Institution: University of South Carolina, South Caroliniana Library, Manuscripts Division

Thomas Jones Davies Bible Records, 1830-1865

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, …


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William Ancrum Papers, 1757-1789

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. The letter book, 1776-1780 (169 letters), preserves communications with merchants in Camden, S.C., …


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William Drayton Rutherford Papers

This collection of one hundred fifty-three manuscripts begins in 1858 when Rutherford was courting Sallie Fair, the daughter of Simeon Fair, of Newberry, S.C. The courtship of William (“Drate”) Rutherford and Sallie Fair was interrupted in 1861 by secession and war.


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WPA Federal Writers Project Materials on African American Life in South Carolina

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) launched the Federal Writers’ Project to employ white-collar workers left jobless by the Great Depression and to create a comprehensive guide to the states, cities, and regions of the United States. The Federal Writers’ Project gathered information on American life and interviews with “ordinary” Americans from a wide variety of …


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William Tennent III, Journal and Album, 1744-1777

The journal covers Tennent’s trek though the S.C. back-country, at times in the company of William Henry Drayton and Rev. Oliver Hart in an effort to persuade Loyalist Tories to join the Patriot cause. The album contains papers documenting his life as a Presbyterian minister in the Colonies of New Jersey and Connecticut, the courtship …


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