For close to a century, the textile industry was the dominant economic engine driving Spartanburg County’s growth. It built up fortunes, established new communities, changed the agricultural landscape, and brought thousands of new residents into the county. Even more significantly, the textile industry was interwoven with its employees’ lives to a degree not known before …
This is a collection of letters set in the Revolutionary period, which mainly contains Caroline Taliferro’s correspondence. The subject of the collection all includes land records and receipts from various generations of the Taliaferro/Miller family. As a whole, the letters range from 1788-1925. Caroline Taliaferro’s correspondence ranges from 1830-1844. The land and financial records remain …
Funeral programs, 1957-1991 (bulk 1975-1991), collected by Bessie Norris Wofford, primarily of services in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, particularly Roebuck and Walnut Grove. Also included are a small number of programs for services for natives of South Carolina held in other states and programs for a service to license for Brother Alan W. Ferguson and …
Moving Image Research Collections’ holdings of amateur films and home movies documents family life, holiday celebrations, vacation travel and much more. These films, created in many locations across the United States and across the globe as well, represent a period of time spanning from the early 20th century to the 1970’s.
Stories of desegregation often focus on the urban schools that were in the spotlight thanks to their media coverage or the conflicts surrounding them, from Little Rock to Boston. Much less attention is paid to schools in rural communities, outside the media glare. In addition, the period before integration is often neglected, or discussed solely …
Kline Iron and Steel Company (1923-2003), known for its high quality products and services, had a reciprocal reputation of loyalty and respect between employees and owners. Through the thirty-plus oral history interviews in this collection, narrators share their stories of family, community, friendship, and work. As recalled by many, working with Kline was like being …
This collection highlights the lives and experiences of American veterans who now call South Carolina home. Most major military conflicts including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are represented in the collection, as are all branches of the U.S. military. The veteran interviewees range …
Black history in the Spartanburg area remains obscured by the biases and scarcity of early records. By 1790, the first year with a reliable population estimate, Spartanburg County was home to 866 black slaves and 27 “free persons not white,” representing about 10% of the total population. At the time of emancipation, some 8,300 African-Americans lived in Spartanburg County, around 30% …
This selection of maps illustrates the development of Spartanburg County from an isolated settlement to a regional center as few other historical resources can. In addition to documenting areas rarely photographed, maps can be useful to researchers interested in charting the changes in land use for a given geographic area. Information included in many of …
The Local Television News Collections at Moving Image Research Collections (MIRC) comprise approximately 1.5 million feet of 16mm motion picture film outtakes dating from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, donated by several South Carolina television stations. These outtakes document over two decades of local people and events, as well as reportage surrounding significant …