Our New Digs

Take a gander at our new arena of activity! As you'll see, we're actually still moving in -- and the building is still getting its finishing touches. But to give you an idea, here are some shots from around the block:

The temporary chaos as you enter our processing space! Staff offices are arranged along the far wall...

Our new processing space with staff and students already hard at work!

A partial view of our new reading room...

Some of our 'knick-knacks'...

Our future exhibit space on the main floor is still a glorified storage closet...but with potential.

We added "art racks" in the stacks on which to store our framed items and other hanging things...


Our pristine stack level sports new electronic mobile shelving....

Joy of Joys!! WE CAN DRINK THE WATER!!

Mixed Bag

As we prepare for our move to the Hollings Special Collections Library, our staff has been compiling a list of the things we will miss, and not miss, in leaving the “Pearle” building, our home since we were established in 1991. Pearle is located behind the Colonial Life Arena, 7 blocks below Thomas Cooper Library. Our warehouse started life as home to a Pearle Vision warehouse, and we share it with McKissick Museum storage, holdings of the South Caroliniana Library and its Microfilming operation, manned by Tim Bright and Don Turner.

We will miss:

· Our daily interaction with Tim and Don.
· We will miss the handy parking right outside our door.
· The delightful walks downhill from our visits up to Campus.
· The “endless wall space” which allows us to hang just about anything, including the Kate Salley Palmer car hood and really large Hollings and Spence campaign signs.
· A few special events held at the Arena – the Circus, which takes over our parking lot for a week and allows us to get up close and personal with the tigers, elephants, etc.; the monster trucks rumbling in our ears while we work; and the partying pre-Buffett-concert parrotheads.

We won’t miss many more things:

· Windowless environment. Everyone hates not having windows.

· Poor insulation. We often are either hot or cold.

· We can’t drink the water here; it is high in both lead and iron.

· Finding us is a challenge: no more waving down visitors in the street.

· The dreaded walk UP to Thomas Cooper Library.

· The plumbing-challenged bathrooms.

· Pulling boxes can be challenging with our awkward warehouse ladders and shelves that hold six 45-pound cartons each, two deep.
· The list goes on…

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.

Life's a Circus

Well, the Circus has come and gone for another year.

As many of you know, each year the circus comes to the Colonial Life Arena, which is situated "next door" to SCPC. Barnum & Bailey like to set up their animal camp in our parking lot, which adds interest to our days even as it keeps researchers at bay.

This year the tigers were stationed directly outside our door, and Herb took some snaps...


And here's a white one...

We understand there was a slight mishap at one of the shows involving an elephant, but apparently no news is good news where the tigers are concerned. They must have been on their best behavior.

Next year we'll be in our new building without our ring-side seat!

Cheese Day 2010!

The staff of SCPC and Tim and Don of SCL gathered for our 7th Annual Observance of National Cheese Day on Tuesday, Jan. 26th. What is Cheese Day, you ask? Well, at the end of every January, we choose a special day to observe National Cheese Day (officially, Jan. 20th). For details of our celebration and more pictures, see last year's post.

Don and Dorothy inspect this year's selection of cheese foods, including cheese soup, assorted international cheese selections, baked mac and cheese, black bean and cheese casserole, a cheese ball, and cheese dip. In the break room, we had our desserts -- cheesecake and chocolate chip cheese ball goodness.

This year, we added a feature to Cheese Day. We put together an exhibit of cheese-related documents from a few of our collections, including Workman, Hamby, and Gasque. Here, Kate, Lori, and Virginia prep the exhibit. (and thanks to Debbie for helping choose items!) It was a hastily-constructed exhibit but next year we'll have a head start with a few of this year's items.

Pictured here from the exhibit is a 1969 State Fair
Centennial Cookbook containing a recipe for Cheese Pie. Yum! Hamby and her firm, Bradley, Graham, and Hamby, worked on the State Fair ad campaign that year.

AND FINALLY
The annual playing of "The Big Cheese: Official Indoor Sport of National Cheese Day" closes out festivities (created by Laura Koser Christiansen, a former graduate assistant at SCPC).

Herb tosses out the Big Cheese to start the game while Debbie and Gabby look on.


Gabby has the final throw of her Gruyere playing piece but looks like it's Limburger that is closest to the Big Cheese while Bleu, Cheddar, and Gouda look on in defeat.


For next year's Cheese Day, we'll celebrate in our new home, the Hollings Library. We hope to convince our fellow Hollings Library and Thomas Cooper Library denizens to join in the festivities! Hopefully the flooring in our new space will allow for playing of our beloved "The Big Cheese."

Cheese!

The 3 delicious recipes shown here (Peanut-Cheese Loaf, anyone?) are from a 1950 "Family Fare" bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The cover is stamped "From the Office of Olin D. Johnston U.S. Senator." The technicolor cookbook cover on the left is from 1972. It did not arrive via collection; rather, someone gave it to us because they knew of our annual cheese observance, if I recall correctly.

On that note...

SCPC is starting the year off right with our 7th annual observance of National Cheese Day on Tuesday, Jan. 26th. A little camaraderie, everyone? One of our student alums now at Clemson, Virengia Houston, tells us that the good archivists/librarians up there will be celebrating on the actual National Cheese Day, Jan. 19th. Aside from Clemson, alums and family members have started celebrations elsewhere including Norfolk, Atlanta, and Kansas City!

If you'd like to drop by our Pearle Warehouse at noon on the 26th and join in the fun, you are welcome. We always have visitors for this event. Just let us know you're coming! Participants are asked to bring a food that contains a cheese element. We will eat, chat, and then play "The Big Cheese," a game similar to bocce and created by a former student assistant here, Laura.

To get an idea of the merriment, check out last year's celebration.

Out in the Cold; No Fire for Warmth

This morning around 10 a.m. the subtle and reassuring fire alarm blared garishly through the old warehouse, gently warning us that we needed to hasten out to the parking lot. Of course, this week Columbia is experiencing some of its coldest weather so far this winter, and the temperature in the parking lot was maybe 35 at the time, punctuated by a lovely whipping wind. Here you can see Gabby, Lori, and Kate bundled up against the elements...

In a few minutes, the Campus Police arrived to start searching the building for any actual cause for the alarm to blare so insistently. As we waited, a small squad from the Fire Department arrived in a baby fire truck. We figured they saw the alarm was coming from 720 College Street and said, "Oh, it's them again. The Pearle Building always sends out false alarms. Break out the baby engine..."

Don't get us wrong, we greatly appreciate the Campus Police and the Columbia Fire Department. It was just kind of humorous to see the little stubby engine arrive. Eventually, we got the all-clear; no fire today, thank you. And it took no time at all for the denizens of SCPC to trample back inside to the relative warmth of our dear old drafty warehouse. Ah. Good times.

2009...A Year In Review

Look what happened at SCPC this year...

Rapid progress in construction of the Hollings Special Collections Library
We should move in April. Cross your fingers! Soon, we will be only a short walk across an enclosed bridge to Thomas Cooper Library, our library colleagues, and potential researchers (in the form of the thousands of undergrad students who inhabit Cooper Library each day)! Check out more pictures.

Processing
For our fine and valued researchers, we put online many new or revised finding aids, including the papers of Lester Bates, Barbara Moxon, Charles Appleby, Robert Hemphill, and Bruce Littlejohn. Counting the collections brought in this year, we are incredibly close to that magic number of 100 collections.

Researchers
We welcomed researchers from far and wide. Along with researchers from our own university and from universities around the Southeast, we had students from England for extended stays and two political scientists from California State University, Channel Islands who were awarded the William Jennings Bryan Dorn Research Award. Of course, we also helped many folks via phone and email.

Student Assistants
We love our student assistants (funded through endowed support), and SCPC would not function well without them. This year, they helped with researchers, research requests, arrangement and description of collections, and many more tasks, always with great attitudes all around. Our students in 2009 were:

*Graduate students Debbie Todd, Gabrielle Dudley, Virginia Blake, Julie Milo, and Allison Hughes. -- We said goodbye to Allison (pictured above with Herb Hartsook, SCPC boss) and Julie (pictured below with Debbie in their workroom) in the summer. They graduated with an MLIS and took positions in Atlanta and Florida, respectively. We get to keep Debbie, Gabby, and Virginia at the start of 2010 as they continue working toward their degrees.

*Undergrad Mai Nguyen graduated in December and is off to do great things like attending law school. Our last undergrad went off to law school, as well. Go pre-law students!

*Graduate intern Katie Thompson of Long Island University received our 2009 Schuyler L. and Yvonne Moore Summer Internship. She spent six weeks here, processing the papers of Mary Kelly, a leading figure in the SC League of Women Voters.

Pictured here in July at Julie and Katie's farewell party, from L-R: Lori, Mai, Katie, Debbie, Julie, and Dorothy

Exhibits
We put up many exhibits in our gallery at Thomas Cooper Library, including:

• A nod to the changing administration in Washington led us to set up an exhibit based on material from the collections of Ambassadors John West and David Wilkins and cabinet officers Jim Edwards and Dick Riley.
• We celebrated the centennial of the NAACP by displaying material from the papers of Modjeska Simkins and I. DeQuincey Newman.
• We enlightened folks about SCPC's Oral History Program.
• We filled a case with memoirs and biographies written by our donors.
• Holiday cards...this year's cards were sent and received by Joe Wilson.

In February, we displayed material from the Fritz Hollings Papers at the SC Book Festival in conjunction with a talk between Jack Bass and Sen. Hollings. It was one of the last of many events promoting Hollings' new book, Making Government Work. Also this year, we digitized 200 documents and audio records from the Hollings Papers and placed them online in "Fritz Hollings: In His Own Words."

Oral History
Oral History helps fill gaps in the documentary record and enriches many research experiences. This year, SCPC completed a major oral history with Jim Edwards, began a project with Joe Wilson, and continued a project with former Butler Derrick staffer John Gregory.

That completes our journey through 2009. Those were merely some of the highlights. On to 2010 and all the progress it will bring!

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

Farewell Julie and Katie!

Last week, SCPC said good-bye to two outstanding students -- Julie Milo, a graduate student assistant, and Katie Thompson, our summer intern.

Hailing from Florida, Julie joined us in August, 2008. She graduates this month with her Master of Library and Information Science and is settling with her fiance in the Jacksonville area as we speak. Congratulations, Julie! While at SCPC, Julie did a superb job processing a number of collections, including the Lester Bates Papers and Charles Cecil Wyche Papers. Above, Julie poses with her friend and office-mate, Debbie, in their workspace at the Pearl Warehouse, SCPC's pristine (and soon-to-be old) home. At left is Julie with other SCPC staff at the Sept. 18, 2008, naming ceremony for the Hollings Library (opening in 2010!).

Katie joined us for the summer from Long Island University's Palmer School of Library and Information Science. During her brief but productive time here, she inventoried and processed much of the Mary Kelly Papers. This was her first effort at processing personal papers, if memory serves, and she did a fantastic job. For those who don't know, Mary Kelly was an influential member of the League of Women Voters and other organizations and dedicated much time to environmental and energy-related causes.

We were lucky to have both Julie and Katie with us. We wish them the best in their future library and archival endeavors! We also thank them for their good sense of humor. We threw them a patriotic farewell party, complete with costumes. Here we are that day. Standing with Lori, Mai, Debbie, and Dorothy, the two honorees are easy to pick out!

Good-bye Allison!

Every so often, SCPC says good-bye to a wonderful student assistant and coworker. After two years, we're doing just that with Allison Hughes. Here, Allison posed good-naturedly for yet another photo on her last day of work. She's standing by her workspace with her giant card from all of us that chronicled her time at SCPC.


Allison joined us in August, 2007, as a graduate assistant, helping me to finish up the Ernest F. Hollings Papers. I gave her primary responsibility for processing two large series within the Papers. She took on that responsibility and excelled. Here, Allison is with (L-R) Senator Hollings, Lori, Dorothy, and Herb at the 2008 Thomas Cooper Library booksigning for Hollings' book, Making Government Work. Allison helped out at many events such as this in her two years at SCPC.


When she graduated from SLIS last December, she joined our professional staff! We knew it would be temporary but were glad to have her on board. She contributed a lot in five short months, working on several collections including the papers of both Donald Holland and C. Bruce Littlejohn and the records of the Republican Party of South Carolina. Here, at her desk on her last day, she is finishing up her work with the Republican Party records (and putting up with all the picture taking quite well). Her desk was next to the copier and the stacks, and she often had to move when we had to move around the ladder!


Allison's last day with SCPC was earlier this month. Today, she starts a full-time archives processing position in Atlanta. We wish her the best! We have been lucky at SCPC to have a number of excellent student assistants. Allison joins that group. We will all miss Allison and her contributions around here quite a lot.

Thanks, Allison!

Rest In Peace: Charles B. Weasmer

SCPC lost a good friend last week with the passing of USC political science professor Charles Weasmer. After his retirement in 1987, Charles volunteered with SCPC helping to create a time log tracing events in South Carolina and on the national stage since 1945. This log is a valuable research tool used regularly by SCPC staff. It has been particularly valuable in helping us in preparing for oral history interviews. We will miss Charles’ friendly presence and expert and articulate advice.

Joining the Circus

Again this year, during the week of March 9th, SCPC's parking lot played host to the Ringling Brothers' circus animals. Despite the inconvenience to our researchers, who aren't able to park at our door for the week, and traffic snarls caused by tiny tots being maneuvered across the streets at showtimes, the staff enjoys taking peeks outside to see which animals we have a good view of each time around. This year was a particularly good one for elephants!

We were in close proximity to some tigers, too, but it was hard to get a clear view through the fence and cages...

But the circus has moved on, and things are getting back to normal.