Another look at Olin D. Johnston

Have you ever seen one of these?

Do you know what they're called?

Maybe you played with one growing up while sniffing around your mom, dad, or grandparent's desk?

We like to call them "pop-up" directories or something similar.

Turns out, they are Bates List Finders. Olin D. Johnston had them on his desk as a U.S. Senator, and they are easy and surprisingly fun to use. You just move the arrow to a desired letter, press the tab at the bottom, and "whoosh!", up goes the cover to reveal the people you seek.

Of course, his collection here at SCPC has a whole lot more to offer. If you have a research topic focusing on the 1940s through early 1960s, you might find the Johnston finding aid worth a look. Johnston was a Senator from 1945 until his death in 1965. He was also Governor of SC from 1935-1939 and 1943-1945.

In the Senate, he was a member and chair of the Post Office and Civil Service Committee and a member of the Judiciary Committee, and his papers reflect his leadership in those areas. Johnston was also known as a friend to the farmer and laborer. From his finding aid: "In the Senate, Johnston was a staunch advocate of public power, parity programs for farmers, a broad strong social security program, and the provision of lunches to needy school children."

Most of the documents in his collection (like speeches, legislative files, and press releases) focus on his Senatorial service but we also have one box of Gubernatorial material, as well as campaign files and personal correspondence, such as several folders of sweet letters between Johnston and his wife Gladys in the early years of their marriage.

Memories of Politics Past

Statehouse Report included a new feature this week. Every Friday, they will highlight a photograph from our collections and challenge their readers to brush up on some history.

This week, Statehouse Report asked, "Guess who this guy was and why he made political history."

And the answer is...

Charlie Boineau – the first Republican elected to the General Assembly since Reconstruction, shown at his desk. When Boineau (1923-2005) won a special election to represent Richland County in 1961, conservative icon Barry Goldwater wrote him: "You will go down in history as the first Republican to crack the solid ranks of Democrats in South Carolina, and some day, whether you know it or not, your victory will mark the turning point in not only the political but the economic direction of your state." Boineau was unable to hold his seat in the 1962 general election, but his victory was a milestone in the growth of the Republican Party in South Carolina.


To find out more about Boineau, check out his collection or contact us.

Photo with caption originally appeared in the April 2, 2010 issue of the Statehouse Report.

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.