One and a half linear feet, 1859-1994, augment the South Caroliniana Library’s holdings of the papers of artist Walter Whitcomb Thompson (1882-1948), of whom the Atlanta Constitution wrote in 1932, he “embodies charm and simplicity in his paintings.”

Included among this addition are journals, sketches, volumes, articles, correspondence, and photographs. Four journals written by Thompson during 1928, 1943-44, and a trip to England in 1958 give insight into his personal thoughts.

Many items relate to the family of Thompson’s wife, Elizabeth Gertrude Dabbs, daughter of Eugene Whitfield Dabbs and Alice Maude McBride Dabbs. Family members represented include Eugene Whitfield Dabbs, James McBride Dabbs, Alice Maude McBride Dabbs, Maude Dabbs Haas, Samuel McBride, Sophie McBride, and Elizabeth Dabbs Thompson.

Visual materials in the collection include a sketchbook produced by Thompson for his wife as a Christmas gift in 1941, several photographs of and by Trude Fleischman, and two silhouettes produced in 1936 by Walterboro native Carew Rice (1899 - 1971), hailed by poet Carl Sandburg as “America’s Greatest Silhouettist.”