|
S.C. Digital Library receives grant |
|
|
|
Tuesday, 02 December 2008 |
SCBIZ Daily Staff
COLUMBIA -- The S.C. Digital Library, an online collection of South Carolina’s rare documents and artifacts, has received $42,000 in federal funding to support the preservation of cultural heritage materials.
This is the fifth year of this funding. in which $169,053 was received in federal funding.
Directed by University of South Carolina librarian Kate Boyd, the library is coordinated by the Partnership for South Carolina Academic Libraries, which comprises university and public libraries in the state.
The funding will go toward equipment and staffing at Coastal Carolina University, Clemson University, University of South Carolina and College of Charleston libraries, all of which contribute to the digital library project.
More than 55 collections from 10 different institutions, including six universities and colleges and four public libraries, can be searched on the project Web site. They include Clemson; the College of Charleston; USC campuses in Columbia, Aiken, Lancaster and Beaufort; and county libraries in Richland, Beaufort, Greenville and Georgetown counties.
In 2007, nearly 14,000 items representing the history of South Carolina were added, including photographs, maps, manuscripts, books, sound recordings and objects.
Among them are Phosphate, Farms, & Family: The Donner Collection, which chronicles life in rural Beaufort County near the turn of the century.
Created by Conrad Munro Donner, the collection includes more than 500 photographs from two family albums.
The University of South Carolina Beaufort Library’s collection, Collected Civil War Papers of Colonel Benjamin Franklin Eshleman, features the mementos of a former commander of the Washington Artillery battalion. Greenville County Library System’s additions include a collection of S.C. postcards from the early 20th century and a store ledger dating to the 1790s.
To access the items in the collections, one can search or browse by collection, institution, county, region, name, timeline or format.
The digital collection offers a unique new window on S.C. history, Boyd said.
“We hope everyone will visit the Web site to learn more about the history of our state and spend time studying, reading or just looking at original documents from South Carolina’s colorful history.”
The federal funds come via the federal Library Services and Technology Act grant. Funds are administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the S.C. State Library.
|
