Related Resources

This page includes additional resources on the state of South Carolina from the Library's website.

American Folklife Center State Resources

American Folklife Center Collections: South Carolina
The collections of the American Folklife Center contain rich and varied material from South Carolina that documents the state's folk traditions. Among its recordings are Gullah dialect songs and tales from the Sea Islands; African American spirituals, hymns, lullabies, and religious services performed by choirs and soloists from around the state; and many hours of work songs, spirituals, and prayers of African American convicts held at the state work farms in Boykin and Columbia in the 1930s.

Bibliographies and Guides

U.S. State Poets Laureate: South Carolina
This site provides the names of all current state poets laureate of the United States. It also includes a history of the laureateship in each state, as well the District of Columbia, and attempts to provide a comprehensive listing of all prior state poets laureate. Included is information on the position of State Poet Laureate in South Carolina.

Exhibitions Featuring South Carolina

The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
The exhibition The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship, showcases the incomparable African American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings, this is the largest black history exhibit ever held at the Library, and the first exhibition of any kind to feature presentations in all three of the Library's buildings.
The Reconstruction and Its Aftermath section includes the "Hampton Plantation Account Book, 1866-1868 from South Carolina which shows that former slaves who became free workers after the Civil War received pay for their work on the Hampton Plantation.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress: The Battle of Ft. Sumter
In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the United States. As more states followed suit and the Confederate States of America took shape, many federal installations in the South were taken over by state governments. Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, continued to fly the U.S. flag, even as Confederate forces surrounded it.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress: Laws of South Carolina
This two-volume collection of laws in force, titles of those repealed, and the two royal charters granted by King Charles II was compiled by Nicholas Trott (1663-1740). It is one of the finest examples of early American printing.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress: A South Carolina Courthouse
This 1826 Greek Revival courthouse by Robert Mills is a fitting example of the courthouse as symbol of democracy. It is one of more than 11,000 courthouses photographed in a project that created the most comprehensive survey to date of an American building type.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress: Union Dissolved!
On December 6, 1860, the people of South Carolina voted for delegates to a convention whose decision was a foregone conclusion. "The only questions," one observer wrote, "are when shall she secede, and what she shall then do." The convention assembled in Charleston on December 18, the committee of 169 voted unanimously for secession from the United States.

Global Gateway

France In America

Conceived in partnership with France's national library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, France in America /France en Amérique is a bilingual digital library made available by the Library of Congress. It explores the history of the French presence in North America from the first decades of the sixteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. Search the project to find items related to South Carolina.

View the France in America Project

Selected highlight from this project:

Charles-Town, capitale de la Caroline.

Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier

Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier/Historias Paralelas: Espana, Estados Unidos y la Frontera Americana is a bilingual, multi-format English-Spanish digital library site that explores the interactions between Spain and the United States in America from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries.

View the Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier Project

Selected highlight from this project:

A new & accurate map of the provinces of North & South Carolina, Georgia &c.

Historic Newspapers

Chronicling America: South Carolina
Historic American newspapers from 1789 to 1963 selected and contributed by state partners in the National Digital Newspaper Program. Search this collection to find selected newspaper articles that mention events in South Carolina.

Law Library

The Guide to Law Online: South Carolina
The Guide to Law Online, prepared by the Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information on U.S states and territories, including South Carolina.

Resources for Teachers

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Find Library of Congress lesson plans and more that meet Common Core standards, state content standards, and the standards of national organizations.

Features & Activities

View the American Memory Timeline
A comprehensive look at America's history through primary sources.

A selection of highlights from this feature includes:

Primary Sources by State

The Library of Congress has rich documents and artifacts from every state, the U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia.

Primary Sources by State: South Carolina

Lesson Plans

Creating a Primary Source Archive: All History Is Local
Examine the interplay between national, state, local, and personal history. Students produce a digital collection of primary sources from their family or local community based on the Digital Collections.
Exploring Community Through Local History: Oral Stories, Landmarks and Traditions
Students explore the local history of the community in which they live through written and spoken stories; through landmarks such as buildings, parks, restaurants, or businesses; and through traditions such as food, festivals and other events of the community or of individual families.
Local History: Mapping My Spot
Students create their town’s history for coming generations and place themselves on the map in a literal as well as figurative sense, by producing portions of an updated version of an early twentieth century panoramic map from the Digital Collections.

Today in History

The following dates in history feature significant events in South Carolina's history as highlighted in the Library of Congress' collections.

January 13
On January 13, 1833, President Andrew Jackson wrote Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority. He closed with the assertion, "nothing must be permitted to weaken our government at home or abroad."
February 18
The mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered control of the city to Union Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 18, 1865. With commanding General William T. Sherman's arrival imminent, evacuation of the city began on February 17 and continued through the early morning hours of February 18. The city had been under siege since July 10, 1863.
March 18
On March 18, 1782, John C. Calhoun was born near Abbeville, South Carolina. Calhoun served as a congressman, senator, secretary of war, secretary of state, and vice president of the United States.
May 2
James F. Byrnes was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 2, 1882. (He falsified his year of birth in order to become a court reporter-stenographer in 1900. As a result, his birth year is often reported as 1879.)
September 9
Early on the morning of Sunday, September 9, 1739, twenty black Carolinians met near the Stono River, approximately twenty miles southwest of Charleston. At Stono's bridge, they took guns and powder from Hutcheson's store and killed the two storekeepers they found there.
December 25
On Christmas Day, December 25, 1830, the Best Friend of Charleston became the first regularly scheduled steam locomotive passenger train in the United States. The locomotive made its initial run on the first six miles of track of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company. Chartered in 1827, the same year that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was incorporated, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company steamed out of Charleston. The new line was designed to make Charleston competitive with Savannah, Georgia for the cotton trade.

Veterans History Project

The Veterans History Project (VHP) collects and preserves the remembrances of American war veterans and civilian workers who supported them. Click on the link below to locate veterans from South Carolina.

Veterans History Project: South Carolina

South Carolina: State Resource Guide

Digital Collections: Ask a Librarian

Related Resources

American Folklife Center State Resources

Bibliographies and Guides

Exhibitions Featuring South Carolina

Global Gateway

France In America

Selected highlight from this project:

Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier

Selected highlight from this project:

Historic Newspapers

Law Library

Resources for Teachers

Features & Activities

A selection of highlights from this feature includes:

Primary Sources by State

Lesson Plans

Today in History

Veterans History Project