Institution: University of South Carolina, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

K-12 Primary Sources Pilot Project at USC

In collaboration with a pilot group of South Carolina teachers, USC Libraries has made these primary resources available online with the SC Social Studies Standards.


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Literary Annuals

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. In 1823, the British published Rudolph Ackerman issued what is usually recognized as the first annual, the Forget-Me-Not, an almanac with poems and engravings, issued in a small format in …


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Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on various subjects, religious and moral

The poems of Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) are read and studied by students and scholars in a variety of disciplines (American literature, African-American Studies, African Studies, and Women’s Studies), but the first edition has not previously been freely accessible in a digital facsimile without a fee or subscription. Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral …


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Rare Books and Special Collections Pamphlet Collection

This collection of pamphlets is from the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections includes three pamphlets ranging in date from 1838-1927. The topics include an oration on sexual ethics, athletic dance for men and boys and the Proceedings of the Mississippi State Colonization Society.


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Robert B. Ariail Collection of Historical Astronomy

In 2011 Robert B. Ariail donated an extraordinary collection of historical astronomy to the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina State Museum. 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 …


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Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped in Young Folks Paper

Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel about the adventures of young David Balfour, is one of the Scottish author’s most famous works. Set in eighteenth-century Scotland, Kidnapped originally appeared in serialized form in James Henderson’s literary magazine Young Folks Paper from May 1 to July 31, 1886. Young Folks Paper was published under various titles from …


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Scottish Literature Digital Projects

The University of South Carolina libraries have been acquiring works by Scottish authors since the early nineteenth century. With the addition of the extensive G. Ross Roy Collection in 1989, South Carolina now has major research holdings across a wide range of Scottish writing. Indeed, in the words of one recent visitor, it is “the …


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South Carolina and the Civil War

A collection of photographs, manuscripts, books, and maps from the Civil War era from the University of South Carolina Libraries with essays from Dr. Thomas J. Brown and Dr. Dorothy Pratt. This collection will continue to have materials added to it.


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The Alphabet Rendered Instructive and Entertaining

This beautifully illustrated alphabet book, published in 1775, is an excellent example of early children’s literature from the eighteenth century. Produced by copperplate engraving, the book originally sold plain at 9d. (9 pence) or hand-colored at 1s6d (1 shilling, 6 pence). Published by William Tringham of London, this copy was probably sold plain and colored …


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The Delbert Claire Brandt Collection

This collection contains 32 letters and postcards to and from Delbert Claire Brandt (Claire Brandt), a young man from Sharon, Pennsylvania who served with the 1st Cavalry in World War I, was wounded, and died on November 16, 1918. The letters were written between May 1918 and November 1918. Most of the letters are from …


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