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A Guide to “Green” Collections in the Palmetto State

Compiled by the Archives and Special Collections Round Table, South Carolina Library Association, October 2008

In compiling this guide, we looked at the term “green” in a broad context and included topics ranging from public health to conservation to nuclear waste to gardening. This guide is meant to give librarians an idea of the variety of information resources available in South Carolina. Undoubtedly, we overlooked some materials so we encourage you to please help us fill in the gaps. Please see the Archives and Special Collections Round Table home page for contact information.

The Guide to “Green” Collections is also available as a PDF.

BEAUFORT COUNTY

Beaufort County Library

The Beaufort District Collection at the Beaufort Branch holds historical files on the fight against German chemical producer BASF Group (then known as Badische Anilin and Sodafabrik; it wanted to locate a factory on Victoria Bluff), Port Royal Sound survey reports pertaining to estuaries and water supply, and a few public health dissertations on microfiche based on studies conducted in Beaufort County.

CHARLESTON COUNTY

Charleston County Public Library, The Charleston Archive

  • Records of City Council's attempts to clean up the slaughterhouses and cattle pens in urban Charleston, from colonial times to 1949
  • Records of the Executive Relief Committee for the Earthquake of 1886 (Aug. 31st), 1886-1903, 5 linear ft. Finding aid
  • Return of Deaths within the City of Charleston, 1819-1926, 42 bound vols. Finding aid
  • Return of Births in the City of Charleston, 1877-1926, 23 vols. Finding aid
  • Records of the Commissioners of the Colonial Common (now known as Colonial Lake) and Ashley River Embankment, 1881-1952, .5 linear ft. Finding aid
  • Records of the City of Charleston Board of Health, 1857-1953, .25 linear ft. Finding aid
  • Stoller Chemical Company (Jericho, S.C.), Superfund Site Cleanup Records, 1985-2007, 30 linear ft. Collection includes reports by S.C. DHEC and other contractors.
  • Navy Base, Charleston, Superfund Site Cleanup Records, 1995-2002, 38 linear ft. Collection includes U.S. Navy reports.

Charleston County Public Library, South Carolina Room

  • Koppers Company, Inc. - Charleston. “Preliminary public health assessment.” South Carolina. Dept. of Health and Environmental Control, 1993. (363.738 SOUTH)
  • Stoller Chemical Co. - Charleston. “Removal site administrative record.” Environmental Protection Agency. Region IV. Waste Management Division, 1994. (363.738 STOLLER)
  • CCPL also has several volumes in Ready Reference related to records of cleanup activities at Ashepoo Phosphate/Fertilizer Works, Atlantic Phosphate Works, Calhoun Park, Koppers Company, Inc., and Swift Agri-Chem Corp.

College of Charleston, Special Collections

  • John Henry Dick Collection (30 linear ft., c. 1912-1993, MSS 0065) includes artwork, color slides, manuscripts, and photos. Dick, a leading bird painter and wildlife expert, contributed illustrations to the Pictorial Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (1983) and owned Dixie Plantation, a wildlife preserve in Meggett, S.C. Finding aid
  • All 430 prints from John James Audubon's Birds of America
  • Tornadoes in Charleston (4 items, 1938, MSS 0034-083) includes a typed eyewitness account.
  • Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. Collection (0.3 linear ft., 1979-1980, MSS 0118) documents the S.C. Attorney General's Office investigation into improper practices of Chem-Nuclear at their radioactive waste burial site in Barnwell, S.C.
  • Reference book collection on coastal issues, fish, forestry, hurricanes, water quality, and the Congaree River.

GREENVILLE COUNTY

Greenville County Library System, Hughes Main Library

PCB Repository, a volume compiled by Sangamo Weston, Inc. (now Schlumberger Industries), purports to “provide factual information to the citizens of the Pickens area concerning PCBs and the environments.” From 1955-1978, Sangamo Weston, Inc., operated a capacitor manufacturing plant on Lake Hartwell in Pickens County which utilized several varieties of PCB-containing dielectic fluids in its processes.

HORRY COUNTY

Coastal Carolina University, Kimbel Library

The Waccamaw Room collects books on Winyah Bay, the Waccamaw River, and other local waterways.

PICKENS COUNTY

Clemson University, Special Collections

Agricultural History Collections:

  • Papers of Wofford B. Camp (75 cu. ft., 1919-1983, MSS 165) document his work with the United States Department of Agriculture and the rise of agribusiness in California's interior valleys. Camp was a civic leader, conservative, farmer, and leader in the development of American agriculture. Finding aid
  • The Farmer's State Alliance of South Carolina Records (6 cu. ft, 1887-1927, MSS 50) contain correspondence, printed materials, reports from county alliances and the original minutes that range from its first meeting on July 11, 1888 through 1898, allowing one to trace the activities of one of the early organizations in the farmers' movement. The movement influenced Governor Benjamin Tillman's agricultural policies during the early 1890s. Finding aid
  • Papers of B. O. Williams (1 cu. ft., 1926-1940, MSS 86) consist of speeches, reports and publications regarding agricultural conditions during the Great Depression, particularly in South Carolina; they cover such topics as land tenure, farm tenants, trade agreements and land utilization. Williams was a rural sociologist at Clemson College from 1930-1940. Register of the Williams Papers, Container List

National Park Service Collections:

  • Russell E. Dickenson Papers (9 cu. ft., 1930-1985, MSS 85) include clippings, correspondence, press releases relating to his career in the National Park Service and covering such topics as improved morale in the Service, land condemnation (also known as eminent domain), Alaska conservation, plans for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and the Colorado River Management Plan. Dickenson served as Regional Director of the Pacific Northwest Region, 1975-1980, and as National Park Service Director, 1980-1985. Finding aid
  • Lemuel A. Garrison Papers (22 cu. ft, 1914-2008, MSS 153) contains articles, correspondence, speeches and reference materials used in his work with the National Park Service (1932-1973) and in his writings and lectures. Finding aid
  • The Papers of George B. Hartzog, Jr. (62 cu. ft., 1916-1992, MSS 74) contain administrative and management material, much of it relating to legislation on behalf of NPS in such areas as land acquisition and the creation of new parks. Correspondence includes letters from noted photographer and conservationist Ansel Adams. Hartzog served as Director of the National Park Service from 1964-1972. Finding aid

Pickens County Library System

The Historical Collection at Easley Headquarters Library holds EPA documents related to the Sangamo Weston/Twelve Mile Creek/Lake Hartwell Pcb Contamination Superfund clean-up.

RICHLAND COUNTY

Richland County Public Library

The Local History Room at the Main Library contains a South Carolina vertical file with files on recycling, hazardous waste, and water and energy.

University of South Carolina, Rare Books and Special Collections

  • The Richard Wingate Lloyd Collection of Historical Botany contains a number of rare botanical works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Description
  • The Ethelind Pope Brown Collection of South Carolina Natural History is comprised of 32 eighteenth century opaque watercolors on paper. Digital collection
  • The John Abbot Watercolor Collection consists of 149 illustrations of butterflies and moths. Digital collection
  • The Thomas Cooper Collection of Early Geology
  • The John James Audubon Collection, including Birds of America (1828-38), the Quadrupeds, and additional prints donated by Jennie Haddock Feagle. Exhibit
  • The Memorial Collection of Garden Books of Mrs. Sheffield Phelps and Miss Claudia Lea Phelps contains important titles in various areas of botanical interest and includes Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands (London, 1771). Mrs. Phelps was founder and first president (1900) of the Garden Club of South Carolina. Description
  • The George H. Bunch Medical History Collection provides a glimpse into the reading interests of an esteemed local physician and surgeon practicing during the first half of the twentieth century. Dr. Bunch, a native South Carolinian, was a prominent Columbia physician and surgeon from a family with a deep commitment to improvements in public health. Description
  • The C. Warren Irvin, Jr., Collection of Charles Darwin and Darwiniana, including The Origin of Species (1859), contains a complete collection of the first editions of Darwin's books along with subsequent editions, showing revision and updating of his scientific work, and a large selection of the books about Darwin's life and work. Description
  • Henry William Ravenel (1814-1887), one of the foremost botanists of the American Civil War era, is represented by resources at Rare Books, the South Caroliniana Library, and the A. C. Moore Herbarium. Exhibit

University of South Carolina, South Carolina Political Collections

  • The Lottie D. Hamby Papers (7.25 linear ft., 1946-2001) contain files from the Bradley, Graham, and Hamby Advertising and PR Agency's representation of several environmental groups fighting the construction of a plant in Beaufort by BASF Group (then known as Badische Anilin and So