Time Period: The Antebellum South (1816 - 1860)

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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Small-Whaley Family Papers, 1796-1994

The Diary of a Voyage to China, 1850-1851, the private diary of Captain Thomas Small, reveals the intense loneliness of command and details the longing he feels for the wife and newborn son he left behind. He comments on marriage, child-rearing, and religion, and frequently expresses his desire to find employment “ashore” to better provide …


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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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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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Thomas J. Tobias papers, 1790-1970

The Thomas J. Tobias Papers contain six diaries written by three members of the same family, in the mid-19th century. The Joseph Lyons diary (1833-1834), written when he was between the ages of 19-21, contains Lyons’ ruminations on his future career, his beliefs on state’s rights, some poetry, and his thoughts on his Jewish faith. Joseph Lyons’ …


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William Gilmore Simms Digital Edition

Welcome to one of the largest single author collections on the web, the William Gilmore Simms Digital Edition. Writing from Charleston and Barnwell District, South Carolina, as well as on trips across the South and to the North, he did more than anyone to frame white southern self-identity, nationalism, and historical consciousness. He also did …


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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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Wilkinson-Keith Family Papers

The Wilkinson-Keith Family Papers consist of correspondence and other documents among the Wilkinson, Keith, Siegling, Haskell, and Marshall families and their friends dating from 1785 to 1920. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1820 to 1890, a large portion of which chronicles Willis Keith’s experiences as a Confederate soldier in 1862-1863. Antebellum correspondence discusses …


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Waring Historical Library Inaugural Theses

With funding provided by the National Library of Medicine’s Express Library Digitization Award program, The Waring Library has scanned and transcribed 133 of its inaugural medical theses, for the period of 1825-1829. The 1,858 inaugural medical theses in the collection of the Waring Historical Library are, in the words of eminent medical historian John Harley …


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Waring Historical Library Artifact Collection

As part of a grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, the Waring Historical Library photographed 500 objects from its collection of medical artifacts. The artifacts date to the 18th century, and include pharmacy containers, surgical instruments, and bleeding apparatus. One hundred of the objects will be presented as “3D” videos that offer a 360 …


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NOTICE: The SCDL platform will be UNAVAILABLE on July 27, 7AM-7PM due to planned IT maintenance at the College of Charleston.

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