Go see Richard tell 'em how it's done.

Are you interested in archives, library and information science, or just wondering how we keep track of it all here? You might be interested in this upcoming talk given by our own Richard Harris on the USC campus March 22!

Dr. Jennifer Marshall's SLIS 750: Information and Records Management and the Archival Students Guild will be hosting a guest speaker!

Who: Richard Harris, Manager of Records Services at the South Carolina Dept. of Archives and History

Topic: Administering/managing a records management program for state agencies and local governments, including SCDAH’s electronic records management activities.

When: Monday, March 22 at 5:00 pm

Where: Room 112 in Davis College

Everyone is welcome! Come join us!

Light refreshments will be provided!

Sorry, We Left the TP on the Tracks in Gainsville

Queen Victoria saw her first train in 1836. What does that have to do with South Carolina's history? That's an excellent question for some grad student who needs a thesis topic.

Tomorrow's lecture at the archives starts at 5:30pm. Topics include the development of railroad stations (hey, we couldn't ride nonstop like cattle forever, and someone's got to take care of the train), logging and phosphate railroads (mmm, phosphates, so tasty...), and the Piedmont and Northern railroads.

Come one, come all, get munchies beforehand, and if you missed last week's discussion on when exactly real toilets became standard equipment on trains (the 1970s; prior to that date, think outhouse dropping onto the tracks), you missed a seriously ripe reality check.

Who wants to go on a tour?

As our agency is co-sponsoring this event, I can pass this along - bus tours! For the Civil War buffs out there, there are available tickets for 3 different Sherman's March Bus Tours with The Greater Columbia Civil War Alliance as part of Columbia's Longest Days: February 1865.

In commemoration of General Sherman's March to Columbia, SC, and the burning of the city in February of 1865, a full day of educational and fun activities will be held on
Saturday, February 13, 2010

Schedule of Events:
Re-enactment of Cannons Firing on State House • 8:45am
Gervais Street Bridge, West Columbia, South Carolina
(Alexander at Meeting Street)
The day begins with Union canons firing once again upon the South Carolina State House. This very popular re-enactment features period cannons and Union soldiers following the command of General Sherman. The event takes place at the exact time of day and location of the original firing, the West Columbia side of the Gervais Street Bridge.

Civil War Expo • 9am - 4pm
The Atrium of the South Carolina State Museum
301 Gervais Street
Columbia, South Carolina
This expo includes artifact displays, performances by living historians of Mary Boykin Chesnut and Wade Hampton III, as well as living history demonstrations of spinning and needlepoint in the atrium and artillery demonstrations on the lawn. Entrance to the atrium activities is free. The S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum admission will be reduced to $2 for adults and free for those under 21.

Sherman's March Bus Tours • 9:30am & 2:30pm
Tickets ($20 per adult/per tour) must be purchased in advance. Tours will leave from the parking lot of the South Carolina State Museum and each will last approximately 3 hours.

The Congaree Creek Bus Tour (9:30am) includes first hand accounts of Union soldiers, reporters and Columbia residents; visits the original earthworks built for the Confederate defense, remains of one of the largest textile mills of the early 1800s, and the bridge abutments of the Gervais Street and Saluda River Bridges burned by Confederates to slow the Union troops.

Kilpatrick's Occupation and the Burning of Lexington (9:30am) will follow the path Union soldiers took upon entering Lexington; tell the story of Union troop occupation and the burning of the town; pass Historic homes used by Union and Confederate troops; and end at St. Stephen's Church that was ransacked by Union troops.

Sherman's Left Wing Bus Tour (2:30pm) will visit skirmish sites, where dismounted Confederate cavalry and artillery disputed the Union army's crossing the river; local re-enactors will make these skirmishes come alive; visit campsites of the Union army and numerous sites.


Bus tour tickets can be ordered by contacting Bri Jackson at (803) 217-0071 or GCCWA@knappagency.com.

Old Skool

Since we're experiencing some problems adding files to our facebook photo album "Buried Treasures", you get to view here the following rules for the Yorkville Female Academy, dated 1820. My favorite part is the cost of tuition.

So Popular!

Guess who else made it in the news? Rebekah Dobrasko from the State Historic Preservation Office, in an article about mid-century school construction in response to "separate but equal". Props to Rebekah, too!

The State article is here: Segregation Spurred SC School Building Spree.

Props to Steve!

Did you miss it? Our very own Steve Tuttle was on WIS TV last night (at 6 and 11, and I watched both just to make sure) giving commentary about the difficulty in tracing African-American family history. He did an excellent job of representing the archives, and we're proud to call him our own.

And a shout out to a dedicated researcher, Urica Pope. May you easily find exactly what you're looking for, as in every genealogist's dreams. We admire your perseverance.

If you truly missed it, the article and interview with Judy Gatson is here. The suggested links on the related page are here, and the WIS TV series on Black History Month is here. Enjoy!

ARCHIVE SATURDAY HOURS!

(Hey, we're excited. We used to have Saturday hours, but we can't afford them anymore without outside help.)

Have you been wanting to drop by the archives and see if you can't find your grandfather's draft card? Or poke around and see what else you can find? Maybe you have a paper for school and would like to use our resources, or you're a panicky graduate student with a term paper recently assigned, or a teacher looking to integrate more actual sources with your lessons. Maybe you're just curious about what we have here, but haven't found our normal hours convenient.

Thanks to a grant from the SC Archives & History Foundation, SCDAH will be open on four Saturdays (and four only, right now) from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, so mark your calendars:

Saturday, March 13
Saturday, April 10
Saturday, May 8
Saturday, June 12

We hope to see you there!