Topic: Church History and Religion

Burton L. Padoll Papers, 1957-2009

Sermons, addresses, photographs, publications, and other papers of Burton L. Padoll, rabbi and civil rights activist. The bulk of the collection consists of Padoll’s typed and handwritten sermons and addresses from his various rabbinates, including at Charleston’s Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. Topics include the Sabbath and High Holy Days celebrations as well as civil rights …


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Family Bible Records

This collection contains Bible records for a number of South Carolina families. They date from the late 1700s to the late 1900s. The Bible records contain information on births, marriages, deaths, and other notable events that occurred within the families. Read more…


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Richard Furman and James C. Furman Collection

The Richard Furman and James C. Furman collection contains over 750 letters and 18 sermons of Richard Furman (1755-1825), the namesake of Furman University and his son, James Clement Furman (1809-1891), the University’s first president who served from 1859-1879. Richard Furman Items Browse letters Browse sermons   James Clement Furman Items Browse letters Browse sermons


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Holloway Family Scrapbook, 1806-1974

This scrapbook, compiled by James H. Holloway (1849-1913), contains legal documents, personal and business correspondence, receipts, ephemera, clippings and photographs pertaining to the Holloway family, a prominent free family of color in Charleston, SC. Legal documents include deeds (1806, 1821, 1871), a conveyance (1811), slave bills of sale including one for the slave “Betty” (1829), …


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Materials Towards a History of the Baptists

Materials towards a history of the Baptists in the provinces of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia is an original manuscript written by Morgan Edwards (1722-1795). Edwards intended to publish a history of the Baptists in the original thirteen colonies, but only two volumes were published during his lifetime: Pennsylvania in 1770 and New …


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Official program of the mid-winter session of the Bishops’ Council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Columbia, SC, February 14, 1923

This item documents the 1923 meeting in Columbia, S.C., of the Bishops’ Council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The session convened at Bethel A.M.E. Church, the impressive, masonry structure built in 1921 at the corner of Sumter and Taylor Streets. This publication is significant for its portraits and biographical sketches of African American ministers …


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One Man’s Dream – William Plumer Jacobs and Clinton, South Carolina

In 1864, a 22-year-old seminary graduate named William Plumer Jacobs arrived in the small town of Clinton to become pastor of the Clinton Presbyterian Church (now the First Presbyterian Church, Clinton). Before his death in 1917, he was to transform the town. Wishing to make Clinton the Presbyterian center of the South, he was instrumental …


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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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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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William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection – Postcards

William A. Rosenthall’s collection of Judaica postcards. A particular collecting focus of Rosenthall was images of synagogues located around the globe, including European synagogues destroyed by the Nazis or converted to stables and warehouses. Also included are images of cemeteries, tombs, Jewish neighborhoods, and other Jewish sites of interest.


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