Time Period: Reconstruction (1866 - 1877)

Samuel Lander Papers

Samuel Lander, Jr. was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, of Irish parents who had immigrated to America in 1818. He devoted his life to education and the ministry.  He graduated as valedictorian from Randolph-Macon College (then in Boydton, VA) in 1852. For a short time he practiced civil engineering and studied law. In December of …


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Russell Maxey Photograph Collection

The Russell Maxey Photograph Collection at Richland Library includes over 7000 negatives, including images taken by Maxey and earlier photographers. Russell Maxey’s photographs allow researchers a glimpse into a southern city undergoing dramatic shifts in its economic, physical and social landscape. The negatives are housed in the Walker Local and Family History Center.


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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 Artifact Documentation Project

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 …


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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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Stereographic Views of South Carolina

This group of 74 stereographs contains images of the damage to Charleston during the Civil War, along with images of Folly and Port Royal Islands. Forts, churches, hospitals and headquarters come to life in these photographs taken by war photographers such as Samuel A. Cooley and John P. Soule. Spanning both the period of the …


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Standard Federal (Columbia S.C.) Photograph Collection

This comprehensive set of Columbia area images includes 146 prints from periods ranging from 1865 to 1980. The collection was amassed from various long time photographers in the community such as John A. Sargeant, Charles Old and Walter Blanchard. They operated studios in the city from the period c. 1915 through 1960. The images include …


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University of South Carolina Reconstruction Records

In 1873, the University of South Carolina became the only state-supported Southern university to fully integrate during the Reconstruction Era that followed the Civil War. By 1876, the student body was predominately African-American. After Wade Hampton was elected governor and whites regained control of state government, the University was closed for reorganization in 1877, and …


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University of South Carolina Buildings and Grounds

These images, dating from the 1920s to the 1950s, document the evolution of the University’s physical structures.


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The New South Newspaper, 1862-1866

Union postmaster Joseph H. Sears published the New South newspaper out of the post office building on Union Square in Port Royal, S.C., on a weekly basis beginning in March 1862. The paper was moved to the town of Beaufort sometime in 1865 and remained there until it ceased in 1867. The New South offers …


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