Charles Fraser (1782-1860) was an American artist, born and died in Charleston, SC. He was best known for his miniature paintings of prominent American figures. The works compiled in this disassembled sketchbook were created at the turn of the 19th century. Works include watercolor and ink on paper and primarily feature landscape paintings and artistic …
The Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Journal (1818 April 6-May 16, with a few scattered entries in late 1818 and early 1819) consists of journal entries on pages interleaved in Hoff’s Agricultural Almanac (1818). The journal records daily activities on Pinckney’s plantation. Pinckney not only planted cotton, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, corn, and oats, but relied heavily …
Gertrude Sanford Legendre (1902–2000) was an American socialite who served as an OSS operative during World War II. She was also a noted explorer, big-game hunter, environmentalist, and owner of Medway plantation in South Carolina. The collection includes scrapbooks of Gertrude’s travels and family life, loose photographs ranging in date from the mid to late …
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% …
Collection consists of 37 black and white mounted photographs collected by artist Eola Willis, taken mostly in Havana, Cuba around the time of the Spanish-American War (1898) and after.
This collection features 20 photographs that record the damage caused by the hurricane that swept through Beaufort County on August 27th, 1893. Images captured include wrecked and stranded ships and steamers, including the “City of Savannah,” damaged buildings and wharves and a debris covered Bay Street. For more information, please see the companion publication, The …
L.A. Hall, Beaufort’s postmaster, gave the Beaufort Township Library a collection of 36 stereopticon views of Beaufort taken “right after the War between the States” that he had received “from a friend in the north.” Twenty-six of the images were taken in Beaufort by photographer E.W. Sinclair who worked for Samuel A. Cooley, self-described “Photographer, …
This collection of 106 Civil War period photographic stereopticon cards of the Beaufort area, St. Augustine, Florida, and Charleston are primarily from the Samuel A. Cooley studio. This collection was purchased from New Hampshire based collector, Stephen J. Edwards. There are a number of scenes depicting the homes and life of the freedmen, a rarity. …
Founded in 1865, the Avery Normal Institute provided education and advocacy for the growing Charleston African American community and trained blacks for professional careers and leadership roles. Although the Institute closed its doors in 1954, it graduates preserved the legacy of their alma mater by establishing the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture. This …
J. Arthur Brown was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1914. After graduating from the Avery Institute in 1932 he continued his education at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, SC graduating in 1937. While at SCSC, Brown met his future wife MaeDe Esperanza Myers (1918-2012), marrying in 1940. The couple had three daughters: MaeDe …