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Avery Normal Institute
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ARCHIVES The Mission of the Avery Research Center is to evaluate, acquire, organize, preserve and make available materials that document the African American experience in Charleston, the lowcountry, South Carolina and beyond.
AVERY’S ARCHIVAL, LIBRARY AND MATERIAL CULTURE COLLECTIONS AND THEIR USE: REFERENCE SERVICES Reference staff provides access to, and assistance in, using materials in Avery’s Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club Reading Room. All are welcome – students, staff, faculty, scholars and the general public. Inquiries can be made in person, by mail, e-mail, or telephone.
THE COLLECTIONS Avery is home to approximately two hundred manuscript collections, varying in size from a few items to over fifty linear feet; over five thousand printed items, ranging from standard texts, rare books and pamphlets to dissertations and journals; over four thousand photographs; hundreds of reels of microfilm, VHS tapes, clipping files, and digital formats.
There are also dozens of collections of artifacts ranging from those that document slavery to material culture from West Africa and a sweet grass basket collection. Processed manuscript collections and other catalogued items can be searched via the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library’s online catalogue. Reference staff can be queried on unprocessed collections. View a full listing of Avery's collections. Strengths of the Collections
Avery holds the Holloway family scrapbook that documents a free people of color family, the records of the Friendly Moralist Society, and other family papers that pre-date the Civil War. The Walter Pantovic Collection contains materials regarding the enslavement of Africans and persons of African descent and the institutions of slavery. There are microfilm materials of some plantations and capitation records for Charleston’s free people of color.
Of prime importance are the papers of Septima Clark, Bernice Robinson, Cleveland Sellers, Isaiah Bennett, J. Arthur Brown, Millicent Brown, Ruby Cornwell, and Esau Jenkins, among others. The papers of attorneys Robert Rosen and Armand Derfner contain valuable information on various court cases, as do the papers of John C. Ruoff, Arthur McFarland and others. Various oral history collections, many with full transcripts, contain valuable information as well.
Avery holds the records of the Harleston and Harleston/Boags Funeral Homes; the Mickey Funeral Home; the Gadsden Funeral Home; and the records of various private benevolent and burial societies.
Charleston area churches include Centenary Methodist Episcopal, Central Baptist, Mt. Zion AME, St. Marks Episcopal and Zion Olivet Presbyterian Church.
Avery holds the records of the Coming Street YWCA, the Owls Whist Club; the Book Lover’s Club; the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club; Entre Nous Bridge Club; Charleston Chapter of the LINKS, Inc., Women’s Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention of SC; the Athenians; the Charleston Chapter of the One Hundred Black Men of Charleston; Jenkins Orphanage; McClennan Banks Hospital, among others. Avery also holds the personal papers of many individuals who played roles and held office in many of these and similar organizations. Of special interest are the papers of women affiliated with the Colored Women’s Club movement.
Avery holds the records of many women active in the civil rights movement (as indicated above) in addition to the papers of Ethyl R. Brown, Mamie Garvin Fields; Anna Kelly; Albertha Murray; Ethelyn Murray Parker; Lois R. Simms; Lucille S. Whipper and others.
Holdings include the Coards Photo Studio and photographer Walter A, Boags, as well as small collections of prominent Charleston photographers, Michael Francis Blake and Anderson Studio. Collections relating to music include William S. Lawrence, D. Jack Moses, James R. Logan, William Saxton Wilson and the Charleston Jazz Initiative. Artisan/Craftsmen collections include the Sweetgrass Basket Collection, blacksmith Phillip Simmons and furniture maker Elijah Wineglass. Avery also holds the papers of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen.
Holdings include the papers of anthropologists Colin Turnbull and Joseph Towles; historians William and Jane Pease, Edmund L. Drago, and W. Marvin Dulaney.
ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION The Avery Research Center houses hundreds of oral histories relating to the African American experience in the lowcountry. Our particular strength is in documenting the civil rights movement, education in Charleston, and Gullah culture. These include:
We are currently working on digitizing our holdings in order to preserve them and make them more available for researchers. To browse our oral histories, please click here: http://lowcountrydigital.library.cofc.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2FAOH Also, make sure to check back often, as our digital library is expanding rapidly!
Other available formats include: monographic and serial publications (journals, periodicals, newspapers, newsletters) on paper and in microfilm; scholarly and popular works including dissertations, pamphlets and booklets; topographic and thematic maps dating from the 19th through 21st centuries; vertical files with ephemera, periodicals and newspaper clippings; over 300 audio and videos (mostly in VHS format) including religious music; spirituals and gospel music from Lowcountry and Sea Island praise houses and churches. Electronic formats are also available online through the College of Charleston. Our microfilm collection includes numerous popular periodicals and copies of the following:
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Copyright © 2008 Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture College of Charleston |66 George Street | Charleston, SC 29424| (843) 953-7609 | FAX (843) 953-7607 |