Civic Services Committee Papers

The Civic Services Committee (CSC) (1942-1946) was the predecessor body to Historic Charleston Foundation. It was formed by the Carolina Art Association to address the need for architectural preservation and to implement city planning in response to growth. The Committee received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Corporation, which were used to retain Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to prepare a study that resulted in his report “Objectives for the Civic Services Committee.” The funding was also used to compile an inventory of the city’s architecture that resulted in the publication of the book This is Charleston. The Committee also addressed and conducted studies related to growth issues such as off-street parking and traffic. The collection spans the time period ca. 1939-1949, and consists of meeting minutes, correspondence, memoranda, reports, articles, speeches, news clippings, manuscripts, and other documents.