ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Location: Second Floor, Room 212, 213, Dillard Elliot Room Phone: 864-833-8525
Hours: 10:00 AM-Noon, Wednesday, Thursday
other hours by appointment		 FAX: 864-833-8575
Head: Nancy GriffithE-mail: ngriffit@admin.presby.edu
Services:Policies:

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

The Special Collections area of the Thomason Library is located on the second floor, in Room 212 and several adjacent rooms. The collection is roughly divided into two major components - special collections dealing with the history of South Carolina and Presbyterianism, and the Presbyterian College Archives, which documents the history of PC and the individuals and other institutions associated with it.

The Library's special collections contain a large number of fragile materials dealing with Southern history, religion and culture, including the Jones South Carolina Collection and the Smyth Collection. The Jones Collection was nurtured by late PC professor Frank Dudley Jones (1874-1946), and continued by his daughter, Louise Jones DuBose. It was later supplemented by materials donated by J. Isaac Copeland, former curator of the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Smyth Collection was the gift of Ellison Adger Smyth, president of the Pelzer Mills in Anderson, and the son of Rev. Thomas Smyth, who was the longtime pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston. The collection also contains a collection of rare pamphlets dealing with numerous aspects of antebellum Southern culture. Items in both the Jones South Carolina Collection and the Smyth Collection are listed in THOMCAT, the Library's online catalog.


ARCHIVES

The Presbyterian College Archives contains papers, publications, photographs, and other materials which document the history, organization and development of Presbyterian College. Because of the College's close ties with the Presbyterian Church and with Thornwell Orphanage, the collection also includes materials on these institutions.

In addition to the special collections housed in the Library, the College maintains the Founder's Library, an exact duplicate of the library of the College's founder, William Plumer Jacobs. This library is located in the Smith Administration Building.

ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ORGANIZATION

Most of the books in the special collections are organized by subject just as the rest of the library materials are. These items are listed in the online catalog, THOMCAT. However much of the archives are photographs, newspaper clippings, programs, etc. and are organized as follows:

In addition to these materials, there are separate collections, found in Room 213, of photographs, programs from College events, clippings, files on PC students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and publications.

There is an additional section of the archives that contains materials related to Presbyterian College, but not produced by the various offices listed above. At the moment collections in this section include sermons and papers of William Plumer Jacobs and his father, Ferdinand Jacobs; Mrs. Brown's World War II "Bee-Mail"; materials on Thornwell Orphanage; materials on Davison McDowell Douglas; information on the attempt to move the location of Presbyterian College from Clinton in 1905; materials on Clinton/Laurens County. These items are shelved in Room 212. All material in the archives and special collections are accessable during archive hours. For access during other times, check at the circulation desk on the main floor.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH RESOURCES


The Thomason Library, and particularly the Special Collections area, contains a quantity of information on the Presbyterian Church, both nationwide and in South Carolina. In addition to scholarly works and general histories, the library has ministerial directories, a large number of individual congregational histories, and minutes of the General Assembly. Also available are a number of early Presbyterian periodicals, including the "Southern Presbyterian," "The Presbyterian Quarterly," and the "Southern Presbyterian Review." Information on all of these materials can be found in THOMCAT, the Library's online catalog. In addition to these cataloged materials, the Special Collections area also contains minutes from a number of the synods and presbyteries connected to the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina.

Additional sources of information on the history of the Presbyterian Church are:

The Presbyterian Historical Society
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia PA 19147-1516
Telephone (215) 627-1852
Fax (215) 627-0509
Website: http://www.libertynet.org/pacscl/phs/ (under construction)
E-mail: preshist@shrsys.hslc.org

Regional Office:
P.O. Box 849, Montreat, NC 28757
Telephone (828) 669-7061
Fax (828) 669-5369
E-mail: pcusadoh@montreat.edu

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