Correspondence, speeches, memoranda, legislative files, political files, and committee files of L. Mendel Rivers (1905-1970), Democratic United States Representative from South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District from 1941 to 1970. Materials primarily relate to Rivers’ service in Congress from 1955 to 1962 with topics including the Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs invasion, Civil …
Business and personal accounts (1766 Sept.-1767 Dec., 1768 Feb.-1773 May, 1773 Aug.-Sept.) kept for Henry Laurens. Accounts are with individuals and companies for goods (primarily general merchandise) and services (including commissions). Several include the sale of individual slaves. A number of entries are for New Hope, Mepkin, Broton [Broughton] Island, Wambaw, and Wright’s Savannah plantations. …
The St. Andrew’s Society is a social and benevolent organization founded in 1729 in Charleston, South Carolina. Named after the patron saint of Scotland, it is the oldest organization of its type and the progenitor for many other St. Andrews Societies in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Established to “do generous and charitable …
Plowden Weston (1739-1854) was a South Carolina rice plantation owner in Georgetown County originally from England. This collection, Weston’s business ledger, contains individual and financial estate accounts for the years 1764-1769. An unidentified person later used the ledger as a plantation journal. Later entries from the years 1830-1847, 1851, and 1855 pertain to Weston family …
Richard Love Johnson (1841-1913) served the Confederacy as an Assistant Surgeon with several units, most notably the 3rd and 15th South Carolina Infantries. Johnson was stationed at various posts during the Civil War including McPhersonville in Beaufort District. His handwritten entries contain the names and units of his patients, notes on their wounds, treatments, surgeries …
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 …
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was started on February 12, 1909, partly in response to the prevalence of lynching of African-Americans in America and the 1908 race riot that occurred in Springfield, Illinois. The Charleston Branch of the NAACP was founded in February 1917 by Edwin Harleston. The branch was …
Eugene C. Hunt graduated from the Avery Normal School and went on to Talladega College, where he received a Degree in English in 1940. He earned a Masters Degree in Theater from Northwestern University in 1954 and continued with postgraduate study in Speech and Education. Mr. Hunt taught English and Speech at Burke High School …
The Young Women’s Christian Association of Greater Charleston, which originated in 1907, has served communities in Charleston and the Lowcountry area of South Carolina for over a century. Currently, the YWCA of Greater Charleston, Inc., strives to provide programs and services for all people and holds a mission to eliminate racism and to empower women. …