CHARLESTON, S.C. - If you want to learn more about the Lowcountry or your family history, your first stop should be the South Carolina History Room at the Charleston County Public Library's Main branch.
"History is practically big business here. You can't walk down the road for a minute or two without bumping into history," said South Carolina Room Manager Marianne Cawley.
To dive deeper into the history throughout Charleston, there's a good chance the South Carolina Room has what you need. In their collection you'll find journals and periodicals, census records, service records from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Charleston Orphan House records, old newspaper and magazine articles clipped and sorted by subject, and much, much more.
"I'm still discovering new things every day. There's a lot of history you have to look for, you have to dig for, you have to find. It's like a little treasure hunt. You have to be willing to spend some time to look for it and find it," Cawley said.
If you can't find the information you are looking for online, that doesn't mean it's not out there. Maybe it's in the South Carolina Room.
"The low-hanging fruit is maybe what you're going to find when you Google stuff. If you want to know what were the laws at a certain time in this state that may affect enslaved people, women, or anything of that nature you're going to have to look at the actual documents. If you don't then you're only going to have half a story," Cawley said.
She says there are four main groups of people who visit the South Carolina Room. One is genealogists.
"We get a lot of people coming in and researching their family history. I mean, a lot. We get people who have been doing it for years, people who are just starting who come in and say, I want to learn about my family but I don't know where to start," Cawley said.
The resource is also frequently used by those doing historic property research.
"Architects, builders, contractors, engineers come in who are looking for, you know, 'I just bought this building and I want to renovate it and turn it into a restaurant, or hotel, or apartments, or something like that', or 'I bought this house and I want to renovate it for my residence, but I want to know some history of the building.' We also work a lot with the College of Charleston Historic Preservation program. Their students are here all the time doing research," she said.
Another group includes historians and academics doing research, and authors working to make sure their novels are historically accurate.
"There's a very active research community in Charleston, to no one's surprise. We see a lot of them often," Cawley said.
And finally, Charleston is filled with history enthusiasts who visit the South Carolina Room to ask a question or just explore what's inside.
"It's fun because as the staff we never know what we're going to get asked next and we always seem to learn something new," she said.
You can visit the South Carolina Room seven days a week or send your question in an email to [email protected]. For those who live outside of Charleston County, the South Carolina Room will request you pay a small research fee before they answer emailed questions. Anyone can visit the South Carolina Room and access resources in-person for free. To learn more about the South Carolina Room, click here. The South Carolina Room is open during the Charleston County Public Library's Main branch operating hours. To see the current branch hours, click here.