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.

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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."

Last exhibit before we move!

We recently put up our last exhibit in the East Gallery at Thomas Cooper. (The gallery is just inside the front doors to the left.) After May, we'll move to our beautiful new gallery in the Hollings Library!

“South Carolina Governors” offers a snapshot into the administrations of 11 men who have led our fair state since 1935. They are: Olin D. Johnston, George Bell Timmerman, Fritz Hollings, Donald Russell, Robert McNair, John West, James Edwards, Richard Riley, Carroll Campbell, Jr., James Hodges, and finally, Mark Sanford.

On the left we have one of Campbell's royal blue re-election t-shirts and the top notecard from a 1991 speech of his. On the right you'll see a colorful copy of Jim Hodges' second State of the State Address and some of Mark Sanford's campaign materials.

By February, there will be a video accompanying the exhibit, showing a few minutes of speeches, interviews, etc. of each governor at work (drawn from archival footage held by SCPC and Newsfilm Collections here at USC).

And FYI, many of these collections are open to research. Check out the finding aids for the collections of: Olin D. Johnston, George Bell Timmerman, Fritz Hollings, Donald Russell, Robert McNair, and John West.