Environmentalists, Inc. Papers- Take Two!

“There aren’t many 87 year old grandmothers like Ruth Thomas. For 35 years, Thomas has fought nuclear industry in South Carolina,” Sammy Fretwell, The State Newspaper, Dec 2, 2007

Recently, SCPC picked up a significant addition to Mrs. Thomas’ collection documenting her organization, Environmentalists, Inc. This week, myself, and the other two graduate assistants, Gabby and Virginia, completed the preliminary inventory of the materials.

As a team, we tackled the many cartons of correspondence, meeting minutes, reports and court documents, and legislation related to environmental issues. Some highlights include a play written and copyrighted by Thomas about environmental education and Thomas’ personal minutes from her group’s Sunday meetings. True to her environmental roots, Thomas seemed to take notes or write letters on just about anything from pieces of junk mail to checkbook covers! We even found items attached with clothes pins!



The preliminary inventory helps to establish both intellectual and physical control of the materials and will be the foundation for future processing activities.

-Submitted by Debbie Davendonis Todd

New Discoveries in the Gasque Papers

“The next time you hear anybody say a Congressman does not have anything to do, you can just deny that fact. It is the hardest work I have undertook.” --Allard H. Gasque, March 14, 1924

Check out an updated finding aid for the Gasque Papers that includes added material and highlights documents and subject areas previously unknown to even the archivists here at SCPC.

Gasque represented SC’s 6th Congressional District. His collection is dominated by constituent correspondence from 1923 to his death in 1938. These letters provide insight into issues such as patronage, veteran’s affairs, and post office politics. The patronage letters take up the most space and show the sacristy of jobs from 1923-1938.

Much of Gasque’s mail concerns the selection of local post masters. He could select from among the three individuals scoring highest on a federal exam to fill any openings for these desirable, remunerative, and hotly contested positions. Letters of recommendations from locals highlight the political ramifications of an appointment and the political battles that waged between potential appointees. Gasque fumed over the local corruption and was frustrated by his inability to influence patronage.

Veterans, their widows and families held a special place in Gasque’s heart. Correspondence poured in from Civil War widows and from veterans of the Mexican American, Indian, Spanish American, and First World wars. Gasque supported a number of pieces of legislation to aid widows and families, as well as assisting veterans with pension claims.

Gasque suffered from heart troubles and illness throughout his career. Get well letters poured in after he suffered a major heart attack in 1935. He lost his battle with heart disease just hours after the close of the 75th Congress in 1938. His wife served his remaining term and his long time secretary, John Lanneau McMillan, was elected to Gasque's former seat and served through 1972. McMillan's papers are also held by SCPC.

--contributed by Debbie Davendonis Todd

New finding aid for the Hollings Papers

The finding aid for the General and Admin files of the Ernest F. Hollings Collection is now on SCPC's website. Check it out!

The Administrative files include:

• Invitations that Hollings accepted to various events, like the one pictured above.
  
  
• Press office files that document operations of the press office -- files about the drafting of the Senator's book, The Case Against Hunger (1970), are in the Personal series AND all other documents created by the press office are in the Press and Media series.
  
  
• Files about Hollings' state visits, town hall meetings, and other functions
  
  
• Office files that document the management of Hollings' Senate office
  
  
• Schedules for the Senator
  
  
• and more...
  

The General files consist almost entirely of correspondence from his entire Senate career. Here, you'll find letters of a general nature from colleagues about service in the Senate, letters in which constituents broach multiple subjects, and letters on unusual subjects that, quite frankly, don't fit elsewhere!

SCPC Holiday Schedule

SCPC will be closed on Monday, September 7th, which is of course Labor Day. We will reopen for research at 8:30 on Tuesday the 8th.

We hope all who have a long weekend will enjoy it!