This collection of 17th century world maps was published and printed by the Danckerts family, and was donated as a part of the Mitchell King Library. These 31 maps cover various countries in Europe, as well as the continents of Asia, Africa, and North and South America. The maps are by various cartographers including Visscher, …
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 …
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 …
Divers have been exploring the rivers and coastal waters of South Carolina since the early 1960’s when SCUBA as a sport was in its infancy. The South Carolina State Legislature first enacted an Underwater Antiquities Bill in 1968 which was intended to protect historic shipwrecks and other submerged cultural resources. In 1974 a Hobby Diver …
In the late 16th century, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) established two observatories on the island of Hven, near Copenhagen. This section from Jean Blaeu’s Grande Atlas, from the French version issued in 1663, describes and illustrates Brahe’s astronomical instruments. Blaeu’shandcolored copper-plate engravings were revised from wood-cuts originally published in Brahe’s own Astronomiae Instauratiae …
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., …
This collection gives an indication of the kinds and numbers of medical books in the hands of physicians in South Carolina and reflects the education and training of doctors during the 18th and 19th centuries.