About the Collection
The Civic Services Committee (CSC) (1942-1946) was the predecessor body to Historic Charleston Foundation. It was formed by the Carolina Art Association to address the need for architectural preservation and to implement city planning in response to growth. The Committee received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Corporation, which were used to retain Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to prepare a study that resulted in his report “Objectives for the Civic Services Committee.” The funding was also used to compile an inventory of the city’s architecture that resulted in the publication of the book This is Charleston. The Committee also addressed and conducted studies related to growth issues such as off-street parking and traffic. The collection spans the time period ca. 1939-1949, and consists of meeting minutes, correspondence, memoranda, reports, articles, speeches, news clippings, manuscripts, and other documents. For ease of access, this collection can be browsed by folder.
Folder List
- Folder 01: Indexes and Catalogs
- Folder 02: CSC History, Objectives, Background Materials
- Folder 03: Meeting Minutes
- Folder 04: Committee Membership
- Folder 05: Committee Employees
- Folder 06: CSC Memoranda and Correspondence
- Folder 07: “Planning in Charleston”
- Folder 08: Frederick Law Olmsted Report
- Folder 09: Architectural Inventory
- Folder 10: Charleston Area Plats and Municipal Data
- Folder 11: George Simons’s Report
- Folder 12: Review of Committee Work Submitted to Carnegie Foundation
- Folder 13: Report of CSC to Rockefeller Foundation
- Folder 14: Miscellaneous CSC Reports/Statements
- Folder 15: CSC Speaker’s Bureau
- Folder 16: Rotary Club Commendation
- Folder 17: Robert N.S. Whitelaw’s (Director) Correspondence
- Folder 18: Helen McCormack’s Correspondence, etc.
- Folder 19: McCormack’s Information Sources
- Folder 20: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Correspondence
- Folder 21: Frances Benjamin Johnston’s Correspondence
- Folder 22: George W. Simons’s Correspondence
- Folder 23: Simons’s Jacksonville City Plan
- Folder 24: Hermann Herrey City Planning Articles
- Folder 25: Historic American Building Survey (HABS) Charleston Photographs List
- Folder 26: Charleston Metropolitan Area Exhibit at Gibbes Gallery
- Folder 27: Graphic Survey Committee
- Folder 28: This is Charleston–Publication
- Folder 29: This is Charleston–Exhibit
- Folder 30: This is Charleston–Publicity
- Folder 31: “Charleston Grows” Committee
- Folder 32: Community Development Council–Members
- Folder 33: Community Development Council–Correspondence and Reports
- Folder 34: Community Development Council–Housing Publicity
- Folder 35: Community Development Council–Radio Shows
- Folder 36: Off-Street Parking Study–Reports, Minutes, Notes, Instructions
- Folder 37: Off-Street Parking–Presentation of Plan to Charleston City Council
- Folder 38: Off-Street Parking–Report of the CSC on Off-Street Parking to City Council
- Folder 39: Off-Street Parking–Correspondence and Reports
- Folder 40: Off-Street Parking–Merchants Committee Correspondence and Poll
- Folder 41: Off-Street Parking–Metropolitan Council Residential Study
- Folder 42: Off-Street Parking–Metropolitan Council Street Survey
- Folder 43: Off-Street Parking and Traffic–Miscellaneous Reports and Other Study Materials
- Folder 44: Off-Street Parking–Transportation Publicity
- Folder 45: Boy Scout Traffic Study
- Folder 46: War Memorials Committee
- Folder 47: War Memorials Publicity
- Folder 48: Road Conservation and Beautification
- Folder 49: Legislation–The George Bill
- Folder 50: Zoning Ordinances
- Folders 52-61: Miscellaneous CSC Files
- Folder 62: Creation of Historic Charleston Foundation