Hollings Library Update

Herb and I visited SCPC's new home, the Hollings Library, on Wednesday for a little photo shoot. Here's one of the shots from our new stacks. We're standing between rows 52 and 53. We have 75 rows total--we're looking forward to the compact shelving!

Check out SCPC's processing space. This is our main room where staff and students will arrange and describe collections and prepare exhibits and be generally happy at the state of things. Look at the beautiful afternoon light streaming through the windows. (Our current home lacks windows. )

And look...here I am standing in front of my office -- an actual office with a closet and a window and a door and walls.


And finally, this is the south view of the Hollings Library. Under the overhang is the large events room on the main level.

We're all looking forward to May!

SCPC Welcomes Dr. Browder and 'Stealth Reconstruction'

"We chose the title -‘Stealth Reconstruction’-because it seems an intriguing and logical approach for studying overlooked leaders and their service in Southern and national history. Also our main concept-‘stealth politics’- is simply apt, evocative of the ‘quiet, bi-racial politics’ that challenged and changed the traditional Southern political life during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.”

-Authors Glen Browder and Artemesia Stanberry in Stealth Reconstruction: An Untold Story of Racial Politics in Recent Southern History

Dr.Glen Browder, a former Alabama congressman and a native South Carolinian, returned to South Carolina for a talk and book signing for his latest book, Stealth Reconstruction. SCPC co-sponsored the event with the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the Statehouse Report on Tuesday, March 9th at the State House Auditorium in Columbia. Myself, Gabby Dudley, and our Director, Herb Hartsook, attended the event.

Dr. Browder was introduced by his friend and former colleague, Liz Patterson. Ms. Patterson, no stranger to politics herself, served in both the South Carolina Senate, 1979-1986, and the US House of Representatives, 1987-1993, alongside Dr. Browder. He spoke to an intimate crowd including members of the South Carolina Legislature. Browder talked candidly about his research and his life as he himself practiced ‘stealth politics’ in his career as Alabama’s Secretary of State, a member of the Alabama Legislature and a US Congressman.

It was a pleasure listening to Dr. Browder’s presentation and meeting his lovely wife, Becky. His book, Stealth Reconstruction is available from NewSouth books. Dr. Browder is also the author of The South's New Racial Politics: Inside the Race Game of Southern History. We hear Dr. Browder has another book in the works and we would love to have him back in South Carolina to present again!

- By Debbie Davendonis Todd and Gabby Dudley

The Final Countdown!

March is here (cold and rainy though it may be) and with its arrival comes the realization that we are moving next month! Goodbye sweet Pearle Warehouse; hello brand new, clean, safe Hollings Library.

At the end of April, SCPC will shut down for a few days (specific dates TBA just as soon as we know for sure) and emerge ready for business in the new Hollings Library attached to Thomas Cooper. Check out up-to-date pics of the construction.

Here is our countdown chain (of sorts) to the day we hope the move starts. Rare Books, with whom we'll share the Hollings Library, will go first; we follow them.

In the meantime, we are busily prepping all that we've collected over the years so that the move is as easy as possible. We're labeling, ordering, gathering, inventorying, assessing, and many other "ings."

Here, we've brought together objects that might go on display in the new building...


This means emptier shelves elsewhere like in our reading room...trust me, there used to be a whole lot more on these shelves.


Our paper and AV material is all safely stored away in ordered, labeled, and inventoried boxes, ready to be moved. But, we have a lot of other items that defy placement in mere boxes and tend to spread themselves around the warehouse without telling us! To combat this, we have created "Scrapbookville," "Oversizedfolderland," "Knick-Knack Alley" and "Art Rack Lane" (here, a wall slowly empties, as items move to Art Rack Lane).

Other items resist this level of organization, understandably. A car hood. Massive political signs. Banners. It's a lot to move! But rest assured, it will all get moved safely, and soon you'll be able to visit us and all of our valued material in our new, roomy, temp-controlled, and environmentally-friendly space.

Looking forward to the end of April! Continue to keep those fingers crossed.