University of South Carolina Libraries - Exhibits

Gettysburg: History and Memory

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:45:35

Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Apr 30, 2013 8:00 AM - Jul 31, 2013 11:00 PM

The Battle of Gettysburg resonates with us in ways that are somehow different from our historical and emotional understanding of other aspects of the Civil War. We remember Gettysburg differently from the other battles of the war. As Americans, we have thought differently about it since the battle itself was fought. Gettysburg was the largest engagement, not only of the Civil War, but ever seen in the Western hemisphere. It was also, by far, the costliest battle of the war with over 50,000 casualties. It is seen as a turning point – the “high tide” of the Confederacy – when the remarkable successes of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville in the previous year were finally stopped and began to be reversed. Gettysburg was the only battle to occur on Northern soil. Confederate troops marched into the North and took food and supplies from Pennsylvanians. They also seized free blacks, who they sent South into slavery. The Gettysburg battlefield was dedicated four months after the battle, and President Lincoln’s eloquence at the dedication ceremony stands as a monument of oratory.

As we mark its 150th anniversary this year, this exhibition takes as its focus the three days of combat in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 1-3, 1863. It also explores the ways in which what happened there has been understood and remembered, by its own participants and by subsequent generations. In these cases, you will find military manuals, memoirs, maps, histories, newspapers, and an extremely rare first edition of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. We are grateful to Henry Fulmer, Graham Duncan, and the South Caroliniana Library for their assistance and loan of several letters and manuscripts which add a particularly rich, personal dimension to the materials on display here, and to Greg Wilsbacher and the Moving Image Research Collections for the footage on view in the gallery.

This exhibition has as its core an exhibition on the Battle of Gettysburg created in 2000 by Patrick Scott for USC’s First-Year Reading Experience. The majority of items on display come from two major collections given to the Irvin Department in the late 20th century: a collection formed by Civil War historian Francis A. Lord, who taught at USC for many years, and a military history collection formed by Robert S. Chamberlain.

An audio tour is available for this exhibit.

Walking the Line: The Church, the State, and the Road to Defining Boundaries

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:21:20

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Apr 29, 2013 7:00 PM - Aug 30, 2013 7:00 PM

Using material from six SCPC collections, this exhibit explores the ways in which the interests of individuals, groups, and governments determine the nature of Church/State clashes and collaborations.

Congressman Bryan Dorn and newspaperman William Workman were captive to common Cold War concerns involving the National Council of Churches, a group that historically has engaged as a “strong witness on the moral and ethical dimensions of public policy issues.” In the 1950s and 1960s the Council played a significant role in the civil rights movement and pressed for broad policy initiatives to address poverty and labor issues. Many people criticized the NCC as being supportive of socialist activities, and the group found itself the subject of inquiry by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

State legislators Isadore E. Lourie and Harriet Keyserling promoted Jewish interests and the state of Israel. Lourie supported the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a lobbying group dedicated to “educat[ing] decision makers about the bonds that unite the United States and Israel and how it is in America’s best interest to help ensure that the Jewish state is safe, strong and secure.” Keyserling accompanied Governor Dick Riley on a trip to the Holy Land in September 1981 to attend the dedication of The State of South Carolina Forest American Park in Israel.

I. DeQuincey Newman, a Methodist pastor, was a leading figure in the Civil Rights movement in South Carolina. He helped organize the Orangeburg branch of the NAACP in 1943, helped found the Progressive Democratic Party, and served the South Carolina NAACP as state field director from 1960 to 1969. In 1983, at age 72, he was elected to the South Carolina Senate, thus becoming the first African American to serve in that body since Reconstruction.

Material from the Flynn Harrell Collection on the Separation of Church and State rounds out the exhibit by illustrating some of the more recent issues in which religion and politics collaborate and clash.

More than “Moonlight and Magnolias” – Governor Hollings and the Quest for Industry

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:48:06

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Apr 15, 2013 7:00 PM - Aug 2, 2013 7:00 PM

"You don't have any skills. You'll give us moonlight and magnolias, barbecue and a drink of bourbon, may pave a road, but I've got to get this operation in the black," a northern industry official told South Carolina Governor Fritz Hollings in the early days of Hollings' industrial development program.

This exhibit is the story of how Gov. Hollings and others fought back against this image, bringing industrial jobs in large numbers to the state. It is told by Fritz Hollings, governor from 1959 to 1963, and Walter Harper, Director of the SC Development Board from 1959 to 1967.

The quotes in the exhibit are from oral history interviews conducted by Herb Hartsook and others from 1989 to 1997. Accompanying the quotes are photos and other items from the Hollings Papers at South Carolina Political Collections in the Hollings Special Collections Library. For more information about this exhibit and SCPC, please see our blog.

The story starts when Hollings was the lieutenant governor from 1955 to 1959. He often filled in for the Governor George Bell Timmerman on visits from industrial officials and resolved to ramp up the industrial program when he became governor in 1959. The picture above shows Lt. Gov. Hollings, center, on a 1958 legislative visit to the Bowater Pulp Mill, prior to its start-up, in Catawba, S.C., with T.C. Bannister, Jr. and R. Sundberg.

Carlisle Floyd: A New Voice for American Opera

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:23:10

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Feb 6, 2013 7:00 PM - Apr 20, 2013 7:00 PM

This new exhibit celebrates South Carolina-born and internationally-acclaimed opera composer and librettist Carlisle Floyd. A native of Latta, S.C., and longtime faculty member at Florida State University, Floyd has chosen the South Caroliniana Library as the official repository for his personal papers.

The exhibit is organized around the milestones of Floyd’s life and musical compositions, and is timed to coincide with the publication of Falling Up, the Days and Nights of Carlisle Floyd, the Authorized Biography (Syracuse University Press, 2013) by Thomas Holliday.

All in a Day’s Work: The Lighter Side of Representative Democracy.

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:41:26

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Jan 18, 2013 7:00 PM - Apr 27, 2013 7:00 PM

All in a Day's Work: The Lighter Side of Representative Democracy looks at some of the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of South Carolina’s elected officials, including the delicate dance of pleasing their constituents, the many hats they must wear, and meetings with some real characters. The exhibit is made entirely of photographs and objects from the collections of South Carolina Political Collections in the Hollings Library.

Some of the "real characters" include Cocky and Big Bird, who appear in photos with Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Fritz Hollings, respectively. Visitors will also see many, many photos of politicians dancing, engaging in sport, and, literally, wearing all sorts of fun hats.

Among the dancing officials are Congressman Bob Inglis (his disco shoes and poster are in the exhibit; he tried out some moves to promote a campaign event in this highly entertaining video) and Congressman Butler Derrick doing a jig with a constituent in rural South Carolina.

Among the hats on display are a fire hat presented to Senator Hollings, a Mark Sanford hard hat, and more. Look closely and you'll see officials strapping on hats and instantly transforming into amateur chefs, race car drivers, fighter pilots, cowboys, and more.

One entire set of photos shows officials in lighthearted moments with their constituents. In the picture of above, Governor Robert McNair meets with some very important constituents in his office.

Stop by the SCPC Gallery in the Hollings Library from 8:30-5pm, M-F, to see “All in a Day’s Work,” which runs through April 27. Or, visit during our Saturday gallery hours, 10am-2pm, on Feb. 23, March 23, and April 27.

Abecedaria! Fine Press and Children's ABC Books

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:18:24

Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Jan 14, 2013 1:00 AM - Apr 27, 2013 7:00 PM

Abecedaria! Fine Press and Children's ABC Books

Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library

February - April, 2013

This exhibition will explore how the alphabet has been treated and interpreted by educational publishers, children's authors and illustrators, artists, fine press printers, and other literary and historical figures. It will show historical and contemporary ABC books as well as examples of artists' books and contemporary fine printing, early schoolbooks and primers, and other graphic works that explore the nature, design, and meanings we place upon the 26-letter Roman alphabet.

Life and Times: The Art of the Political Biography

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:26:54

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Jan 1, 2013 7:00 PM - Mar 29, 2013 7:00 PM

Several biographies have been written by or about South Carolina Political Collections donors. Some of the research for these books was even done right here at SCPC. Besides going to the archives, there are many steps an author goes through before a biography is published. The exhibit in the SCPC gallery, Life and Times: The Art of the Political Biography, traces these steps from the initial research to the reader’s edition, by looking at the writing process of two South Carolina journalists and biographers (and SCPC donors), Phil Grose and Jack Bass. Items on exhibit include drafts, research notes, galley prints, and other elements of the writers' craft. This exhibit was curated by SCPC graduate assistant Caitlin Mans and will be on display through March 29.

Christmas on the Potomac: Holiday Cards from South Carolina Political Collections

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:21:34

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Dec 6, 2012 7:19 AM - Jan 18, 2013 8:18 PM

South Carolina Political Collections' annual "Christmas on the Potomac" exhibit is now on display. The popular exhibit features holiday cards sent to and by donors whose papers are housed at SCPC.

"This year we have the largest-ever holiday card exhibit on display in two locations -- in Thomas Cooper Library just outside the Mac Room on the Main Level, and in the Hollings Library in the South Carolina Political Collections (SCPC) Gallery," said SCPC's Dorothy Walker. The cards in Thomas Cooper Library will be on display until January 2; the Hollings Library exhibit will stay up through January 18.

The image seen here is from the holiday card sent by U.S. President Bill Clinton and his family in 1995.

From Columbia to the Pacific: The WWII Odyssey of the Air Apaches, 345th Bomb Group, 1942-1945

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:34:24

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Nov 1, 2012 1:01 AM - Dec 20, 2012 12:59 PM

Trace the journey of the Air Apache B-25 pilots and their flight and ground crews, from training at the Columbia Army Air Base to combat operations in the Pacific Theater in World War II.

"A Sort of Brilliance in the Room": Two Centuries of Charles Dickens

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 11:55:59

Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library, Oct 30, 2012 8:00 AM - Jan 31, 2013 11:00 PM

     Charles Dickens and his writings completely embody his own time – Victorian London – with only the same totality that Shakespeare did for Elizabethan England. Dickens’s name became synonymous with mid nineteenth century British culture: “Dickensian characters” and “Dickensian London” are now universal cultural reference points. They show the wide range of his influence and how he created eponymous notions of character and place in British literature.
     Dickens’s career spanned almost half a century, beginning with the lighthearted, comic pieces of the 1830s that made his name, such as Sketches by Boz and The Pickwick Papers, to his dark masterpieces of the 1850s through the 1860s: Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend. He created scenes that are forever inscribed in our literary memory, such as Oliver Twist in the orphanage asking, “Please sir…I want some more”; Scrooge confronted with the Ghost of Christmas Past; and the tragic death of Little Nell. He showed the best and worst of human nature: from Mr. Pickwick, Pip, Tiny Tim, and Sydney Carton to the unpleasantness of Bill Sikes, Uriah Heep, and Fagin.
     This exhibition, drawn from the outstanding nineteenth-century British literary collections in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, is mounted to commemorate the bicentennial of Dickens’s birth. It was curated by Dr. Melissa Makala, USC Aiken, and Jeffrey Makala, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. It highlights Charles Dickens through his multiple occupations: as a novelist, journalist, editor, public speaker, and international celebrity. It also explores the multiple personae he embodied throughout his lifetime (including Boz, “The Inimitable,” and “Father Christmas”). And it considers Dickens’s influence on his own generation, as well as how he continues to inspire us today.

A Life in Service: Selections from the Papers of General William Childs Westmoreland

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:33:35

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Oct 8, 2012 7:00 PM - Nov 15, 2012 7:00 PM

“A Life in Service: Selections from the Papers of General William Childs Westmoreland, (1914-2005)” features items from the General William Childs Westmoreland Papers at South Caroliniana Library. The exhibit is on display in the South Carolina Political Collections Gallery at Hollings Library through November 15.

“As a 20th-century collection, there are a lot of good visuals in the Westmoreland collection,” said South Caroliniana Library’s Brian Cuthrell, who curated the exhibit. He processed the Westmoreland collection after it arrived at USC in 1999.

The photo shown here, which is part of the exhibit, shows General William C. Westmoreland, Army Chief of Staff, in the Oval Office with President Lyndon B. Johnson, ca. 1968.

“Although in popular memory, the general is most associated with the Vietnam years, his career spanned the 20th century, a time when military technology progressed from horses to helicopters,” Cuthrell said. “His first assignment at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1936, included significant time on horseback. During World War II, he fought through North Africa and Sicily. He landed at Utah Beach on June 10, 1944, five days after D-Day, and lead men through France, Belgium and Germany, where his unit held the Ludendorff Bridge against Germany forces, which was later made into the 1969 film, Bridge at Remagen.”

“In 1946, he assumed command of the 504th Parachute Infantry of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.,” he said. “He served in Korea in 1952 and survived a near-fatal jump when his parachute failed to open until 100 feet before impact. In Vietnam, his wife, Mrs. Kitsy Van Deusen Westmoreland, and their three children lived in Saigon, 1964-1965, during the first year that Westmoreland served as Commanding General, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Appointed Chief of Staff of the Army by LBJ in 1968, Westmoreland served the majority of his term under President Nixon.”

“After 36 years and three wars, the Westmorelands retired to Charleston in 1972 and enjoyed a very active retirement of travel and speaking engagements. He published a memoir, A Soldier Reports, in 1976.”

“In the collection, there are a lot of good photos of the general in the field with the soldiers and with so many military leaders and people who are still familiar to us today, like LBJ, Bob Hope, JFK, Martha Raye, President Nixon,” Cuthrell said. “The collection consists of approximately 113 linear feet of cartons holding papers, scrapbooks, original art work. There are many different formats, including photographs, letters, books, audio, film and vinyl.”

“One of the real strengths of the collection are the many books and letters the general received after his retirement, such as letters from veterans who wrote to him, telling him how much he meant to them, with many of them writing that they would follow him into battle again.”

Several of these letters, as well as photographs and other items, are part of the "A Life in Service" exhibit in the South Carolina Political Collection’s Gallery in Hollings Library.

For more information about the exhibit, contact SCLref@mailbox.sc.edu . For more information about Hollings Library, including operating hours and directions, visit http://library.sc.edu/hollings.

Ernest Hemingway: The Next Chapter

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:56:18

Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Sep 26, 2012 8:30 AM - Oct 26, 2012 5:00 PM

This exhibit announces the acquisition of the C. Edgar and Julie Grissom Collection of Ernest Hemingway.

The Grissom Collection is comprehensive in scope, including both primary and secondary works, from Hemingway’s earliest works through recent scholarly and critical editions, as represented in books, pamphlets, magazines, and newspapers, as well as blurbs, reviews, interviews, epigraphs, and keepsakes. The collection contains twenty-seven proofs and advance copies, including a copy of the virtually unseen proof of Jonathan Cape’s 1927 edition of Fiesta, as well as the previously undocumented dummy copies of both the 1929 and 1948 editions of Scribner’s Farewell to Arms, file copies of Winner Take Nothing and Green Hills of Africa, and advance presentation copies of The Old Man and the Sea and Across the River and into the Trees. In addition, the Grissom Collection includes the largest assemblage of continental printings and dust jacket variants.

This acquisition, the third major acquisition made possible by the Easterling-Hallman Foundation with gift from Dr. and Mrs. C. Edgar Grissom, establishes the University of South Carolina as the premiere research center for the study of Hemingway’s print works and boosts our ranking as a top research center for the study of modern American literature.

"The Best Circus": Campaigning for President, 1952 to 2000

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:35:03

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Sep 24, 2012 7:00 PM - Nov 30, 2012 7:00 PM

"'The Best Circus": Campaigning for President, 1952 to 2000" is on display in the South Carolina Political Collections (SCPC) Gallery now through November 30 in the Hollings Library.

"The exhibit is filled with campaign memorabilia from our collections," said SCPC's Lori Schwartz, who curated the exhibit.

"The exhibit starts with the 1952 presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) v. Adlai Stevenson (D) and ends in 2000 with George W. Bush v. Al Gore, Jr.," Schwartz said. "Some items, like classic bumper stickers, people will remember; other items are more obscure, like a 'We Like Ike' elephant bobble head beanie, a macaroni and cheese box from the 1996 Democratic National Convention, and a set of holographic campaign buttons from the 1960s and 1970s."

Schwartz explained that the exhibit title is taken from a quote by American humorist H.L. Mencken: "A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in."

The Hollings Library is accessible through Thomas Cooper Library. For more information about Hollings Library, including operating hours and directions, visit http://library.sc.edu/hollings.

Brick, Fire & Iron: The Highs and Lows of Carolina's Historic Wall

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:34:15

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Aug 16, 2012 7:00 PM - Oct 27, 2012 7:00 PM

The Horseshoe wall is perhaps the most abused, altered, and ignored structure on the campus of the University of South Carolina – and one of the most historic. It has surrounded the original campus for over 175 years and even sheltered it from the flames that burned much of Columbia in 1865. The wall has gradually faded into the background of an expanding urban campus and been subjected to numerous alterations and misuses – including use as a bulletin board. This exhibit looks at the wall’s history, its current condition and its place in Carolina history.

Writing America: From Columbus to Wendell Berry

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:28:05

Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library, Jul 1, 2012 1:00 AM - Sep 15, 2012 12:00 PM

"Here are to be seen the most beautiful pine trees and the most extensive fields and pastures, a great variety of birds, several sorts of honey, and many kinds of metal, with the exception of iron. In the island named Espaniola there are lofty and beautiful mountains, large cultivated tracts, woods, fertile fields, and everything adapted to the purposes of agriculture, the pasturage of cattle, and the erection of houses."

So wrote Columbus on his return voyage to Spain in 1493 in his first description of the New World. The lush beauty and sense of possibility contained in this description is tempered by its underlying assumption of having been a gift of Providence, exclusively given by God to the Spanish Crown for exploitation. In the same letter after these descriptions of the natural environment are discussions of "precious drugs, gold, and metals" also to be found on these islands. The identification of the Americas by the West began a series of appropriation and conquest that, as Wendell Berry reminds us forcefully and eloquently, have not abated today. In his 2012 Jefferson Lecture at the National Endowment for the Arts, Berry writes,

"Under the rule of industrial economics, the land, our country, has been pillaged for the enrichment, supposedly, of those humans who have claimed the right to own or exploit it without limit. Of the land-community much has been consumed, much has been wasted, almost nothing has flourished."

Berry's argument comes not from pessimism, but from a deep sense of protection: a true sense of stewardship over the land we inhabit and use. He thinks that those who at present take from the land and those who work to preserve it form a dialectic plagued, on both sides, by a "failure of imagination" to come to any sort of mutual understanding.

Fortunately, there is a great diversity of perspectives to examine when we look historically at conceptions of the role of the land and landscape of the Americas by its inhabitants and visitors. This exhibition offers one selection from a vast 500+ year corpus of texts, from Columbus's letter of 1493 to Berry's 2012 lecture. In between, in these galleries, and transmitted through the medium of print culture, can be found the thoughts of explorers and soldiers, conquerors and indigenous voices, philosophers and poets, all describing what they have seen and encountered in the land and landscape of the Americas, with all its richness, diversity, and component parts.

South Carolina and the War of 1812

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:20:01

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Jun 14, 2012 9:00 AM - Aug 11, 2012 1:00 PM

Learn about the war's impact on the Palmetto State and her residents, including:

Defense and fortification of Charleston harbor
Andrew Jackson's campaign against the Creek nation in Georgia and Alabama
South Carolinians who rose to positions of national prominence between 1812 and 1815

South Carolina's MAD 'MEN' -- Advertising and PR in the Palmetto State, 1950s-1970s

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:56:46

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, May 1, 2012 7:00 PM - Aug 31, 2012 7:00 PM

Jane Bradley, Cora Graham and Lottie “Dolly” Hamby established the Bradley, Graham & Hamby Advertising Agency, Inc., in 1951, in Columbia, SC. It was founded as, and it remained, an all-female firm. The files of BG&H are full of praise from their clients and friends--titans of South Carolina history like Jimmy Byrnes, Strom Thurmond and Roger Milliken. The women of BG&H thrived in a profession dominated in that era by men, handling the accounts and campaigns of notable businesses and politicians for over three decades.

The firm’s political clients included Strom Thurmond, Fritz Hollings, South Carolinians for Eisenhower, Democrats for Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Donald Russell and Robert McNair. Business accounts included Kline Iron & Steel, Rice Music House, R.L. Bryan Co., and SC National Bank. Included in the exhibit are the following (and then some):

BG&H handled some complicated PR campaigns over the years. Two successful campaigns are highlighted in this exhibit: the 1972 Mini-Bottle Campaign that asked voters to require bars, restaurants and hotels to serve liquor solely from mini-bottles and the 1970 fight on behalf of several environmental organizations to keep a German chemical company plant (BASF) out of the Low Country.

BG&H handled all advertising and helped with strategy in the successful gubernatorial bids of Hollings in 1958, Russell in 1962, and McNair in 1966.

The firm produced numerous ads for Strom Thurmond’s successful write-in candidacy to the U.S. Senate in 1954, teaching people exactly how to write-in their vote for Strom. In 1964, they were major players in a significant moment in South Carolina history – they wrote and produced the TV show in which Thurmond famously switched parties and became a Republican.

The firm planned all publicity for South Carolinians for Eisenhower during Ike’s successful 1952 presidential bid and for Ike’s return to the state in 1962 for “We Miss Ike” Day.

South Carolina Political Collections maintains the papers of Dolly Hamby.

Student Book Collecting Contest Winner: Historical Radio Collection

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

Thomas Cooper Library (Lobby), May 1, 2012 8:00 AM - Jun 1, 2012 12:00 PM

Currently on exhibit in the Thomas Cooper Library East Lobby Cases is part of the collection of Robert Smith, the winner of the 2012 University Libraries Student Book Collecting Award. Robert's Historical Radio Collection includes a number of titles on home radio operation from the early 20th century, as well as historical radio equipment.

Imprints of a Nation: Eighteenth-Century Scottish Writers and Publishers

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Mar 30, 2012 - Jun 30, 2012 7:00 PM

The “Imprints of a Nation: Eighteenth-Century Scottish Writers and Publishers” exhibition will be on display in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Gallery in the Hollings Library through June.

The exhibition illustrates the achievements of 18th-century Scottish writers and draws attention to the Scottish publishers and printers who brought their work to the world. Created to welcome the 25th annual conference of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society on April 12-14, the exhibition draws on current scholarly approaches to the history of the book, and its broad range shows the library’s outstanding strength as a center for Scottish research.

In the eighteenth century, Scotland experienced a "sudden burst of genius" -- the Scottish Enlightenment. David Hume in philosophy, Adam Smith in economics, and Robert Burns in poetry are among the many Scots whose writings gained lasting influence far outside Scotland. Above left is an image of Allan Ramsay, another Scottish poet of the time. Scots played major roles in the American Revolution, with 19 Scots or Scots-Irish delegates among the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The exhibition is arranged chronologically. Most cases feature work from a single publisher, focused on the publications of one or more major writer whom he published. Along with first and other early editions, and original manuscripts by Robert Burns and others (including his first book, the “Kilmarnock edition”), the exhibition includes special sections on the Scottish debate over church-state relations, Jacobite writing (with a musket ball from the battle of Culloden), a Scottish publisher in revolutionary America (with the Declaration of Independence from the Journals of the Continental Congress which he printed), and Scottish Enlightenment books from the antebellum library of South Carolina College.

The exhibition is chiefly drawn from the library's G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns & Scottish Poetry, from the many Scottish Enlightenment books acquired by the College 200 years ago, from the James Willard Oliver Collection of David Hume, the Charles B. Weasmer Collection of Secession Presbyterianism, and the recently-donated collections of Donald T. Siebert and G. Edward Gregg.

Associated with the main exhibition during and immediately after the conference were several smaller displays: a selection of Burns manuscripts and letters from the Roy Collection in the Roy-Scott Room; a selection of early editions of Allan Ramsay, also from the Roy Collection, in the wall cases of Room 135; and a selection of items on Milton and the Scots, chiefly from the Robert J. Wickenheiser Collection of John Milton, in the wall cases of the Richter Room.

The exhibition is open to visitors 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday in Hollings Library.

For more information, including driving and parking directions, visit http://library.sc.edu/tcllocate.html.

African-American Collections: A Growing Resource at the South Caroliniana Library

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Feb 6, 2012 7:00 PM - Feb 17, 2012 7:00 PM

An exhibit highlighting the state's African-American history and the collections that document it at the South Caroliniana Library.

February 6 - March 17, 2012

"South Carolina is especially conducive for... her antebellum racial demography and her bountiful manuscripts depositories provide rich and piercing insights about the tremendously complex world created by those held captive and by the free."
- - Norrece T. Jones, Jr.
Author of Born a Child of Freedom Yet a Slave (1990)

John Bolt Culbertson: "The South's Bravest White Man"

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:48:20

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Feb 1, 2012 7:00 PM - Aug 31, 2012 7:00 PM

This exhibit highlights the life and career of civil rights and labor activist John Bolt Culbertson. Culbertson (1908-1983) was a “liberal lion” of South Carolina’s Upstate for most of the 20th century, establishing a law practice in which he represented unions, the working class, disabled veterans, African-Americans, and others in need of a voice—many of whom could not afford to pay him. His political leanings, atypical for South Carolina at that time, and his outspokenness resulted in financial setbacks, insults, and even crosses burned on his lawn, but Culbertson was largely undaunted.

Culbertson was also an early member of the NAACP, and in the 1950s was on the road many weekends to speak before local branches of the group and to recruit new members. This speaking tour drew the attention of Ebony magazine, which ran a feature in 1956 calling Culbertson “The South’s Bravest White Man.” The exhibit features photographs and handbills from many of these appearances. Other exhibited items include a scrapbook from Culbertson’s school days at USC, letters and photographs from Culbertson’s stint as an FBI Special Agent in the 1930s, campaign memorabilia from his runs for public office, and correspondence with prominent figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Judge J. Waties Waring, Thurgood Marshall, and Jesse Jackson.

The exhibit will be open for viewing during the Hollings Library's regular hours, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, through September 1.

Public Figures/Private Lives: A Valentine's Exhibit

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Jan 23, 2012 - Apr 30, 2012 5:00 PM
A new exhibit from South Carolina Political Collections is now open in the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library.

"Public Figures/Private Lives: A Valentine's Exhibit" highlights letters, photographs and other mementos that offer a more personal glimpse into the lives of South Carolina political figures whose collections are held by USC. The exhibit will be on display through April 30.

Included in the exhibit are some marvelous and romantic letters between former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Senator Olin D. Johnston and Gladys that chronicle the couple’s courtship and early years of marriage in the 1920s. Also on display are a series of sweet and playful letters between politician and journalist Bill Workman, Jr., and Rhea “Tommy” Thomas during their courtship and then early years of marriage while he was off serving in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific in World War II.

Other items include photos of former U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings and his wife of forty years, Peatsy, and a letter with the story of how longtime state legislator Alex Harvin proposed to his wife and a sweet note written to her during an all-night legislative session in 1981.

Above is a photo, from the exhibit, of Hollings and his wife exiting the chapel at The Citadel on their wedding day in August 1971.

"Christmas on the Potomac"

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Dec 2, 2011 11:00 AM - Jan 20, 2012

South Carolina Political Collections' annual exhibit of holiday cards is now on display in the Hollings Library.

"Christmas on the Potomac" showcases numerous holiday cards sent and received by South Carolina Political Collections (SCPC) donors over the years.

This year, one of the featured cards was sent by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2010. The card, seen at left, promotes the U.S. Department of State’s Office of ART in Embassies (ART), which was established in 1963. The featured work is artist Josh Simpson’s Mega Megaplanet (undated glass), exhibited in the U.S. Embassy, Kuwait City, Kuwait.

“Christmas on the Potomac" is on display in the SCPC Gallery in Hollings Library through January 20.

For more information about SCPC, go to http://library.sc.edu/scpc.

'A Quieter and Less Eventful Life:' Ernest Hemingway on Writing and Other Pursuits

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library, Nov 7, 2011 8:30 AM - Feb 29, 2012 5:00 PM

This exhibition has as its heart Ernest Hemingway’s writings on writing and the writing life. Especially in letters to his friends and literary colleagues, Hemingway could be extremely candid about his writing process, how the business of literature works, and how he attempted to strike a balance between his writing and personal life. In the works on display here, many for the first time as recent acquisitions, one can see the apparent contradictions expressed in Hemingway’s desire for having the contemplative life of a fiction writer – the “quieter and less eventful life” he alludes to, only somewhat ironically, in an Esquire article in 1935, his passions as a sportsman, and his interests in crafting a public persona for himself as war correspondent, literary lion, and “Papa.”

It has now been 10 years since our initial acquisition of the Hemingway collection assembled by the Speiser family, and made possible through the generosity of Edward S. Hallman (1930-2007) and Ellen Speiser Katz. Since then, thanks to continued support from the Donald C. Easterling-Edward S. Hallman Foundation, the University of South Carolina Libraries have been able to acquire a number of important Hemingway items, especially Hemingway letters, that are on display here, many for the first time.

"...worthy to be transmitted to future generations" Mary Boykin Chesnut's Civil War Diary and Photograph Albums

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Nov 1, 2011 8:30 AM - Jan 28, 2012 1:00 PM

An exhibition celebrating the reunification of Mary Boykin Chesnut's Civil War Diary and Photograph Albums.

In the spring of 1861, the Southern Confederacy literally held its breath, poised, as it were, on the very brink of cataclysm. From Charleston, celebrated Civil War diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886), wife of Confederate Brigadier General James Chesnut Jr. (1815-1885), wrote, “Our hearts are in doleful dumps. And we are as gay, as madly jolly, as the sailors who break into the strong room when the ship is going down.” Amid that giddy mix of anticipation and dread, some still sought opportunities to be immortalized by photographic artists. “To be photographed is the rage just now,” Mary Chesnut observed. And in recognition of this appeal of the photographer’s art, former South Carolina governor John Hugh Means presented her “a photo book in which I am to pillory all celebrities.”

Mary Chesnut’s collection of carte de visite photographs, amassed between 1861 and the early 1870s, has been reunited with the manuscript of her fabled diary for the first time since her death. Together they provide compelling evidence of her ambitious intent to record the war. Represented in her albums are Confederate government officials, military leaders and their wives and family members, prominent figures from North and South, newspaper editors and correspondents, authors, clergy, world leaders, and members of her own extended family.

Her written narrative was edited and published posthumously in 1905 as A Diary from Dixie and again, in near entirety, in 1980 as Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, for which editor C. Vann Woodward won the Pulitzer Prize. The photograph albums, which provide the faces of some 200 people about whom she wrote, were passed down through the Chesnut family until they disappeared in the 1930s. They remained lost until 2007, when they came up for public auction and a new generation of Mary Chesnut’s family succeeded in acquiring them. They have now returned to South Carolina, and the Daniels family of Mulberry Plantation in Camden has graciously placed them with the University of South Carolina’s South Caroliniana Library. “They belong together,” donor Martha M. Daniels has written of the diary and the albums. “They belong to the people of South Carolina and to all who are Carolinians at heart.”

With the publication in 2011 of Mary Chesnut’s Illustrated Diary Mulberry Edition Boxed Set (volume 1: Mary Chesnut’s Diary from Dixie; volume 2: Martha M. Daniels and Barbara E. McCarthy, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War Photograph Album), issued by Pelican Publishing Company, Chesnut scholars and general readers have an opportunity to look inside her personal picture albums for the first time.

The South Caroliniana Library is located on the Historic Horseshoe of the University of South Carolina. The Library is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

With Loyal Devotion: J. Rion McKissick and the University of South Carolina

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Sep 16, 2011 - Oct 22, 2011

An exhibit highlighting the service of J. Rion McKissick to the University of South Carolina as student, faculty, and president. McKissick was one of the most beloved presidents in the University's history. He guided the institution through the latter part of the Great Depression and the massive changes that occurred during World War II. He is the only person granted the honor of internment on campus - in front of the South Caroliniana Library which he helped establish and just a few feet away from where he once took up armed defense of beloved University.

Mapping the Heavens: An Exhibition Introducing the Robert B. Ariail Collection of Historical Astronomy

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Sep 13, 2011 8:30 AM - Oct 31, 2011 5:00 AM

The history of astronomy and of astronomical discovery, from the age of Copernicus to modern astrophysics, is one of the most exciting for any science. This exhibition celebrates Robert B. Ariail and the extraordinary collection of historical astronomy that he has donated to the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina State Museum. Over the past half-century, Mr. Ariail built a collection that encompassed both historic telescopes and astronomical instruments, now at the State Museum, and more than 5,000 rare books and other published items, now housed in the University’s Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections.

The exhibition is arranged chronologically, from the pioneer astronomers of the Renaissance to the major professional observatories of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Highlights on display include:

* the first printed star atlas, Piccolomini’s De la Sfera del Mondo (1540)

* Bayer’s Uranometria (1603)

*rare star atlases by Doppelmayr (1742), Flamsteed (1753), and, rarest of all, Bevis (engraved in the 1750s, issued 1786)

* William Stukeley’s Via Lactea (1752), an unpublished manucript essay on the nature of the Milky Way

Also on display are seven telescopes, from the S.C. State Museum's Ariail Collection, which include:

* a 2-inch reflector, ca. 1730, by Claude Siméon Passemant

*a 2 3/4-inch refracting telescope, ca. 1852, by the pioneer American telescope maker Henry Fitz

A fuller display of telescopes is currently at the State Museum.

More information about the Ariail Collection, digital facsimiles of selected books, and photographs of telescopes, can be found on the Ariail Collection web-site: ariail.library.sc.edu.

Regular hours for the Hollings Library exhibit galleries are Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The galleries will be open special weekend hours on Saturday, September 24, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. and Sunday, September 25, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

When Vision and Strength Were Needed: Jewish Leaders in South Carolina Government

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

South Carolina Political Collections Gallery, Hollings Library, Sep 1, 2011 - Nov 30, 2011

South Carolina Political Collections holds the rich collections of personal papers of Sol Blatt, Isadore Lourie, and Harriett Keyserling. This exhibit highlights these collections which document the political lives of these three leaders, their impact on South Carolina, and their religion. The title of the exhibit is taken from remarks made by former governor Dick Riley on the occasion of Lourie’s 1993 retirement from the state senate. Riley noted, “Much of the major legislative accomplishments of the past quarter century is due to the leadership and caring of Isadore Lourie. He’s been there, with his colleagues, when vision and strength were needed.”

Sol Blatt (1895-1986) (pictured at left addressing the General Assembly in 1963) represented Barnwell County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1933 to 1986, and served as Speaker from 1935 to 1946 and 1951 to 1973, when he voluntarily gave up the office and was immediately named Speaker Emeritus. As Speaker, Blatt held tremendous power and helped lead South Carolina’s transition from a chiefly agricultural economy to a far more industrial one and helped modernize state government.

Isadore Lourie (1932-2003) represented Richland County in the South Carolina General Assembly from 1965 to 1993. He authored major legislation including the Freedom of Information Act, and bills resulting in the creation of the Commissions on Aging and the Blind and the Legislative Audit Council, the exemption of sales taxes on prescription drugs, and the establishment of public kindergartens. Lourie also was a founder of the South Carolina Jewish Historical Society.

Harriet Keyserling (1922-2010), a Democrat and self-proclaimed “New York Jewish liberal,” represented Beaufort County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1977 until her retirement in 1993. She was a tireless advocate of the arts, of education, and of the protection of the environment from nuclear waste and other energy hazards.

Regular hours for the Hollings Library exhibit galleries are Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The galleries will be open special weekend hours on Saturday, September 24, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. and Sunday, September 25, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Hardening of the Heart: the Civil War in the Summer of 1861

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

South Caroliniana Library (Lumpkin Foyer), Aug 6, 2011 - Sep 6, 2011

An exhibit concentrating on the buildup of forces and outbreak of major battles during the summer of 1861. Primary focus will be on South Carolina units and men involved in the First Battle of Manassas and other minor skirmishes in Virginia in that year, but the exhibit will also look at the implementation of the Union blockade of the Southern coast during the late summer and culminate with the fall of Port Royal, SC in November 1861.

On display in the Lumpkin Foyer, South Caroliniana Library, June 3 - August 20, 2011.

We Are What We Eat: A Story of American Cookery

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:20:02

Thomas Cooper Library East Gallery, Jun 1, 2011 - Aug 5, 2011

Abigail L. Smith, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature, is the 2011 winner of the Thomas Cooper Library Student Book Collecting Contest at the University of South Carolina. Her collection, "We Are What We Eat: A Story of American Cookery," encompasses many elements of culinary culture in the 20th century, including domesticity, family history, memory, and corporate and industrial food production and consumption.