Institution: Spartanburg County Public Libraries

Spartanburg County in World War II Collection

Just as it had been during the First World War, Spartanburg County was a hub of civilian and military activity during World War II. Spartanburg was fortunate once again to host an army training camp, this time in the southern portion of the county on a site that was to become known as Camp Croft. …


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Gas Attack Magazine Collection

Camp Wadsworth was the temporary home to dozens of Army units, but most prominent among them was the 27th Division, which was composed of former New York National Guard troops. Prior to the American entrance into the First World War, the 27th Division had been stationed along the Mexican border, where the division published its own …


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Confederate Spartanburg

Despite resistance from many who hesitated to sever ties with the United States, the idea of Southern independence gained popularity as political rhetoric intensified between slave-holding and abolitionist states during the 1850s. In December of 1860, a convention of delegates from across the state took the initiative and repealed South Carolina’s 1788 ratification of the …


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Chesnee Collection

The Chesnee Collection contains items documenting the history of the city of Chesnee and the surrounding area, including school yearbooks.


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Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System

The Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System (SRHS) Collection is a collection of photographs, documents, and images of artifacts that document the history of medical care in the Spartanburg area. A few images pre-date the founding of Spartanburg General Hospital (now Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System), but most date from 1921 to the present. The Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System …


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City of Spartanburg Collection

Although founded in 1787, the courthouse village of Spartanburg was without any independent town or city government until 1831, when the little town of a few hundred residents received its official incorporation from the state government. At that point, eligible citizens within one mile of the courthouse were able to elect an Intendant and four wardens, who …


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The Textile Industry in Spartanburg County

For close to a century, the textile industry was the dominant economic engine driving Spartanburg County’s growth. It built up fortunes, established new communities, changed the agricultural landscape, and brought thousands of new residents into the county. Even more significantly, the textile industry was interwoven with its employees’ lives to a degree not known before …


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Bessie Norris Wofford collected funeral programs, 1957-1991

Funeral programs, 1957-1991 (bulk 1975-1991), collected by Bessie Norris Wofford, primarily of services in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, particularly Roebuck and Walnut Grove. Also included are a small number of programs for services for natives of South Carolina held in other states and programs for a service to license for Brother Alan W. Ferguson and …


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Black History in Spartanburg

Black history in the Spartanburg area remains obscured by the biases and scarcity of early records. By 1790, the first year with a reliable population estimate, Spartanburg County was home to 866 black slaves and 27 “free persons not white,” representing about 10% of the total population.  At the time of emancipation, some 8,300 African-Americans lived in Spartanburg County, around 30% …


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Historical Spartanburg County Maps

This selection of maps illustrates the development of Spartanburg County from an isolated settlement to a regional center as few other historical resources can. In addition to documenting areas rarely photographed, maps can be useful to researchers interested in charting the changes in land use for a given geographic area. Information included in many of …


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