Joseph Kelly (b. 1962) describes his experience growing up in an Irish American family living in New Jersey and Texas. The only background information he knows of regarding his family is that his paternal great-grandfather was from Roscommon, and that he came over to New York City in the late 1890?s. Both of his parents grew up in Irish neighborhoods in the Bronx and were the first generation in the family to go to college. The family moved from New Jersey to Houston in the late seventies, and he notes that there was not a real sense of Irish ethnicity in Houston, as compared to what it was in the Northeast. He also notes that the sense of Irish culture, and celebration of Irishness, is growing in Charleston as a result of the public outreach he has done as Director of the Irish and Irish American Studies program at CofC.
Douglas Seymour (pronouns: He/Him/His) relates the story of his abusive childhood, growing up and attending school and college in Charleston, SC, his life as an adult, and his work as a peer navigator for people with HIV, often speaking forcefully on the corrosive impact of homophobia. He was beaten by his father for not liking sports and cars, and, although he adored his mother, she told him “being gay was worse than being a child molester and a child murderer.” He always knew he was attracted to men, and if “there hadn’t been the hitch of being told it was wrong...it would have been a natural flow into adulthood.” He graduated First Baptist High School, and due to his father’s demands, attended the Citadel, terrified that he would be picked on for being gay. There, however, he found acceptance among upperclassmen for his knowledge of pop music and found other gay cadets. Having started frequenting the bar Basin Street South as an underage teen, he began going to the King Street Garden and Gun Club, and Seymour recalls his times there and that era of the late 1970s and early 1980s as one of the happiest periods of his life. After college, he worked as a journalist in Summerville, SC, and he describes the cliquish nature of Charleston gay life at the time. His lack of self-esteem, he says, prompted his alcoholism and his settling into personal relationships that were often abusive. He lived in Washington, DC, from 1982 to 1991 and returned to Charleston with a diagnosis of AIDS, told by physicians to prepare to die. After living with his parents, and coming out to them, he moved into his own apartment and received health care from his physician and Lowcountry AIDS Services. Facing health crises, he quit drinking and quit smoking, hired a personal trainer and was in the best shape of his life in his fifties. He began to work for the local Ryan White program as a peer navigator for people newly diagnosed or those long-term survivors like himself. Seymour describes some of the social support programs he set up and notes the quandary of “a whole bunch of us gay men...[with] no career, no retirement...because we weren’t supposed to be here, and now we’re older, we’re isolated...[and] it kind of feels like nobody wants you.” The interview ends with reflections on the lack of a variety of specific spaces for LGBTQ people and how Charleston has changed over the years.
Letter from Reverend Myer H. Myers to Charles H. Moise, KKBE President of the Board of Trustees, regarding his resignation as minister due to a misunderstanding of a translation between himself and Moise.
Letter from Reverend Myer H. Myers to Charles H. Moise, KKBE President of the Board of Trustees, regarding his resignation as minister due to a misunderstanding of a translation between himself and Moise.
Program for a banquet held by Friendship Lodge No. 9 of the Freemasons at the Francis Marion Hotel. The program includes a menu, and a schedule of the event, officers of the Lodge, and the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America." The program notes an invocation by Rabbi Jacob S. Raisin.
Poem by Penina Moise entitled, "Lines on the Above," regarding a quote on the death of Philip Percival. First line of the poem reads, "The angels had been watching long..."
Scrapbook understood to be compiled by Abraham Moise Jr. containing handwritten comments and a collection of newspaper clippings. Some of the clippings discuss such subjects as women, and the lives and obituaries of prominent South Carolinians. Most of the book is composed of clippings related to the political controversy concerning the doctrine of Nullification and the Tariff Bill of 28. The book also includes a handwritten essay discussing the origin of the Hebrew word "Elohim."
Cashbook kept by Isaac Harby containing information for parents with children enrolled at Harby's Academy in Charleston, South Carolina. The cashbook includes notes on tuition fees and general expenses of the institution. The book tracks tuition and supply costs for students, and also mentions when students left the school.
