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A closer look at S.C. history
Virginia Ellison examines a powder horn that once belonged to Patriot commander Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion. The artifact is one of the rare items on display in the American Revolution exhibit of the new S.C. Historical Society Museum.
Photo by Tim Hanson
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Letters from the past
The S.C. Historical Society has countless rare documents in the collections, including this letter signed by George Washington.
Photo by Tim Hanson
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A safe place for history
Designed in the early 1820s by South Carolina architect Robert Mills, best known as the designer of the Washington Monument, the Fireproof Building itself is a prized part of the society’s collection. The building has withstood the Civil War, the Charleston Earthquake and the ravages of time. After a $6.8 million renovation, it will reopen Sept. 22, 2018 as the S.C. Historical Society Museum.
Having once worked at the National Archives, Faye Jensen was not exactly a stranger to seeing rare historical artifacts. But one afternoon more than a decade ago, shortly after assuming her duties as director of the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston, she opened at random one of hundreds of the organization’s gray archival boxes, curious to see what it might contain.
Inside the box was a small, single sheet of paper dated Dec. 31, 1779. Written by hand, it listed the names of officers and soldiers in the 2nd Regiment of the South Carolina Infantry, commanded by Lt. Col. Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero and guerrilla fighter who later would be promoted to brigadier general and become forever known as The Swamp Fox.
As a historian, Jensen was thrilled. She read over the names of the men who helped fight for American independence and let the implications of that historical record wash over her.
After a moment, she replaced the document and then selected another box at random. This time, she pulled out a letter written by one of this country’s founding fathers and the second president of the United States—John Adams.
Jensen blinked.
“I was in awe,” she says. “Just in awe that these items were just sitting in a box like everything else.”
What the new director would soon learn was that those items were just two of many thousands of historical gems waiting to be discovered by researchers in the society’s massive collection of books, photographs, plats (maps or plans), letters and other documents.
Part of that collection will be on display in the new South Carolina Historical Society Museum, opening next month in the recently renovated Fireproof Building in downtown Charleston.
Six state-of-the-art galleries featuring interactive touch screens and other user-friendly devices will convey South Carolina history based on letters, journals and other documents often written by the people who experienced the events themselves.
The first gallery focuses on the exploration and settlement of South Carolina and showcases items including a Bible from 1658 owned by the Rev. Archibald Stobo, founder of one of the oldest Presbyterian congregations in the state.
A second gallery examines the American Revolution and antebellum life. Francis Marion’s powder horn is displayed here, along with an array of other items, including a letter written by George Washington.
The third exhibit is devoted to the state’s secession from the United States, the ensuing Civil War and the reconstruction that followed.
The Charleston Renaissance, the fourth gallery in the series, looks at life after the great 1886 earthquake, which devastated much of the city. Visitors also will be able to view a seven-minute film focusing on the development of art and culture in Charleston and efforts to preserve the city’s remaining landmarks and historical buildings.
A fifth exhibit examines the evolution of cultural diversity in South Carolina.
“We have a Gullah case, a worship case, a literary arts case and then a whole wall of visual arts in that room,” Jensen says. “We are trying to show how all those diverse people who were here in the late 1600s and early 1700s came together and created a wonderful culture that is very unique to South Carolina.”
The sixth gallery, Jensen says, is a rotating exhibit (she would like to see visiting organizations use the area to present their own historical items), but the initial display is devoted to “agriculture, foodways and the conservation of natural resources throughout the state.”
With the museum scheduled to open on Sept. 22, 2018 (tickets go on sale Aug. 1), Jensen and her staff have worked extremely hard to showcase the society’s extensive collections, including the papers of Henry Laurens, the Charleston native and statesman who served as president of the Continental Congress.
The society also acquired the papers of John Rutledge, an American lawmaker who served in the late 18th century as a U.S. Supreme Court justice and as chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, says Virginia Ellison, the society’s director of archives and research.
“We have about 3,000 manuscript collections varying in size,” Ellison says. “A manuscript collection can be one letter on up to 40 or 50 boxes.”
The society also has some 10,000 maps and plats, as well as 35,000 pieces of art and related items that span the Colonial era, the Revolutionary War, the antebellum period, the Civil War, the Charleston renaissance and present-day South Carolina.
The Fireproof Building, which houses the museum, is itself a treasure. Designed in the early 1820s by architect Robert Mills to house government offices and official records, the building opened for business in 1826.
Mills, who also designed the Washington Monument, was keenly aware of the ever-present danger of fires that frequently plagued the city, and so when he sat down at his drafting table he went to great lengths to make sure that fate would never befall the building he was about to design.
When it was finished, the building’s walls were nearly 2 feet thick, window shutters were metal and the structure was made of bricks—more than 900,000 of them—instead of wood. The building’s location at the corner of Meeting and Chalmers streets, with the other two sides facing Washington Park, ensured a wide firebreak on all sides.
The Fireproof Building withstood hurricanes, the Civil War, the Charleston earthquake and the ravages of time. In the 1940s, after moving from one temporary location to another with its growing collection, the South Carolina Historical Society moved into the old building and set up shop.
The society eventually purchased the building from the county in 1980 and for the next three decades continued to add to its collection. But as the years passed, the sheer amount of material gathered by the society actually started to place noticeable stress on the foundation of the old building. And fluctuating temperature and humidity levels clearly were not a good recipe for long-term storage of its collection.
In 2014, the collection was moved to the preservation-friendly environment of the College of Charleston. The move allowed Jensen and her staff to press ahead with plans to renovate the Fireproof Building and create the South Carolina Historical Society Museum, an undertaking that carried a price tag of $6.8 million.
“This exhibit has been a huge project, but it has been fun,” Ellison says. “I think this is going to be great, and I think this is going to be a wonderful experience for our patrons.”
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Get There
The South Carolina Historical Society Museum is located in the Fireproof Building at 100 Meeting Street in Charleston.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The museum is scheduled to open to the public Sept. 22, 2018. Tickets go on sale Aug. 1.
Admission: $15 for patrons over age 13 and $7 for children ages 3–12. Admission for children age 2 and under is free.
Details: (843) 723-3225; schistory.org/museum.