Beaufort District Collection Connections Blog

Please join us as Beaufort native, Gloria Singleton, shares her collection of oral histories given by 50 intriguing Beaufortonians who explain why people flock to this coastal paradise inhabited by friendly folks, adorned with beautiful architecture, flanked by moss-draped oak trees.

Copies of her book, Beaufort Through the Ages, are available through our Local History sections as well as from booksellers locally and on the web. Bring your copy and she will personalize it for you!

The general public is often unaware of just how many people rely on access to public computers at their local public library. The Office for Research and Statistics at the American Library Association has recently reported on the amount of use that library computers are getting each and every day while at the same time, funding and staffing to support library online services is diminishing. It is a trying situation as we all adjust to the new realities of the "Great Recession."

Beaufort County Historical Society's President Pamela Ovens recently released the organization's fall schedule.

Sept. 16th at Noon -- Dave Smoot, Parris Island Museum, will discuss military medical practices during the Civil War. Beaufort Yacht & Sailing Club 30 Yacht Club Drive. (An optional light lunch catered by Debbi Covington will be served at 11:30 for $10. RSVP please to Nancy Gilley 843-524-7969.)

Nov. 11th -- Speaker Kristina Dunn Johnson to discuss the history of the Beaufort US National Cemetery

As noted a few days ago, the Beaufort District Collection is a hybrid entity in the cultural heritage field. The term "special library" is usually applied to a collection of library and archival materials housed within a cultural heritage institution. In the course of this entry, I'll use the term in the sense that the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), defines it.

Kate Cerve's recent article highlighting the Treasures [Truly, folks, the copy editor meant to write "Treasures" not "Treasurers" -- that's a far different current local matter -- and one far outside the scope of the BDC!] within the BDC gives me an opportunity to pose and answer the following questions:

Under normal circumstances, October is a very busy time for the BDC. But October 2010 is extra busy. (There's that matter of opening a new Research Room and all attendent orientations and tours pursuant therefrom to consider, you know.) Ian Hill (Beaufort County's Historic Preservationist and the Library's stalwart partner in Archaeology Month programming) and I are scaling back a little for 2010.

HRC member Coastal Discovery Museum is exhibiting a piece of an Atlas V rocket that fell out of the sky and washed ashore on Hilton Head Island back in May. Purportedly it was the first time such material has appeared on Beaufort County beaches. Telephone 843-689-6767 for information about this particular artifact and exhibits at Coastal Discovery Museum.