South Carolina Digital Library receives grant

The South Carolina Digital Library (SCDL), an online collection of South Carolina’s rare documents and artifacts, has received a fifth year of federal funding to support the preservation of cultural heritage materials.

Directed by University of South Carolina librarian Kate Boyd, the SCDL (www.scmemory.org/) is coordinated by the Partnership for South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL), which comprises university and academic libraries in the state.

The funding will go toward equipment and staffing at Coastal Carolina University, Clemson University, University of South Carolina and College of Charleston libraries, all of which contribute to the SCDL project.

More than 55 collections from 10 different institutions, including six universities and colleges and four public libraries, can be searched on the project Web site. They include Clemson, College of Charleston; University of South Carolina campuses in Columbia, Aiken, Lancaster and Beaufort; and county libraries in Richland, Beaufort, Greenville and Georgetown counties.

In 2007, nearly 14,000 items, ranging from photographs, maps and manuscripts to books, sound recordings and objects and all representing the history of South Carolina, were added.

Among these are “Phosphate, Farms, & Family: The Donner Collection,” which chronicles life in rural Beaufort County near the turn of the century. Created by Conrad Munro Donner, the collection includes more than 500 photographs from two family albums.

The University of South Carolina Beaufort Library’s collection, “Collected Civil War Papers of Colonel Benjamin Franklin Eshleman,” features the mementos of a former commander of the Washington Artillery battalion. Greenville County Library System’s additions include a collection of South Carolina postcards from the early 20th century and a store ledger dating back to the 1790s.

To access the items in the collections, students, researchers and history enthusiasts can search or browse by collection, institution, county, region, name, time line or format, such as photos, manuscripts or maps.

The digital collection offers a unique new window on South Carolina history, Boyd said.

“We hope everyone will visit the Web site to learn more about the history of our state and spend time studying, reading or just looking at original documents from South Carolina’s colorful history – now made available as never before," Boyd said.

The federal funds are made possible through the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. LSTA funds are administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the South Carolina State Library.