessary for insurance underwriters. Founded in 1867 in the United States, the Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau systematically produced ascetically appealing, but also efficient, maps nationwide.

These three rare pamphlets cover a wide range of topics, including women’s suffrage, athletic dance, and colonization.

Experience the audible history of the medieval music manuscripts in the University of South Carolina’s Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. By presenting historically-informed performances of plainchant manuscripts in the collection dating from the 13th through the 16th centuries, Singing the Archives brings the medieval musical past to life.

The oral history interviews presented here document the perspectives and experiences of those who are avid skateboarders in the Columbia, South Carolina area. Interviewees describe the skate scene through music, art, fashion, social media, videos, pop culture, injuries, skate parks, friendship, and more.

This collection from the South Caroliniana Library consists primarily of the Civil War letters of Edward Laight Wells, discussing the mood in Charleston during the secession crisis in 1860, fighting with the Hampton’s Legion 1864-1865, and the immediate aftermath of the war.

Documents from the Papers of Solomon Blatt, Sr. at South Carolina Political Collections.

Spanning five decades, the University of South Carolina’s collection of aerial photograph indexes consists primarily of projects commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture. Showing cities, farms, forests, reservoirs, coastlines, and other features across the state, the indexes provide a visual overview of each project’s collection of individual aerial photographs, many of which are housed in the Maps Department of Thomas Cooper Library.

Poised for the sesquicentennial remembrance of the Civil War, South Carolina and the Civil War brings together eyewitness views and accounts of this period of American history, selected from the rich holdings of University of South Carolina Libraries.

Scenes from training camps in S.C. (1898), journey of 27th U.S. V. to the Philippines (1898), and 2nd SCI at the Mexican Border Campaign (1916).

This virtual collection brings together materials documenting the South Carolina home-front during World War II as well as experiences of South Carolina soldiers.

This digital project was completed by Robert Blank (MLIS 2013). Blank scanned the documents on an Zeutschel overhead scanner and created metadata following Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices.

This collection contains films and video made in and about South Carolina. They were made by a state agency or feature regional places and people of the state.

Founded by editor Harrison Elliott in 1948, the journal issues included here span 1948-2015.

A small collection of oral histories recorded by staff at South Carolina Political Collections, University of South Carolina.

This digital collection features postcards from across the State of South Carolina. Browse this collection by county, or keyword search collection metadata using the search box. 10 counties are currently available, and more counties will continue to be added in the future. The originals are housed at South Caroliniana Library.

The South Caroliniana Library has been collecting photographs of train stations, depots, rail yards, engines, and rolling stock for many years.

This collection highlights the lives and experiences of American veterans who now call South Carolina home. Most major military conflicts including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are represented in the collection, as are all branches of the U.S. military.

19th-century and early 20th century South Carolina cookbooks containing recipes and practical domestic advice

The map collection of the South Caroliniana Library has always been a significant resource for geographers, historians, and genealogists.

The South Caroliniana pamphlet collection is comprised of 45 artificially bound volumes of separately published South Carolina imprints from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

This collection includes A Story of Spartan Push: The Greatest Cotton Manufacturing Centre in the South: Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Its Resources by Edward P. McKissick and Spartanburg, City and County, South Carolina: Their Wonderful Attractions and Marvelous Advantages as a Place of Settlement, and for the Profitable Investment of Capital by the Spartanburg Board of Trade.

This group of stereographs contains images of the damage to Charleston during the Civil War, images of Folly and Port Royal Islands as well as forts, churches, hospitals and headquarters.

Antebellum Charleston literary magazine, recognized as the first Jewish publication printed in the United States. 

Diaries, correspondence, and photographs chiefly documenting the lives of family members near Ridgeway, S.C.

The Bible and its inserts, owned by Thomas Jones Davies, contain vital statistics of enslaved African Americans living on Davies’ plantations located throughout Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. The plantations mentioned in the records include: Malvern and Gardner’s Swamp, of Beech Island, SC; Swamp Place, near Hamburg, SC; Cherry Hill and Waldburg of Burke County, GA; and Edgefield and Barnwell of Bolivar County, MS. The vital statistics of the enslaved African Americans span from 1830 to 1865, and consist of 82 births, 36 deaths and 11 marriages.

Tin Pan Alley is a term used to describe the popular sheet music business primarily based in New York City from 1880-1950, with its peak years occurring from 1903-1930.

The Rosenwald Schools of South Carolina exhibit features as its center the forty-three oral history interviews forming the Tom Crosby Oral History Collection that describe the educational experiences of African Americans in South Carolina 1910s-1970s, most of whom attended Rosenwald schools and/or Allen University.

This World War I soldier’s sketchbook is the mark of Cpl. Douglas G. Ward, an otherwise unknown British soldier-artist.

Measuring 14 ½ x 20 inches, these Polyconic Projections were first published in the late 19th Century. Some were produced by the Army, others by the Corps. of Engineers and the remainder were produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The scale is 1:62500. The contour intervals vary. Measurements are shown in miles, feet and kilometers.

Travel Journal, 2 Aug.-15 Sept. 1775, documenting Tennent’s trek though the back-country of the South Carolina Colony, at times in the company of William Henry Drayton and Rev. Oliver Hart, in an effort to persuade American Loyalists to join the Patriot cause.

Bulletins published in these volumes exhibit the record of simultaneous weather observations, taken three times daily.

From its beginnings as a country church of fewer than twenty-five communicants, Trinity has grown to an urban parish numbering more than 3,600 baptized members. Throughout its history the parish has played a leading role in the affairs of the city, the state, and the church.

This section from Jean Blaeu’s Grande Atlas, from the French version issued in 1663, describes and illustrates the astronomical instruments of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601).

The U.S. Food Administration was established by Executive Order 2679-A (August 10, 1917). President Wilson appointed Herbert Hoover as its administrator. Hoover realized that conservation was the only way to quickly increase food stocks and correctly believed that people would voluntarily conserve food to help the war effort.

This online collection provides access to the United States Marine Corps Film Repository and highlights materials from other collections that enrich our understanding of Marine Corps history.

The Board of Trustees is the governing body of the University of South Carolina system. It elects the president, sets institutional missions, establishes priorities, reviews and approves budgets, degree programs, campus development, tuition, and other operations of the institution.

The University of South Carolina was originally established as the South Carolina College in 1801.

The minutes of the faculty meetings at the University of South Carolina document the management of the institution’s curriculum and academic matters.

This collection consists of copies of films made by and for the University Libraries, The University of South Carolina Marching Band, University Athletics Department and the South Carolina Manuscripts Collection. It includes films and videos made about the various functions, services and events on the University of South Carolina campus.    

The University of South Carolina Football Program Covers showcases the unique artwork created to support and promote Gamecock football.

In 1873, the University of South Carolina became the only state-supported Southern university to fully integrate during the Reconstruction Era that followed the Civil War.

As its chief administrative officer, the President of the University serves at the pleasure of the University’s Board of Trustees; because of the President’s position as a medium of communication between the Board and the rest of the University, the records in this group provide material on virtually every aspect of University life.

These student examinations date largely from the second half of the 19th century, a period in which the University of South Carolina underwent significant changes not only in its curriculum but also in its student body, its faculty and its educational goals.

The Student Registers document the enrollment of students into the University of South Carolina. Information formats and details vary according to time periods but usually include parent names and occupations, hometowns, prior academic preparation, dates of enrollment, and academic program.

This digital collection brings together photographs of Columbia, S.C. from many different collections in the South Caroliniana Library. Dating from the 1880s through the 20th century, these photographs provide a visual record of the changes seen in the city.

Formerly owned by wealthy Charleston merchant William Ancrum (ca. 1722–1808), this single volume (171 pages, bound in vellum) contains both a letter book and financial accounts that reflect the financial impact of the American Revolution on this South Carolina businessman and planter.

Diary of William Couper (1884–1964), a native of Norfolk, Virginia, who served as Construction Officer at Camp Jackson (now Fort Jackson) in Columbia, South Carolina, during WWI.

William D. Workman, Jr. (1914-1990) was a newspaper journalist and editor, author, and talented amateur photographer. His collection includes thousands of images taken across South Carolina and of prominent South Carolinians within and outside the state.

This collection of papers and artifacts relating to William Drayton Rutherford (1837–1864) and his wife, Sallie Fair Rutherford (1842–1921), has been expanded to include a 2008 accession that provides a look into the life of Sallie and her family following her first husband’s death.

Writing from Charleston and Barnwell District, South Carolina, as well as on trips across the South and to the North, William Gilmore Simms did more than anyone to frame white southern self-identity, nationalism, and historical consciousness.

41 oral history interviews and accompanying notes relating to the lynching of Willie Earle in 1947.

Audio clips from the Papers of William Jennings Bryan Dorn at South Carolina Political Collections.

40 interviews from late 1980s of faculty and staff members documents a small part of the institutional history of the University of South Carolina.

Samuel Bloom (1895-1976), a first-generation Ukrainian immigrant and recent City College graduate, served as private first class and signaler with Company L, 325th Infantry Battalion, US Army, from October 1917 till July 1919.

This collection contains World War 1 selections from the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.

This collection contains World War 1 selections from South Caroliniana Library.

Via interviews with former slaves, notes on folklore, and articles on prominent African Americans and African-American organizations, these materials provide us with one of the richest sources of information on African-American life in South Carolina at the time.

A collection of photographs documenting homes, schools, colleges, churches, streets, landscapes, murals, artwork, and other aspects of South Carolina life, these images were collected by photographers hired as part of Federal Writers’ Project.

Issued in 1941, The WPA Week in National Defense presented brief news items concerning the Work Projects Administration’s activities throughout the United States.