Collection Thumbnail Image
1920s Charleston Scenes

Sixteen ca. 1920s photographs of scenes in Charleston, South Carolina, affixed to pages removed from a photograph album, four photos on each side. Includes views of the Charleston waterfront, the Ashley River Bridge, Hampton Park, and aerial views across the Charleston peninsula. Note: Zoom in on the photographs to see the landscapes! The landmark buildings […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
1938 Tornado Photograph Collection

On September 29, 1938, five tornadoes swept through the South Carolina Lowcountry, two of which ravaged parts of downtown Charleston, causing several fatalities and injuries and two million dollars in damages. The tornadoes damaged or destroyed almost everything in its path, particularly on Market Street, Broad Street near Church Street, and State Street. As with […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
1967 King Street Survey Collection

In 1967, Historic Charleston Foundation was deeply concerned about the conditions of the downtown area, particularly the commercial blocks of King Street. Because the Foundation believed that the survival of King Street as a thriving retail shopping district was vital, it launched a feasibility study to determine the potential of the area. The study examined […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Agricultural Society of South Carolina Visual Materials

Organized in Charleston, South Carolina as the South-Carolina Society for Promoting and Improving Agricultural, and Other Rural Concerns, the society was incorporated in 1795 as the Agricultural Society of South Carolina. Photographs in this collection depict meetings and officers of the Agricultural Society, exhibits, farm scenes, farmers’ markets, livestock, and other related subjects.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Albert Simons Papers, 1908-1977

Sketches of buildings and architectural features in Europe, Maryland, Turkey, Italy, Greece, France, South Carolina, and Spain, by Charleston architect Albert Simons.  Also included are sketches during his military service in Europe during World War I. The images depict buildings of France, and soldiers and civilians of many nationalities.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Anita Pollitzer Family Papers

The Anita Pollitzer Family Papers is comprised of documents and photographs gathered by multiple members of the Pollitzer family. The collection contains correspondence, funeral programs, an issue of The Jewish Women Quarterly, Gustave M. Pollitzer’s prayer book in  the original Yiddish, marriage and birth certificates, tickets to events, and family photographs.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Anna D. Kelly Papers, 1930s – 1999

Anna D. Kelly (1913-2007) is known for her efforts to connect Lowcountry African Americans with the Highlander Folk School, most notably recruiting Septima Clark. A graduate of the Avery Normal Institute in Charleston, South Carolina, Kelly was a charter member of the Avery Institute of African American History and Culture. She then played a crucial […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Ansonborough Rehabilitation Project

In the 1950s many houses in Ansonborough were threatened with ”demolition by neglect,” having stood vacant or fallen into severe disrepair. In order to encourage homebuyers to move into the neighborhood to save these formerly unwanted treasures, Historic Charleston Foundation (HCF) was the first organization in the country to develop the Revolving Fund as a […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Ansonborough Rehabilitation Project Photograph Survey

Since its founding, Historic Charleston Foundation had been nursing its interest in the rehabilitation of an entire neighborhood. However, a formal plan had not been devised until the late 1950s, a time when the historic Ansonborough neighborhood was in a state of decline, with many formerly grand houses in a state of severe disrepair and […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Aquí Estamos (Here We Are) Digital Collection

English: Aquí Estamos is a digital archive that documents the history and culture of diverse groups of Latinos in the Lowcountry. The collection includes photographs, correspondence, promotional flyers, and other ephemera. The materials help document the first permanent settlement of Latino immigrants on Johns Island in the 1980s, the emergence of an Hispanic Catholic community, […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Architecture Publications

This collection features publications related to architecture, including Charleston architecture. Additional works may be added in the future. See also the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs Collection.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Art Work of Charleston: Published in Twelve Parts

A twelve-part, mostly pictorial publication about Charleston and the vicinity.  Distributed throughout the parts is an essay describing Charleston’s history and development.  The photographs feature buildings, residences, churches, street views, river views, historic gardens, cemeteries, railroad structures, phosphate mining activity, and wharves.  Published in 1893 by W. H. Parish (Chicago, Illinois).

Collection Thumbnail Image
Avery Normal Institute

Founded in 1865, the Avery Normal Institute provided education and advocacy for the growing Charleston African American community and trained blacks for professional careers and leadership roles. Although the Institute closed its doors in 1954, it graduates preserved the legacy of their alma mater by establishing the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture.  This […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Barnwell Family Papers

This collection consists mostly of the correspondence, with some related materials, of the Barnwell family of Beaufort and lowcounty South Carolina. Topics covered by various family members include the solace of religion; ministering in various Episcopal Churches in South Carolina (1830s-1860s); temperance; conflict and disagreement (1830s-1860s) with the Roman Catholic Church and Father John Fielding’s […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Beaufort Hurricane of 1893 Photograph Collection

This collection features 20 photographs that record the damage caused by the hurricane that swept through Beaufort County on August 27th, 1893. Images captured include wrecked and stranded ships and steamers, including the “City of Savannah,” damaged buildings and wharves and a debris covered Bay Street. For more information, please see the companion publication, The […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Bernice Robinson Papers, 1920-1989

The Bernice Robinson Papers, 1920-1989 provide information regarding Robinson’s role as a teacher and social activist for voter education, adult literacy, child development, and social work. Contents include biographical papers, writings and talks, correspondence, and affiliations. Biographical papers include transcripts of her oral history interview. Her correspondence includes letters from Guy and Candie Carawan, Andrew […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Camp St. Mary Records, 1931-1997

Camp St. Mary, a catechetical summer camp for Catholic children, was founded near the Okatee River in Beaufort, South Carolina, by the Diocese of Charleston in 1928. Father James Linehan organized the religious vocation camp for children of Beaufort missions who were in need of catechetical instruction. The priests of the diocese and the Sisters […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Charles Cross Collection of Buchenwald Concentration Camp Photographs, 1945

The Charles Cross Collection of Buchenwald Concentration Camp Photographs, 1945 is a collection of black and white photographs taken shortly after the liberation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Photographs include images of liberated inmates, a memorial dedicated to those who died at Buchenwald, and displays of the living conditions of the concentration camp.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Charles Fraser Book of Precedents, 1800-1819

Charles Fraser’s Book of Precedents, 1800-1819, was apparently handwritten by Charleston miniaturist Fraser as a reference work for his legal studies. Compiled mostly from 1800 -1807, the book contains copies of writs, pleas and judgments and includes cases adjudicated from 1736-1819, almost all of which were heard in Charleston district courts.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Charles Fraser’s Sketchbook, 1796-1805

Charles Fraser (1782-1860) was an American artist, born and died in Charleston, SC. He was best known for his miniature paintings of prominent American figures. The works compiled in this disassembled sketchbook were created at the turn of the 19th century. Works include watercolor and ink on paper and primarily feature landscape paintings and artistic representations of local architecture. 

Collection Thumbnail Image
Charles N. Bayless Photos of Charleston

A collection of images of buildings in downtown Charleston, taken between 1979 and 1988 as part of a photographic project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Charleston Museum Earthquake Photographs

This collection contains earthquake photographs held by the Charleston Museum, America’s first museum. Currently the collection features 204 photographs documenting the damage inflicted on Charleston by the earthquake of August 31, 1886. Primarily professional photographs, these images were sold as souvenirs of the devastating quake.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Charleston Naval Shipyard Photographs

This collection features hundreds of photographs of ships built or repaired at the Charleston Naval Shipyard, primarily during the World War II years.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Charleston, S.C.: Indelible Photographs

Photographs of Charleston buildings, streets, and other sites. Includes brief history of Charleston. Presumably published by A. Wittemann (New York); printed by The Albertype Co. (New York). [2] p., [48] leaves of plates. Measures 13 x 19 cm.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Civil War and Reconstruction Era Stereoscope Photographs of the Port Royal Region

This collection of 106 Civil War period photographic stereopticon cards of the Beaufort area, St. Augustine, Florida, and Charleston are primarily from the Samuel A. Cooley studio. This collection was purchased from New Hampshire based collector, Stephen J. Edwards. There are a number of scenes depicting the homes and life of the freedmen, a rarity. […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Cleveland L. Sellers, Jr. Papers, 1934-2003

Cleveland Sellers, Jr. (born 1944), an African American from Denmark, South Carolina, was a participant and leader of a variety of student, civil rights, leftist, and Pan African movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Sellers alone was indicted and convicted for inciting a riot during the Orangeburg Massacre, in which three students of South Carolina […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Cohen, Emanuel, Moses, Seixas Family Papers

The Cohen, Emanuel, Moses, Seixas Family Papers collection consists of correspondence, diaries and narratives, and photographs created by and related to the Cohen, Emanuel, Moses and Seixas family members, prominent Jewish families from South Carolina. Notable in the collection is the diary of Eleanor H. Cohen Seixas which documents General William Tecumseh Sherman’s raid on […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
College of Charleston Buildings and Grounds Photograph Collection

The College of Charleston Buildings and Grounds Photograph Collection consists of images of the college’s historic buildings, campus activities, and other photographs from the Special Collections Department of the Addlestone Library. Photographs include the exteriors and interiors of buildings on the grounds. Also included in the collection are photographs documenting the construction of campus structures.

Collection Thumbnail Image
College of Charleston Scrapbooks and Photo Albums

This collection highlights various albums and scrapbooks housed in the Special Collections department of the College of Charleston library.   Currently the collection includes the Byrnes Downs Garden Club Scrapbook, a European Photo Album, and the Frank Connor Photographic Collection.   The Byrnes Downs Garden Club Scrapbook collection consists of a scrapbook documenting the history, […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
College of Charleston Stereoscope Views

The College of Charleston Stereoscope Views is comprised of black and white photographs of work on plantations in the states of South Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia. Scenes depicted of a rice raft carrying plantation hands, rice cultivation, cotton picking, and cottonseed oil production.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Colleton County Memorial Library Bookmobile Collection

The Colleton County Memorial Library has provided bookmobile service since 1937, started by Isabel Patterson Heaton and Elma S. Rogers.  The library continues to provide bookmobile service to rural areas and child care centers throughout the county. This collection features photographs, scrapbooks, newspaper articles from The Press and Standard, and a Library Week guest book. […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Colleton County Memorial Library Scrapbooks and Photograph Albums

The Colleton County Memorial Library Scrapbooks and Photograph Albums Collection contains a sampling of images from the scrapbooks, photo albums and other image portfolios in the holdings of Colleton County Memorial Library.  Included in this collection is the Future Farmers of America Scrapbook, which features newspaper clippings, photographs, postcards, and other documents related to the […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Craft and Crum Families, 1780-2007

The collection of artifacts pertaining tot he Craft and Crum families of the Lowcountry includes a myriad of materials; photo albums, letters, account books, and land deeds. The Craft Family Photo Album includes images of Craft family members, famous abolitionists, and other family friends, many of international historical significance. Also included in the collection are […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Dientje Krant Kalisky Adkins Photographs, 1938-1996

The Dientje Krant Kalisky Adkins Photographs is a collection of, mostly black and white, family photographs. The most photographed subjects include Dientje Krant, Gabriel DeLeeuw, and Roosje Krant. The last few photographs are color photos from 1950, 1967, and 1996, the latter of the entire family on Dientje’s parents 60th wedding anniversary in Charleston, South Carolina.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Esau Jenkins Papers, 1963-2003

Esau Jenkins (1910-1972) was born and raised on Johns Island, South Carolina. With very little formal education, he became a businessman and civil rights leader. Jenkins founded the Progressive Club in 1948, which encouraged local African Americans to register to vote, through the aid of Citizenship Schools, a topic he was educated in by his […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Ethelyn Murray Parker Papers

Ethelyn Murray was a native of Charleston SC and attended Simonton School and the Avery Normal Institute, graduating in 1914. She taught in several counties in South Carolina before enrolling at Voorhees Institute in 1918, studying religious and elementary education. In 1920, she relocated to Mobile, AL, teaching for five years. She received a Rosenwald […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Eugene C. Hunt Papers, 1834 – 1994

Eugene C. Hunt graduated from the Avery Normal School and went on to Talladega College, where he received a Degree in English in 1940. He earned a Masters Degree in Theater from Northwestern University in 1954 and continued with postgraduate study in Speech and Education. Mr. Hunt taught English and Speech at Burke High School […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Frances A. Robb Photograph Album

A photograph album created by William Muckenfuss for Mrs. Frances A. Robb, in the 1940s. Album contains photographs of various Charleston buildings, houses, landmarks, sites, events, battleships, and people as well as other Lowcountry places. Mrs. Robb lived on Wentworth Street and several photographs are of her home and neighborhood.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Francine Ajzensztark Taylor Papers, circa 1913-1985

The Francine Ajzensztark Taylor Papers is an assembly of black and white photographs of the Ajzensztark and Taylor families and friends. Francine Ajzensztark resided in Paris France during the Second World War when she worked as a file clerk for American military forces at Orly Field air base. At Orly Field she met her husband, Harry […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Frank Fisher Notes, 1882-1902

Frank R. Fisher’s notes contain observations, drawings, and photographs relating to scientific studies, particularly astronomical observations made while Fisher was a resident in Charleston, S.C., during the 1880s. Fisher, a cashier at the South Carolina Railroad Company in Charleston, was an amateur scientist and inventor who occasionally worked in consultation with longtime College of Charleston […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
George W. Johnson Photographs

George W. Johnson took photographs of Charleston buildings and people at the turn of the 20th century. His collection also includes a number of photographs of the 1901-1902 South Carolina Inter-state and West Indian Exhibition.

Collection Thumbnail Image
George W. Williams Photograph Collection

This collection consists of 95 photographs and negatives taken around the Charleston area. The images depict early 20th century rooftop views of the city, parks, Charleston Fire Department firefighters and their equipment, Charleston Harbor, the construction of Dry Dock One at the Navy Yard, and a late 20th century reconstruction of Fort Sullivan that was […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Gertrude Sanford Legendre Papers, 1836-2000

Gertrude Sanford Legendre (1902–2000) was an American socialite who served as an OSS operative during World War II. She was also a noted explorer, big-game hunter, environmentalist, and owner of Medway plantation in South Carolina. The collection includes scrapbooks of Gertrude’s travels and family life, loose photographs ranging in date from the mid to late […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Goldberg Family Papers, 1902-1953

Two memorial photograph albums documenting the funeral of Moshe Yidel Gelbart. Gelbart died of appendicitis on February 25, 1935, in Mogielnica, Poland. The albums, made of fabric and paper, contain black and white photographs that chronicle Gelbart’s funeral procession, his casket, mourners, and gravesite, including an image of Gelbart with his wife and son eight […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Harby, Moise, Levy, Moses, Davis Family Photographs

The Harby, Moise, Levy, Moses, and Davis Family Photograph collection consists of cabinet cards, tintypes, and carte de visite portraits which were originally housed in a photograph album believed to belong to Octavia Harby Moses, daughter of Isaac Harby, the prominent Jewish Reformer and founder of Harby’s Acadamy. Many of the photographs include inscriptions to […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Harry Blas and Erika Stockfleth Blas Papers, circa 1910-circa 1980

The Harry Blas and Erika Stockfleth Blas Papers is a collection of black and white family photographs and a short personal narrative authored by Harry Blas. The photographs are primarily of family members, however, eight photos are listed as having ‘unidentified’ subjects. Also included is a short personal narrative by Harry Blas chronicling his young adulthood […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Helen Evangeline Banks Harrison Papers, Circa 1850 – 1985

Helen Evangeline Banks Harrison was born in Hampton, Virginia in 1898 and is the daughter of Issiah and Anna DeCosta Banks, came to Charleston, South Carolina as a child and spent most of her life there. She attended city schools, Avery Normal Institute, and Howard University. In 1935, she began working as a clerk in […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Historic Charleston Foundation Tours of Homes

One of the first fundraising programs developed by Historic Charleston Foundation after its incorporation in 1947 was its annual spring tours of historic houses, during which trained “hostesses” would guide visitors through several private homes in Charleston’s historic district. In addition to raising revenue to support Historic Charleston Foundation’s preservation efforts, the tours performed an […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Historical and Governing Records, 1841-1925

The St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church Historical and Governing Records Collection consists of documents and photographs that capture the early history of the church and congregation. It includes documents of historical and architectural significance, including the Church Constitution, a program about the 1925 reopening, and early members of the church. The collection also includes correspondence by […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Holloway Family Collection

This collection containes a scrapbook, compiled by James H. Holloway (1849-1913), which 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 […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Images from the Records of the Charleston County Public Library

This collection consists of photographs and slides from the institutional records of the Charleston County Public Library. These images span the first four decades of the history of the institution, from its founding in 1931 as the Charleston Free Library, through 1969. The collection contains images from various library branches and service points, including the […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Isaiah Bennett Papers, ca. 1932-2002

Isaiah Bennett (1926-2002) served as a union representative for tobacco workers at the American Tobacco Company’s “Cigar Factory” and as a leader and negotiator of the Charleston Hospital Workers’ Strike of 1969. Bennett also founded and was president of the Charleston chapter of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, an umbrella organization for black trade unions. […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
J. Arthur Brown Papers, 1937 – 1988

J. Arthur Brown was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1914. After graduating from the Avery Institute in 1932 he continued his education at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, SC graduating in 1937. While at SCSC, Brown met his future wife MaeDe Esperanza Myers (1918-2012), marrying in 1940. The couple had three daughters: MaeDe […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
J.F.R. Papers, 1849-1855

Collection consists of papers, including a handwritten “Journal” [diary], exercises, and lecture notes written by physician, J.F.R. The diary commences at New Orleans, Louisiana and includes entries about classes, students, and faculty at the medical department of the University of Louisiana. In May 1853 the author became the medical officer on the steamer Falcon and […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Jack Keilen Slide Collection

John J. (“Jack”) Keilen (d. 1999) was a native of Pittsburgh and received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He came to Charleston during the mid-1940s, working first for West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company and later Charleston Rubber Company. An avid amateur photographer throughout his life, Mr. Keilen took several thousand […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Jewish Heritage Collection – Personal Papers

This collection is comprised of born-digital and digitized material from individual and family collections from the Jewish Heritage Collection. Most of these digital objects are part of larger manuscript collections held in the College of Charleston’s Special Collections Department. Finding aids for these collections can be located by searching the College of Charleston online catalog.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Joe Engel Papers, 1938-2006

The Joe Engel Papers collection is a composition of black and white photographs taken of the Engel family in their hometown of Zakroczym, Poland before the war and one month after liberation. Also in the collection are photographs of Joe Engel at the displaced persons camp of Zeilsheim and after his relocation to Charleston, South Carolina.

Collection Thumbnail Image
John Henry Dick Collection

“Artist Naturalist” is how Dick described himself in his autobiographical book entitled Other Edens (1979). He established a reputation as one of the leading bird painters in the United States when he illustrated the Warblers of America (edited by Ludlow Griscom and Alexander Sprunt, Jr., 1957). He painted approximately 2,500 separate birds for the Pictorial […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Journal of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney’s plantations, 1818-1819

The Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Journal (1818 April 6-May 16, with a few scattered entries in late 1818 and early 1819) consists of journal entries on pages interleaved in Hoff’s Agricultural Almanac (1818). The journal records daily activities on Pinckney’s plantation. Pinckney not only planted cotton, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, corn, and oats, but relied heavily […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Keystone View Company Lantern Slides, 1892-1912

These lantern slides were produced for classroom use by the highly successful Education Department of the Keystone View Company. The slides cover a wide range of subject matter including scenes of industry, places of architectural or historical significance and places of natural beauty.

Collection Thumbnail Image
L.A. Hall Civil War and Reconstruction Eras Stereoscopic Images

L.A. Hall, Beaufort’s postmaster, gave the Beaufort Township Library a collection of 36 stereopticon views of Beaufort taken “right after the War between the States” that he had received “from a friend in the north.”  Twenty-six of the images were taken in Beaufort by photographer E.W. Sinclair who worked for Samuel A. Cooley, self-described “Photographer, […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Laura Bragg Papers

The Laura Bragg Papers collection at The Citadel Archives and Museum contain letters written to Miss Bragg from Chinese cadets before and after their graduation from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, from 1926 to 1948. Topics of the letters include career plans, The Citadel, political beliefs, Chinese culture, history, and military events. […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Lawrence Layden Scrapbook, 1941-1945

The Lawrence Layden Scrapbook contains photographs and papers documenting his wartime service. Lawrence Layden was a Captain in the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group during World War II. Personal papers consist of induction papers, forms listing the date for reverting to inactive service, military security passes, promotion papers, transfer papers, letters of recommendation to attend Officer Candidate […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Lazarus and Hirsch Family Papers

The Lazarus and Hirsch Family Papers collection is comprised of correspondence, photographs, and documents created by and related to the Lazarus and Hirsch families, two prominent Jewish families in South Carolina. Notable from the collection are several letters between Jane Levy (Hart) and Mordecai M. Levy, grandparents of Jane Lazarus Raisin; a letter to Private […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Lowcountry Tourism

This growing collection features historic pamphlets highlighting some of the attractions of Charleston, South Carolina and the Lowcountry. This collection currently includes an illustrated pamphlet that gives a brief history of the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina and provides rich physical details about the building, including photographs, floor plans and cross sections. Also […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Mamie E. Garvin Fields Papers, 1894 – 1987

Mamie Elizabeth Garvin (1888-1987) was born to Rebecca Mary Logan Bellinger and George Washington Garvin, in Charleston, South Carolina. Garvin became one of the first African American teachers hired to teach in the county’s public schools. In addition to teaching children, Fields was a pioneer in concept of children’s daycare facilities, adult education, organizing classes […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Martha Mondschein Bauer Papers, 1940-2001

The Martha Mondschein Bauer Papers consists of a collection of black and white family photos taken before the start of World War II. Also included in the collection is a 1946 memo from the United Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia confirming the death of Martha Mondschein Bauer’s brother, Rene Mondschein, a telegram wired to Felix Bauer, 1940, […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Maynard Pearlstine Travel Albums and Sketches, 1936-2006

Watercolors by Charleston-born architect Maynard Pearlstine. These 24 watercolors depict scenes from Pearlstine’s Mediterranean cruise to Italy, Greece and Turkey in 2000, an eco-tour to the Marine Science Consortium on Virginia’s Eastern Shore in 2002, and a 2004 trip to China.

Collection Thumbnail Image
McLeod Family Papers, 1873-1990

Selections from the McLeod Family Papers include photographs and a “Crop Memoranda” book for McLeod Plantation on James Island in South Carolina. The visual images are comprised of various structures located on the property as well as the residents of McLeod Plantation. The “Crop Memoranda” book lists names and accounts of workers (1910-1921), notes on crops (1926-1944), […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Middleton Family Art Work, 1803-1867

A ten-set collection containing 37 items of measured drawings, ink sketches, pencil drawings and watercolors representing several generations of the Middleton family of South Carolina from 1803-1867. Sets 1-6 contain measured architectural drawings attributed to John Izard Middleton with dates and watermarks ranging from 1808-1813. Five country houses and one greenhouse are depicted in these […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Millicent E. Brown Papers, 1949 – 2003

Millicent Ellison Brown (b. 1948) is an educator and civil rights activist. Born in Charleston to MaeDe and J. Arthur Brown, local and state president of NAACP (1955-1965), Brown, in 1963, replaced her older sister Minerva as the primary plaintiff in a NAACP-sponsored lawsuit (Millicent Brown vs. Charleston County School District #20). The collection consists […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Miriam DeCosta Seabrook and Herbert U. Seabrook Papers, 1882-1995

This collection includes correspondence, certificates, photographs, and other materials related to Miriam DeCosta Seabrook’s education at Avery Institute and elsewhere, teaching career, and civic involvement; correspondence, speeches, and reports related to Dr. Herbert Seabrook, Sr.’s community and fraternal affiliations and to his medical career as a private practitioner and director of the Hospital and Training […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Moses Family Papers

The Moses Family Papers collection is composed of photographs and narratives related to and created by members of the Moses Family, a prominent Jewish family in South Carolina. Notable in the collection is a typescript narrative given by Octavia Harby Moses, daughter of the prominent Jewish reformer and founder of Harby’s Academy, Isaac Harby, which […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Pearlstine-Strauss Family Papers

The Pearlstine-Strauss Family Papers Collection largely consists of photographs (1860s – 1970s), but also contains correspondences, newspaper clippings, Edwin Pearlstine’s World War I records, and genealogical information for the Pearlstine, Strauss, Hyams, Weinberg, Hornik, and Felsenthal families. The digitized portion of this collection currently consists of photographs. Images include I.M Pearlstine (1860s-1890s), Hyman Pearlstine (1880s-1920s), […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Philip Simmons Collection

Philip Simmons (1912-2009) was an African American blacksmith and artisan specializing in the craft of ironwork in Charleston, South Carolina. Simmons spent seventy-seven years crafting utilitarian and ornamental ironwork. His work is recognized within the state of South Carolina, nationally, and internationally.  This collection, donated by the Philip Simmons Foundation, holds personal papers with photographs […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Phosphate, Farms, and Family – The Donner Collection

This collection of 548 photographs comes from two albums of family photographs created by Conrad Munro Donner (1844 – 1916), a peripatetic engineer from the Hamburg-Altona area near the border between Denmark and Germany who had an active interest in photography. Self-taught, the bulk of his images reflect his experience of Lowcountry rural life in […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Photograph Survey of the “Charleston Center” Site

“The proposal to build a hotel and convention center complex in the heart of Charleston ignited a fierce debate in Charleston in the late 1970s and early 1980s that divided public opinion locally and attracted considerable attention nationally.” While Historic Charleston Foundation expressed neither support nor opposition for the development of the block, it played […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Photographic Record of the Cooper River Bridge

The collection consists of two scrapbooks recording the construction of the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge. Completed in 1929, the bridge spanned to Cooper River Bridge to connect Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, S.C.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Photos from the Records of The Historic Preservation Planner, BCD-COG

These photos are from the collection, The Records of the Historic Preservation Planner, Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG), 1970 – 1981. A large portion of this collection is comprised of the research materials collected for the publication, Historic Preservation Plan Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Region, with the rest being non-survey regional research materials, general business files of the […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Pincus Kolender Papers, circa 1915-1996

The Pincus Kolender Papers consists of mostly black and white photographs of family members in Poland before World War II and in Germany after the war. Also included are photographs from Pincus’ marriage to Renee in Charleston, South Carolina, a group of survivors taken in Tel Aviv, Israel in the 1960s, and photographs of Pincus returning […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Pinehurst Tea Plantation Visual Materials

Charles Shepard Jr. (1842–1915) established the first successful tea plantation in America at Summerville in 1888. Pinehurst Tea Plantation thrived until Shepard died in 1915. After his death, the plantation faltered and the plants grew wild on the outskirts of town. In 1963 the Lipton Tea Company transported the old Pinehurst plants to Wadmalaw Island. […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Rabbi Jacob S. Raisin Papers

The Rabbi Jacob S. Raisin Papers digital collection is comprised of correspondence, writings, records, and photographs encapsulating the life and work of Rabbi Jacob Salmon Raisin and his family. A prolific writer and supporter of the Reform, Jacob Raisin served as rabbi of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) in Charleston, South Carolina from 1915 to […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Rice Harvest at Mulberry Plantation (Berkeley County, SC)

Mulberry Plantation is believed to have received its name because of an early interest in raising silk, as worms that spin silk generally feed on Mulberry leaves. However, the plantation was more successful as a rice plantation. Rice was cultivated at Mulberry Plantation from colonial days until 1918. Rice cultivation was difficult and dangerous work […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Roswell T. Logan Journal, 1852-1865

Roswell T. Logan’s Journal, 1852-1865, begins in 1852 with an address before his Charleston High School debate club, the Philomathic Society. Among the many speeches, poems and essays included in the journal are three essays published in the Charleston College Magazine: “Mohammed and His religion” and “College life” in the April 1855 issue and “Goodbye” […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Roy S. MacElwee Collection

Roy S. MacElwee was a planner who specialized in port development. He created a plan for the waterfront of Charleston in 1929. This collection is an oversized scrapbook of photographs and clippings about the design of waterfronts for cities worldwide. It includes 20 professionally made 8×10 photographs and several dozen pages of clippings, and an […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Sabina E. Wells Photographs

Photographs taken by Sabina Elliott Wells in 1898-1899. Wells was a Charleston artist and designer; she was also a Newcomb potter. Photographs include scenes in Charleston and the Lowcountry, in northwest South Carolina (Table Rock and vicinity), and in western North Carolina (Flat Rock and vicinity). Scans were derived from negatives donated to Historic Charleston […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Samuel Lord Hyde Photographs

Samuel Hyde was a photographer and amateur historian who lived in Charleston and in Summerville, S.C. He was the “chief cemetery investigator” for the South Carolina Public Service Authority during the creation of Lake Moultrie. This collection contains 2 groups of his photographs – 25 prints from the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
SCDOT Photographs – Properties in the Right-of-Way

This collection from Historic Charleston Foundation consists of B&W photographs of buildings and other properties located in Charleston County that were destroyed, relocated, or otherwise modified because they were in the right-of-way of where roads were being constructed or widened. Building and dwelling types include houses, apartment buildings, freedman’s cottages, mobile homes, commercial and industrial […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Scenes in Charleston, ca. 1940s

Nineteen ca. 1940s photographs of scenes in Charleston, South Carolina. Sixteen are of various buildings and streets and three feature wooden structures in an unidentified rural setting.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Scenes in Charleston, Georgetown, and Flat Rock, Late 19th Century

Thirty-five late-19th century photographs of scenes in Charleston, South Carolina; Georgetown, South Carolina; and (likely) Flat Rock, North Carolina, affixed to pages removed from a photograph album, five to six photos on each side. Many depict leisure activities and rice cultivation at what is likely a Georgetown County plantation. The collection also includes river and […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Septima P. Clark Papers, ca. 1910-ca. 1990

This collection contains material relating to the life and work of Septima P. Clark. The biographical papers include tributes, clippings, certificates, awards, family correspondence and transcripts of various oral history interviews in which Clark discusses her parents; husband; growing up and race relations in Charleston, South Carolina; her work in Citizenship Schools; her work at […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Simons and Lapham Architectural Drawings, 1919-1952

Architectural drawings from the firm of Albert Simons and Samuel Lapham. Includes measured drawings of a country club in Ohio by Samuel Lapham; designs of the Ashley River Memorial Bridge; sculpture pedestals for the Gibbes Museum of Art; sundials, and garden plans.

Collection Thumbnail Image
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 […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
The Charleston Earthquake, 1886

Photographs of the damage caused by the Charleston Earthquake of 1886. Photos are captioned with details, including the dollar amount of the damage. Introductory text by Alex. M. Cochran. Also includes advertisements for a variety of Charleston businesses, trades, merchants, and professionals. Publisher unknown. 70 p.; 24 cm.

Collection Thumbnail Image
The Citadel Photograph Collection

A growing collection of photographs from The Citadel. Current photographs include interviewees of the The Citadel’s Oral History Program taken by Citadel cadets.

Collection Thumbnail Image
The Joseph Mordecai Hirschmann Collection

A Charlestonian who attended both the College of Charleston and the School of Architecture of the University of Pennsylvania, Joseph Mordecai Hirschmann practiced architecture with the New York firm of Walker and Gillette. His architectural training induced a special interest in old world buildings, and on his European holidays in 1924 and 1927 he made […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
The Lithographs of Prentiss Taylor: a Catalogue Raisonne

Prentiss Taylor (1907-1991) was a noted American artist who created 142 lithographs between 1931 and 1983. From 1942 to 1976 he was president of the Society of Washington Printmakers. He also worked as an art therapist for more than thirty years and taught oil painting at American University from 1955-1975. His collaboration with Langston Hughes […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
The Lucille Hasell Culp Collection – A Celebration of Beaufort, South Carolina

“The Lucille Hasell Culp Collection – A Celebration of Beaufort, South Carolina” contains a selection of 300 images, primarily photographic negatives, from the much larger Lucille Hasell Culp Collection. Here one finds selected images of enduring historical value to Beaufort, such as those relating to community and military events, built structures that are no longer […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
The South Carolina & West Indian Exposition Photo Passbook, 1901 – 1902

The photos in this collection were taken as part of a season pass that patrons could purchase for unlimited admission to the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition, held in Charleston in 1901 and 1902. Each individual’s photo was mounted in a passbook kept by the patron and a duplicate photo was mounted in […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
The Zacharias Collection

Still images found among the belongings of Henry T. Zacharias, a Charleston builder and contractor in the late 19th- and early-20th century. Zacharias built and/or repaired many notable buildings in Charleston. Includes photographs and one engraving of buildings on which he worked (or likely worked); photographs of battleships in dry dock at the Charleston Navy […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
This is Charleston

In 1944, the Civil Services Committee—a committee organized by the Carolina Arts Association—was tasked with conducting a survey of the architecture in the city of Charleston, with the survey project called This is Charleston. This collection contains the This is Charleston’s nearly 900 survey cards and photographs of structures in the city. The front of […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Thomas J. Tobias Papers, ca. 1790-1970

The Thomas J. Tobias Papers collection consists of various documents, diaries, and letters related to members of the Tobias family. Notable in this collection are several Bills of Sale for enslaved peoples belonging to Abraham Tobias; letters from Marx E. Cohen to James Tupper regarding the death of one of his slaves in service; various […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Vera Nathans Semel Papers, 1830-1985

Vera Nathans Semel Papers consist of photographs of family members before and after World War II and Paerl family papers. Paerl papers contain birth certificates, a synagogue certificate, marriage certificates, a militia certificate, and a false identification card.

Collection Thumbnail Image
Vincent P. Lannie Collection, 1733-1974

The Vincent P. Lannie Collection consists of five separate manuscripts by plantation owner Elizabeth Allston Pringle. Elizabeth Waties Allston Pringle (1845-1921) was the daughter of South Carolina Governor Robert F.W. Allston (1801-1864). She married John Julius Pringle (1842-1876) in 1870 and lived at White House Plantation in Georgetown County, SC. Widowed at thirty-one, she moved […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
Walter Pantovic Slavery and African American History Collection

The Walter Pantovic Slavery and African American History Collection contains documents and images that reflect African American history primarily in the United States. Walter Pantovic was a Yugoslavian immigrant with an interest in Black history, in particular the history of Slavery and the Civil War. Highlights from this collection include slave bills of sale, glass […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
White Pines Series of Architectural Monographs Collection

The White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs was created under the auspices of the White Pine Bureau to encourage the use of white pine as a building material. The by-monthly series was edited by Russell F. Whitehead, former editor of The Architectural Record and The Brickbuilder, with advertising support from Weyerhaeuser Forest Products, a Minnesota-based […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
William (“Bill”) Saunders Papers, circa 1950 – 2004

William (“Bill”) Saunders, a community and Civil Rights activist in Charleston, South Carolina, was an organizer and lead negotiator of the Charleston Hospital Strike of 1969. In 1970, Saunders established the Committee on Better Racial Assurance (COBRA) to address race-related community problems and provide assistance to community members in need. He also operated the AM […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection – Prints and Photographs

Rabbi William A. Rosenthall’s collection of Judaica prints and photographs. These images document the Jewish people: their lives, history, religious ceremonies, dress, and customs. Also included are Jewish New Year cards, caricatures, and clippings from Jewish journals and publications. Rosenthall was the rabbi at Charleston’s Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue from 1976 to 1992. He […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
William Henry Jackson Photochrom Collection, 1898-1905

William Henry Jackson, in partnership with the Detroit Photographic Company, took black and white photographs that were reproduced into color photochroms for sale as postcards or prints. The majority of the images in this collection are landscapes of Colorado, Montana and New York State, particularly in Yellowstone National Park and the Adirondack region. Some images […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
William Henry Johnson Scrapbook

This scrapbook by William Henry Johnson is part of a collection three, which document the history of a large array of Lowcountry plantations and places of interest. In this book – compiled, 1928-1932 – Johnson focuses on the Cooper River region and in the Parishes of St Stephen, St James Goose Creek, St James Santee […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
William M. Halsey and Corrie McCallum Paintings

William M. Halsey, an American artist (1915-1999), established the studio art program at the College of Charleston in 1964. He served as assistant professor and artist-in-residence at the College for nearly twenty years; upon his retirement the faculty voted unanimously to name the art gallery at the College in his honor. Corrie McCallum, Halsey’s wife, […]

Collection Thumbnail Image
William Martin Aiken Papers, 1878-1956

Pencil sketches and watercolors by Charleston-born architect William Martin Aiken. Includes images of grand houses (exterior and interior) with architectural details, gates and doors, churches and museums, sailing vessels and flora along the east coast of the United States and Europe.

Collection Thumbnail Image
YWCA of Greater Charleston, Inc., Records, 1906 – 2007

The Young Women’s Christian Association of Greater Charleston, which originated in 1907, has served communities in Charleston and the Lowcountry area of South Carolina for over a century. Currently, the YWCA of Greater Charleston, Inc., strives to provide programs and services for all people and holds a mission to eliminate racism and to empower women. […]