South Carolina Conference of Branches of the NAACP memorandum from Andrea E. Loney, Vice Chairperson, Legal Redress Committee and Vice Chairperson, Resolution Committee to NAACP Branch Presidents in South Carolina.
South Carolina Conference of Branches of the NAACP memorandum from Nelson B. Rivers, III, Executive Director, to all units regarding the "next Conway March and Mandela's visit."
South Carolina Conference of Branches of the NAACP memorandum from Nelson B. Rivers, III, Executive Secretary, to all units regarding the final details on the 80th Annual National Convention from July 9 to 14, 1989 in Detroit, Michigan.
South Carolina Conference of Branches of the NAACP memorandum from Nelson B. Rivers, III, Executive Secretary, to all units regarding a change of date for a monthly Board of Directors meeting.
South Carolina Conference of Branches of the NAACP memorandum from Dr. W. F. Gibson, President, to Officers and Executive Board Members At-Large regarding an emergency meeting to approve reapportionment plans.
Correspondence from Ralph A. Dungan, Special Assistant the President of the United States, to J. Arthur Brown acknowledging the President's receipt of a telegram sent by Brown.
Military form recording Edgar M. Lazarus as a volunteer for the "Palmetto Guard Siege Train" under "Captain Webb." The back material of the form includes a handwritten note stating Lazarus will stay in the city until some matters are settled.
Oath of Allegiance signed by Minnie (Rachel) Mordecai Lazarus, wife of Edgar M. Lazarus, which states she will abandon all allegiance to the Confederate States of America.
Photo of residents of the Wilkinson Home boarding a bus for camp, possibly bound for Atlanta. The caption on the back explains that United Fund donations allowed all of the girls to attend camp that summer.
Pat Patterson (pronouns: He/Him/His) speaks of family life, childhood, growing up, coming out, his political activism through drag performance, interactions with the Methodist Church, and his perceptions of the LGBTQ community. Born and reared in a loving and accepting family environment in Spartanburg, SC, he attended Wofford College, the 37th family member to do so. “I’m a Palmetto tree with fairly deep roots,” he notes. He came out in graduate school at the University of SC, and speaks about the founding of its Bisexual Gay and Lesbian Association (BGLA) and how he assumed his drag persona Patti O’Furniture, “a bully pulpit to raise awareness,” on a dare. At various points in the interview, Patterson speaks of the stratification of the LGBTQ community (“part of our charm and part of our problem”), with most of the focus on Charleston, identifying the conservative “blazer gays” who practice “an odd social decorum” at private parties, the “SIN” or service industry gays who are more out, and other socially and geographically distanced groups. He speaks of racism, and racial and trans insensitivity, the difference between the Charleston Pride and the Columbia, SC-based South Carolina Pride organizations, the gay rugby team, the Charleston Blockade, and K. J. Ivery, once a student of his and now an out trans officer of the Charleston Police Department. Having first done AIDS work in Columbia, SC with his friend Bill Edens, he became involved with the SC Equality Coalition, and he mentions a variety of other LGBTQ organizations and leaders. He began commuting to Charleston to perform drag at the bar Patrick’s, eventually moving there, arranging performances at Dudley’s, and he now also performs at brunches, breweries and bingo, usually emceeing, giving his tips from the audience to charity and passing the hat at performances for different causes and organizations. Straight audiences, he notes, are often more appreciative, and in describing his own indoctrination into drag, he shares some of the vocabulary, mentions those icons who influenced him and praises Jay White for his Brooke Collins performances. He names and describes many bars throughout the state, speaks of his evolution as a performer and activist, as well as the need to be aware of how unintended insults or slurs can occur. Making distinctions between religion and faith, the latter very important to him, Patterson also describes his family’s attachment to their local Methodist congregation in Spartanburg and their dedication to liberalizing the Methodist Church in general.
A handwritten, four-page letter from Catherine Ravenel to Susan Alston in which she discusses life in Columbia, South Carolina, after the Civil War and shares various pieces of news from families such as the Middletons, Winthrops, Lowndes, and Rutledges.
A handwritten, eight-page letter from Susan Pringle Alston to her aunt, Rebecca Hayne, in which she describes Union troops and newly freed people raiding and robbing houses while her family was in Plantersville at the end of Civil War. She expresses concern for similar things occurring in Columbia and Darlington, South Carolina.
A handwritten, four-page letter from Emma Alston to her husband, Charles, in which she discusses the possibility for illness, specifically typhus fever, spreading in crowded South Carolina cities. In addition, she expresses her wartime fears and advises him on the management of enslaved people. Attached to this letter is a note requesting that he bring books on farming to Greenville. On the front of the envelope, a list of items is written; on the back, a list of names of enslaved people is written.
