South Carolina Archives, Libraries, and Societies
This entry was originally written by Johni Cerny and Gareth L. Mark for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Contents
South Carolina Department of Archives and History
8301 Parklane Center
Columbia, SC 29223
www.state.sc.us/scdah
Publishes The New South Carolina State Gazette. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History collects non-current public records, including county and district records, colonial and state records, federal census records and indexes, colonial land records indexes, military records, and a large microfilm collection of genealogical and historical information. The Department of Archives and History also produces the Combined Alphabetical Index (see Background Sources for South Carolina), which can be accessed online at www.archivesindex.sc.gov. Currently, the online version of 293,212 items includes Index to Multiple Record Series, ca. 1675'1929; Will Transcripts, 1782'1855; Confederate Pension Applications, 1919'1926; Plats for State Land Grants, 1784'1868; Legislative Papers, 1782'1866; Criminal Journals, 1769'1776. Other record categories included in the online index will be referenced in various sections of this chapter. The Archives & History website does not feature scanned images of historical or genealogical documents. Copies of documents and limited search requests can be ordered by e-mail. The holdings of the South Carolina Department of Archives & History appear in A Guide to Local Government Records in the South Carolina Archives (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1988). An updated version of that publication appears online at www.state.sc.us/scdah/guide/guide.htm.
South Carolina Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 16355
Greenville, SC 29606-16355
www.scgen.org/index.htm
Publishes The Carolina Herald.
South Carolina Historical Society
100 Meeting St.
Charleston, SC 29401
www.schistory.org
Publishes South Carolina Historical Magazine. The South Carolina Historical Society maintains a library with a large collection of genealogical and historical records and publications. An extensive online catalog of manuscripts, books, and family histories (60,000 records) can be searched at www.schistory.org/searchcatalogue.htm.
South Caroliniana Library
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
www.sc.edu/library/socar/index.html
The library has a Book Division with over 75,000 volumes in book or microform and a Manuscript Division with over 1.3 million manuscripts (see Manuscripts). The Division holds unpublished genealogical files documenting connections among families of South Carolina and beyond with collections of Leonardo Andrea, Bessie Lee Garvin, and Louise K. Crowder. A short list of finding aids to the genealogy collection appears online at www.sc.edu/library/socar/mnscrpts/findaids.html with instructions to contact the library for information not available online.
Charleston Library Society
164 King St.
Charleston, SC 29401
www.sciway.net/lib/cls_home.html
The Charleston Library Society, the third oldest library in the United States, was founded in 1748 and began collecting books, magazines, and pamphlets by subscription. Although virtually destroyed in 1778, the collection has been rebuilt and includes some valuable eighteenth-century newspapers, as well as Charleston City Directories dating from 1782.