The Magazine of the College of Charleston Friends of the Library
DISCOVERY
Fall 2026
1 Dear Friends
2 Welcoming New Faculty
Professors Make Their Mark with Book Fund
4 Building Digital, Archival Research Skills
for Timeless Storytelling
Graduate Assistant Shares Stories of Those Often
Overlooked
7 Preserving the Untold Lowcountry
Training the Next Generation of Story Keepers
9 The Art of Disagreement:
Ross Douthat Makes the Case for Keeping the
Conversation Going
10 ANNalog
Addlestone’s Ann Baldwin Charts Library’s Past, Future
12 Canvas and Country:
George Washington’s Wartime Tent and the First Oval
Office
14 Charleston Jews in the
Revolutionary War
America’s First Great Oral History Project
17 Roots & Rememberance
From Myrtle Beach to Medieval Spain, New Treasures
at the Jewish Heritage Collection
20 Living Legacy
Once a School and Cornerstone, Now a Vibrant
Archive and Hub
26 Bound in Danger:
Tracing a Toxic Legacy Hidden in the Stacks
28 USPS Reveals Phillis Wheatley Stamp
at Avery Research Center
Postage Stamp Honors Formerly Enslaved Poet of the
American Revolution
30 LUXE Cafe
The Tea on CofC Libraries’ Latest Pop-Up
32 In Memoriam: Officer Paul Washington
Addlestone Library Celebrates the Life of Its Guardian
Discovery is published by the
College of Charleston Friends of the Library.
Editor: Vincent Fraley
Assistant Editor: Ann Q. Baldwin ‘90
Art Director: Melissa Petersen
Words and Images
Ann Q. Baldwin ‘90 • Kip Bulwinkle ‘04
Catie Cleveland • Samantha Connors ’04
Max Daniel • Vincent Fraley • Darcie Goodwin
George Johnson • Mike Ledford
Reese Moore • Ugochi Mercy Udochu ’26
Rebecca Woodruff
Friends of the Library Board
Marlene Addlestone-Bursten ’64 • Ann Apple
Rachel Barnett, Vice Chair
David Cohen • Kevin Eberle
Debra Gammons ’87 • Kimberly Gleason ’06
Victoria Hyder ’22 • George Hynd
Mark Moore • Anne Olsen
Stephen Osborne ’73, Board Chair
Marguerite Palmer • Daniel Ravenel ’72
Ellis Regenbogen • Anatoli Semenoff
Karey Wilson ’04 • John Winthrop ’22
Contents
Fall
2026
College of Charleston Libraries 1
Dear Friends,
It is my pleasure to introduce the latest issue of the College Libraries’
magazine, Discovery, a publication that spotlights a range of initiatives
that reflect both our deep roots and our forward momentum. You will
learn how dedicated professors are making their mark through generous
contributions to our book funds, and explore Ann Baldwin’s thoughtful
reminisces in ANNalog.
This issue also invites you to step inside The First Oval Office Project,
where history comes alive in the very tent where pivotal decisions were
made. You will discover compelling stories from America’s first great oral
history project and the powerful new treasures in the Jewish Heritage
Collection, spanning from Myrtle Beach to medieval Spain. At the Avery
Research Center, we celebrate the USPS’ unveiling of the Phillis Wheatley
stamp, honoring the voice of a formerly enslaved poet who helped shape
the ideals of the American Revolution.
Throughout these pages, you will see how our graduate assistants and emerging scholars are building digital
and archival research skills to preserve the untold stories of the Lowcountry. We also remember the life of Paul
Washington, our beloved and recently passed Public Safety Officer. These stories showcase the dedication of
our faculty, staff and students as they train the next generation of researchers and ensure that our region’s history
remains a living dialogue.
Your generous support as Friends makes all this possible. On behalf of our entire community, thank you for
keeping the College Libraries as the heart of our campus.
We are deeply grateful for your partnership.
John W. White ‘99, Ph.D.
Dean of College Libraries
The College Libraries stand as a beacon of scholarship. We preserve history, champion new technology and
serve as the region’s foremost research hub. Your commitment to the Friends of the Library empowers every
student, faculty member and scholar. The Friends ensure access to critical services on campus and in the
community. Your gift supports all the Libraries’ work—from the SC LGBTQ+ Collection and the Avery Research
Center to the Jewish Heritage Collection and Lowcountry Digital Library. Learn more at give.cofc.edu/library.
2 College of Charleston Libraries
The College Libraries’ faculty and staff are committed to expanding the resources available to our
community and ensuring our collections reflect all those we serve. Thanks to the generosity of
Librarian Emerita Katina Strauch and former Friends of the Library Board member James Breeden,
a $4,000 fund is reserved exclusively for new faculty to select books and DVDs. We want new
professors to feel right at home in the Libraries. With the New Faculty Fund, we invite professors
within their first three years of service at the College to identify new titles to be added to our
permanent circulating collection. Highlighted here is a sample of new books accessioned recently,
demonstrating the breadth and depth of scholarship and curiosity our new faculty bring to campus.
Welcoming New Faculty
College of Charleston Libraries 3
4 College of Charleston Libraries
A
Although Kayla Blanchard ‘26
attended high school in Charleston,
it wasn’t until she came on a tour
as an undergraduate history major
at Queens University in Charlotte,
North Carolina, that she learned
about the slave market located in
downtown Charleston and saw the
fingerprints of enslaved children in
the bricks around the city.
“I remember the feeling of being
somber and crying,” says Blanchard.
“It made me think about the
willpower and self-determination
of the enslaved community
because there is a big silence. I was
disappointed I hadn’t learned more
about their history when I was in
high school and made it my mission
to study more about the state so
I can share their story and spread
awareness.”
With that mission in mind, Blanchard
decided to pursue a master of arts in
history at the College of Charleston.
As a first-generation university
student covering expenses on her
own, she was grateful for the financial
support she received through the
Karen Chambers Fellowship and
graduate assistantships.
Her first year, Blanchard won
one of the competitive graduate
assistantships with the Lowcountry
Digital History Initiative. Now in her
second year, she has continued her
work with LDHI.
At LDHI, Blanchard began working
on a project that brought her full
circle: the digital exhibit by her
Queens University undergraduate
professor and mentor, Caroline
Grego. Based off Grego’s book,
Hurricane Jim Crow: How the Great
Sea Island Storm of 1893 Shaped the
Lowcountry South, the exhibit tells
the story of Sea Island communities’
recovery efforts after a devastating
hurricane.
The exhibit was the biggest mapping
project the LDHI − which relies
on graduate students to build out
features like the map − has ever taken
on. For Grego’s exhibit, Blanchard did
the lion’s share of the calculations and
data analysis and helped build out
each map point. She also painstakingly
conducted image research and then
drafted layout options for images and
text.
“Kayla worked hard to ensure the
exhibit is accessible and approachable,”
says Leah Worthington, digital projects
librarian at the Marlene and Nathan
Addlestone Library. “We used the data
sets she created, including the number
Building Digital,
Archival Research Skills
for Timeless Storytelling
Graduate student Kayla Blanchard has had two graduate assistantships at the
College that have strengthened her skills and her desire to share the stories
of people who have often been overlooked.
BY DARCIE GOODWIN
College of Charleston Libraries 5
Blanchard completed her M.A. in history this spring.
6 College of Charleston Libraries
of houses and miles of roads and
flood-prevention drainage ditches
rebuilt, to demonstrate the results
of the labor of the community –
definitely not typical historian’s
work.”
“It’s always cool to see students
stretch their brain in a new direction,
to think about how quantifying a
community’s labor can increase a
story’s impact on the public,” she
adds. “Kayla tapped into how to
use data to present the power and
strength of Sea Island communities
in a way that captures a deep sense
of historical empathy.”
Sharing the story of how the Sea
Islands communities rebuilt after the
1893 hurricane through technology
fed into Blanchard’s desire for
people to see the full picture.
“Kayla’s openness and drive led to
a lot of growth in her technical and
research skills,” says Worthington.
“She has a whole new way of sharing
history that is real-world applicable
and will certainly open up career
opportunities.”
To build her skills further, Blanchard
began working as a graduate
assistant at the College of Charleston
Avery Research Center for African
American History and Culture.
There − under the mentorship of
Ashley Dennis, assistant professor
of history − she is conducting
archival research for an exhibit that
commemorates the Avery’s 40th
anniversary.
The exhibit will be both physical and
digital – and the work on the physical
exhibit is opening Blanchard up
to a whole new way of sharing
information with the public.
“Kayla is working on two very
different projects for her graduate
assistantships − one archival and one
digital − in two separate spaces of
the College,” says Dennis. “It’s rare to
operate in that capacity, but − given
her expertise in African American
history and her knowledge of Avery
− she was the logical graduate
assistant for the project.”
In addition to her work with the
Libraries, Blanchard has expanded
her ability to share stories by getting
certified as an interpretive guide
through the National Association for
Interpretation and joining the Black
and Brown Interpreters Network.
BBIN was founded by Erica Veal,
project archivist and interpretation
specialist at the Avery Research
Center.
Using her experience as an
interpretive guide, Blanchard wrote
a tour for the Seashore Farmers
Lodge Museum and Cultural Center
focusing on the African American
perspective for her Introduction to
Public History class.
Blanchard’s network of people −
particularly from the Department
of History and the Libraries − who
share her passion for telling the story
of Africa and African Americans in
the Lowcountry, combined with the
technical expertise she has acquired
at the College, provide her with
a solid foundation for sharing the
stories of a people in history who
have often been overlooked or
ignored.
While a graduate assistant, Blanchard worked on an exhibit
commemorating the Avery Research Center’s 40th anniversary.
College of Charleston Libraries 7
T
The College of Charleston Library is more than an
academic resource for students; it is also an archival
database and advocate for underrepresented
communities of the Lowcountry. Valuing the
preservation of Charleston history, the College of
Charleston established the Lowcountry Oral History
Initiative in 2023. With extensive experience as an
oral historian, Alexis Johnson joined the College that
year to serve as a faculty member and community
oral history project coordinator of the Lowcountry
Oral History Initiative (LOHI).
“After receiving my masters in Pan-African Studies
from the University of Louisville, I began training for
my Ph.D. in social foundations of education with a
special focus on African American and intellectual
history and education at the University of Virginia,”
says Johnson. “Throughout my Ph.D. program, I
served as a co-principal investigator of the National
Park Service’s Carter G. Woodson Home National
Historic Site Ethnographic Resource Study, and I was
the associate director of the teachers in Movement
Oral History Project at the University of Virginia.”
As a founding member of LOHI, Johnson has seen
the initiative flourish over the past three years. This
would not have happened without the generous
contribution of $150,000 from the Gaylord
and Dorothy Donelly Foundation through their
Broadening Narrative Initiative.
The Broadening Narrative Initiative fits perfectly
with LOHI’s mission of sharing stories that have
never been told or have been told incompletely or
inaccurately.
“College of Charleston Libraries provided a
hybrid position that allowed me to continue doing
my scholarship but also allowed me to use my
administrative skills,” says Johnson. “I was interested
in the position of Community Oral History Project
Coordinator for LOHI because as a Black woman
in the South I believe that there is no reason that
communities should not be able to tell their own
stories. What brought me to the Lowcountry Oral
History Initiative is the Library’s dedication to ensuring
that underrepresented people in Charleston have
Preserving
the Untold
Lowcountry
Training the Next Generation
of Story Keepers
BY UGOCHI MERCY UDOCHU ’26
Alexis Johnson joined the College Libraries in 2024 and
received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
8 College of Charleston Libraries
financial and technological support to control their
own narratives.”
As the community oral history and project coordinator,
Johnson leads the community oral history training
program through which local communities and
organizations receive the information and resources
necessary to conduct oral history projects. The fall
training typically takes place virtually in the months of
September, October and November. The first training
session is on project design, where rising historians
decide which people they will interview and construct
their administrative teams.
The second training session is about interviewing.
Trainees learn how to conduct background research
and formulate interview questions. The final fall training
session is on oral history ethics.
“When discussing our training process, inquirers often
ask why ethics are so important when conducting
oral history interviews, especially if the interviewer
is from the same community as those who are being
interviewed,” says Johnson. “It is still easy to conduct
unethical work pertaining to oral history regardless
of the origin of those involved. It’s important to keep
discussions honest, compensate the person being
interviewed for their time and be as non-exploitative as
possible.”
At the end of fall training, there is an opportunity to
attend an in-person training event in which trainees can
work personally with archivists from Avery Research
Center for African American History and Culture and
the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library’s Special
Collections to gain hands-on training in archival
research and data collection. Training resumes in the
spring beginning in February. The February session
continues training on conducting oral history. In March,
trainees learn about transcript writing, processing
metadata and abstracts. Lastly, in April, trainees are
educated on the different avenues they can take to
share their data. Upon completion of the training,
community oral historians can donate their data to an
archive, publish their data on a website or even steward
their collection themselves.
“One of the most exciting parts of training is that not only
does the Lowcountry Oral History Initiative provide a
$5,000 stipend for these rising community oral historians,
but we also have field kit day in which we provide field kits
for the trainees and train them on using voice recording
equipment,” says Johnson.
The field kit consists of a bag and audio recorder. There
are also some amenities like pencils, notebooks, stickers,
hygiene supplies and thank you cards or gifts for the
people being interviewed. Luckily with a stipend, the oral
historians can purchase other equipment that they feel
would make their interviews successful.
Johnson is currently in the middle of her second cohort
of trainees and will welcome a third for the 2026-27
academic year. After training two cohorts, one may ask
what motivates Johnson to continue working with the
Lowcountry Oral History Initiative.
“Working with LOHI allows me to contribute to the
Charleston community,” says Johnson. “Working as a
faculty member and a community oral history project
coordinator can be tiring but being able to aid African
American settlement communities in protecting their
property and history feeds my soul. Additionally, the
library allows me to further develop my skills on the
more technical aspects of oral history such as processing
collections, generating the transcripts of interviews and
writing metadata. These are some of the biggest roles that
I have at the library.”
Thanks to the hard work of Johnson and the network
of communities that Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly
Foundation’s Broadening Narratives Initiative provided,
LOHI has been a success since its formation. The
Lowcountry Oral History Initiative taught cohorts of
aspiring African American community oral historians
how to control their own narratives and use their own
platforms to aid in the protection of their communities.
In anticipation of the 2026-27 cohort, Johnson and the
College of Charleston hope to connect with more rising
oral historians to promote public access to the stories of
diverse Charleston populations.
College of Charleston Libraries 9
I
The Art of
Disagreement:
Ross Douthat Makes the
Case for Keeping the
Conversation Going
BY VINCENT FRALEY
irreversible estrangement between members of our
body politic,” says John W. White ‘99, dean of the
College Libraries. “We hope the campus community
and the Charleston public will join us in conversation to
explore whether the tools of civil discourse remain able
to heal our fractured society.”
The evening event will feature a moderated
conversation between Douthat and Michael
Lee, the Civility Initiative’s director and professor
of communications. The audience will have an
opportunity to ask questions of both speakers during
a Q&A, with a reception to follow.
Ross Douthat has been an op-ed columnist at The
New York Times since 2009, joining the paper as its
youngest-ever columnist and becoming a leading
conservative voice writing for and in conversation with
a predominantly liberal readership. In July 2026, it
was announced that Douthat will join 60 Minutes as a
correspondent, bringing his distinctive perspective to
the iconic newsmagazine’s next chapter.
Douthat is the author of: "Believe Why Everyone
Should Be Religious,” “The Deep Places,” “The
Decadent Society,” “Bad Religion,” and “To Change
the Church,” widely discussed books that explore
faith, culture, politics and the shared challenges facing
American society. He co-authored “Grand New Party,”
a book widely credited with anticipating the rise of
conservative populism and sparking debate across the
political spectrum about the future of the American
working class.
What: In Conversation with Ross Douthat
When: Thursday, September 10, 2026
7:00 p.m. (moderated discussion)
8:00 p.m. (event reception)
Where: School of the Arts Simons Recital Hall located
at 54 St Philip St., Charleston, SC 29401
Registration: Tickets will be available for purchase
via the George Street Box Office at cofc.evenue.net.
As Friends of the Library, we invite you to use the code
FRIENDS to receive a general admission ticket for $19,
including fees.
In an era of division, is it still possible to find common
ground? Have our rival perceptions of reality made such
a search futile? When we are divided not just by policy but
by fundamental tribal identities, what does it actually take
to foster a healthy debate that doesn’t collapse into mutual
contempt?
The College of Charleston Friends of the Library and the
College of Charleston Civility Initiative will explore those
very questions and more during a September 10, 2026,
public event featuring The New York Times columnist —
and newly announced 60 Minutes correspondent — Ross
Douthat.
“As we begin the fall semester and head toward the U.S.
midterms in November, we couldn’t be more excited
to welcome someone with Ross’ experience and talent
bridging what many fear to be the growing and perhaps
10 College of Charleston Libraries
A
After watching my mother, an RN
who returned to school to earn a
degree in business administration,
cross the Cistern on Mother’s Day
in 1980, I knew that the College
of Charleston was a very special
place. Ten years later, I crossed
the Cistern with the class of 1990,
sans trees that had been knocked
down by Hurricane Hugo at the
beginning of my senior year. Thirty
years later, I watched the younger
of my two College of Charleston
alumni children, my daughter, cross
the Cistern on TV in a mask with the
class of 2020. I am grateful to have
the memory of that sight. I was also
grateful to see my son cross the
stage in TD Arena in 2017 in one of
only three graduations in history to
be moved from the Cistern for rain.
Four graduations, all very different
but all with the same spirit.
In 2021, I returned to the College
in yet a new role − employee. I am
the office manager of Addlestone
Library, and every day, as I walk to
the library, I feel grateful to work at
the beautiful College, a place that
holds so many memories from so
many years and different phases of
my life.
As we bring spring 2026 to a close,
here are some of my observations
and experiences:
Two of our Addlestone librarians,
Elena Rodriguez and Mary Jo
Fairchild, and Professor Scott
Peeples invited me to participate
in an Alumni Panel for their First
Year Experience Class (FYE):
Hidden Histories of the College of
Charleston. The discussion panel
was supposed to take place in a
class of about 50 FYE students. The
day turned into a snow day, so we
pivoted to a Zoom discussion, which
was probably the first thing all three
panelists acknowledged − Zoom
Meetings were non-existent during
our different times at the College.
My fellow panelists, the legendary
Otto German, class of 1976, and
the Executive Director of Graduate
Admissions and Marketing Seaton
Brown, class of 2009, joined me
in describing our different eras at
the College. Their experiences,
along with my class of 1990
experience, really developed into an
unexpectedly fascinating discussion
for all of us − panelists, professors
and students.
Otto German described a time of
breaking barriers at the College.
He was one of a handful of Black
students to enroll at the College
in 1969, when the College almost
ceased to exist. German credits
President Ted Stern with saving the
College of Charleston by making
the step to become public.
German detailed a time when the
College had only 445 students and
spanned just a half-block. (Just for
comparison, Addlestone Library
alone spans a whole city block now.)
German said his goal was to get a
quality education, and his ticket to
accomplishing that goal came in the
form of an offer from CofC basketball
coach Fred Daniels, whom he credits
with breaking barriers during the
Civil Rights Movement by inviting
him to play for the College of
Charleston.
German spoke about the key figures
who influenced him throughout his
life. He named four men whom he
referred to as the Four Horsemen of
the College of Charleston, because
they embraced integration. The
four men were Ted Stern, Willard
Silcox, Fred Daniels and Tony Meyer.
German also noted the impact
ANNalog
BY ANN Q. BALDWIN ‘90
Ann Q. Baldwin ’90 at
commencement.
College of Charleston Libraries 11
Professor Harry Freeman made on
his life.
Not surprisingly, some of the
same names that influenced him
were figures that Seaton Brown
mentioned, and figures I remember
from my time and my children’s
times here as members of the
Student Alumni Associates. Names
such as Tony Meyer, class of 1949,
and Karen Jones, class of 1974, were
alumni who influenced generations
of students for decades. My son
Cullen was a Tony Meyer Scholar.
Tony Meyer was a mentor to Cullen,
just as German described his own
relationship with Meyer. Professor
Harry Freeman gave the address
at my graduation in 1990. He was
retiring, and during my graduation,
the Harry Freeman Scholarship
was announced. Little did I know
that, 30 years later, my daughter,
Anna Katherine Baldwin Malone,
would graduate as a Harry Freeman
Scholar. He was long gone by the
time she arrived, but I was able to
tell her that I used to see him every
day, walking across campus in his
white lab coat and bow tie, the same
description German had given.
Seaton Brown, class of 2009,
described a time of Palm Pilots,
Blackberries and the advent of social
media. He talked about MySpace
and the dawning of Facebook. As
he started his freshman year in 2005,
Brown recalled, “‘The’ Facebook had
just started that year. The College of
Charleston’s version of it was called
CofC Chaz, and you had to have
an .edu email address to get on it.
Students were allowed one photo
on a page.” Also in 2005, Brown
recalled, the Stern Center reopened,
the Beatty School of Business
opened and Addlestone Library
opened.
Brown shared one of his favorite
memories that occurred right here
in Addlestone Library, a flash rave,
a story that has become part of
Addlestone’s lore. Flash mobs were
a popular part of the culture at the
time, so CofC students organized
one at Addlestone Library. Lights
were flashed, and music was played.
Papers were thrown from every
level of the rotunda. Sounds like an
amazing time, but as a current library
staff member, I should probably add
that this event should remain library
lore and should not be repeated.
Representing the class of 1990,
I shared that the experience that
stuck out the most from my era was
Hurricane Hugo. We were just about
three weeks into my senior year when
Hugo slammed into Charleston as a
Category 4 hurricane. Charleston
truly looked like a post-apocalyptic
war zone with treelines completely
razed. Trees along I-26 looked like
piles of matchsticks. We were under
curfew for weeks, enforced by the
National Guard with guns stationed
all over Charleston. Of the 26
deaths, two of them were men in the
neighborhood I grew up in, fathers
of lifelong childhood friends, one of
the friends a fellow CofC classmate.
That tragic news really did put things
in perspective. A year after Hugo,
Charleston was still recovering, with
many people still displaced from
their homes.
I also mentioned the trees in the
Cistern. We lost almost all of the old
trees during Hurricane Hugo. My
class’ graduation gift to the College
was a tree with a plaque, detailing
that the class of 1990 donated this
tree. It’s amazing to look at the Cistern
yard now. There is no hint that the
most iconic location on campus was
rendered almost treeless 36 years
ago. Even our little tree, donated
in 1990, looks like it was there all
along. We also had graduation,
just as planned, on Mother’s Day
1990. It was just as I remembered
my mother’s graduation a decade
before.
Other things I detailed about my
time here: Our telephone was one
landline shared by all roommates.
Our technology edge was an
answering machine. Our cameras
used film. We went to aerobics at The
Body Firm on King Street, dressed
in leotards, tights and leg warmers.
The campus had one cafeteria and
one laundromat. There was one
restaurant on King Street, Sharky’s
Pizza.
Today’s students do not know a life
before the internet, social media
or cell phones. They are skilled at
things that did not exist during any
of the time periods represented on
the panel. They are the first students
to ponder the ethical use of Artificial
Intelligence and the first to compete
with AI for jobs. The theme that
remains the same, though, is that
the students who choose to attend
the College of Charleston, from near
and far, will get a quality education,
Mr. German’s main reason for
attending the College nearly 60
years ago. Students come from
nearly every part of the globe for that
reason − a quality education. That
well-rounded education develops
the characteristics that all College of
Charleston alumni share, regardless
of the time period − the ability to
adapt and to problem-solve, skills
that prepare graduates not only
for the workforce but also for the
navigation of life’s challenges.
12 College of Charleston Libraries
I
George Washington’s Wartime Tent
and the First Oval Office
In the musical Hamilton, the namesake character sings
about being in “the room where it happened,” referring to
a secret meeting of several Founding Fathers.
From June 12 to June 14, 2026, the College of Charleston
invited the community to venture into the tent where it
happened, with a full-scale replica of General George
Washington’s Revolutionary War tent, the office and
sleeping quarters that he used as the command center of
the Continental Army.
Billed as the First Oval Office Project, the tent was pitched
on Rivers Green and staffed by historical interpreters from
the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia,
who discussed the day-to-day lives of American soldiers
and gave visitors a unique connection to history
throughout the weekend.
The exhibit features treasures drawn from multiple collections, many of
which have never been displayed together.
George Washington’s sleeping quarters
in his replica war tent, which he used
from the winter at Valley Forge to the
British surrender at Yorktown.
Canvas and Country:
BY VINCENT FRALEY
College of Charleston Libraries 13
The tent, equipage and the interpreters in period-accurate
uniforms offered a striking visual that brought the scale
and reality of 18th-century field command to life in a way
readers and viewers will remember.
“This is exactly the kind of experience a library hopes
to create − where something isn’t just read about, but
experienced,” says John White ’99, dean of College of
Charleston Libraries.
“Immersive experiences allow all of us, not just scholars
of early American history, to imagine the lived realities
of our founding generation in ways more tangible than
the written word,” says Sandra Slater, professor of history
and director of the Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic
World program.
As part of the weekend event, the College Libraries
curated a new exhibit, "While I Breathe, I Hope", featuring
items rarely, if ever, on public display. These archival
materials tell the stories of everyday Charlestonians during
the Revolutionary War and explore the legacy of America’s
founding ideals from the perspectives of women, African
Americans, Jewish communities and more.
Drawn from the holdings of the College of Charleston
Special Collections, Avery Research Center for African
American History and Culture and the South Carolina
Historical Society, the exhibit is open for viewing in
Addlestone Library during regular hours.
“The tent represents leadership and decision-making at
the highest level, while the materials in the exhibit reveal
how those same events were experienced by people in
Charleston from all walks of life and backgrounds,” White
says. “Moments like this remind us that history is layered.”
Historical interpreters from the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, clad in period-accurate
uniforms, engaged with guests about day-to-day life during the war.
Sandra Slater, professor of history and director
of the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic
World
program, invites guests to explore the
"
While I
Breathe, I Hope exhibit."
14 College of Charleston Libraries
M
Charleston Jews
in the
Revolutionary War
“America’s First Great
Oral History Project”
BY REBECCA WOODRUFF
May 12, 1780, marked America’s
biggest defeat in the Revolutionary
War as Charleston — one of the
largest and wealthiest cities in the
colonies — surrendered to the British.
In the years leading up to this day,
dozens of Jews in South Carolina
fought for American independence,
including David Nunez Cardozo,
Marks Lazarus, and Gershom Cohen.
While many men, like Cardozo,
sustained lifelong injuries during
the war, most veterans in the South
enlisted in state militia groups,
which were excluded from early
pension legislation. Indeed, while
Continental Line veterans, who
were predominantly from the
North, began receiving disability
pensions as early as 1776, few South
Carolinians received retirement or
disability support until 1832, when
President James Monroe passed
the third of four Revolutionary War
pension acts. Described by the
National Park Service as “America’s
first great oral history project,” the
ensuing pension requests include
documents and testimonies from
the applicants and their family,
friends, and religious leaders. As a
result of this elaborate process, the
National Archives contains millions
of documents detailing the lives of
America’s first veterans. While scans
of the original materials are available
for viewing online, the Archives
is on a mission to transcribe all of
these difficult-to-read handwritten
documents (and they are looking for
volunteers to help accomplish this
monumental task). Among the scans
are more than 130 pages of insight
on Cardozo, Lazarus, and Cohen,
providing a glimpse into three
Benjamin Dores Lazarus, son of Rachel and Marks Lazarus. Special
Collections, College of Charleston Libraries.
College of Charleston Libraries 15
Jewish experiences at the nation’s
founding.
Born in New York to Sephardic Jews,
David Cardozo moved to Charleston
in 1770 and joined the Charleston
Grenadiers under Peter Bocquet
Jr. in 1777. Tasked with throwing
lit gunpowder balls, grenadiers
were often selected for their
height, a characteristic John Cart, a
witness in Cardozo’s pension case,
acknowledged when describing
Cardozo as a “remarkabl[y] tall
Following this success, Cardozo was
promoted to sergeant major and
later served in the Siege of Savannah
in October 1779. Volunteering to
lead the “Forlorn Hope,” or the
deadly frontlines, he suffered a
musket ball to the left leg. His son
Isaac later noted in his mother’s
pension case, that Cardozo “never
to the hour of his death entirely
recovered from the effects of his
wound.”
Charleston, and, having filed a claim
for a Revolutionary War pension,
he received $60 semi-annually,
beginning in 1833. Upon his death
Cardozo was buried at KKBE’s
Coming Street.
Three years before that, Cardozo
served as a witness for fellow
Jewish war veteran, Marks Lazarus.
Much as early pension legislation
demonstrates favorable treatment
towards soldiers in the North, the
pension acts of the early 1800s were
built under the false assumption
that all applicants were members
of a Christian church. Indeed, on
the back of Cardozo’s testimony,
a district court clerk noted, “In
the cases of Mr. Cardozo and the
present applicant [Marks Lazarus],
it was found difficult to obtain
the certificate of a Clergyman as
required — they are both Hebrews.”
Five years later, when both Lazarus
and Cardozo’s widows applied for
their husbands’ remaining pensions
under the Revolutionary War
Pension Act of 1836, the trustees
of the Hebrew Congregation
graciously underscored the frivolity
of this difference, writing that their
“church” records were destroyed in a
fire in 1790, but that they collectively
believed Sarah Cardozo and Rachel
DeTorres Benjamin Lazarus were
“deserving of faith and confidence.”
While still alive, Marks Lazarus
appeared before a district judge and
swore under oath that he was born in
Charleston in 1757 and enrolled as a
volunteer cannoneer under Captain
John Donnell at the beginning of
the war. By 1779, he was stationed
“at the 18 Gun Battery [on Sullivan’s
man.” Later revered in his obituary
as “ripe with honor,” Cardozo was
initially stationed in Savannah and
volunteered alongside an estimated
twenty rebels who seized a British
supply ship.
Testifying under oath, Cardozo later
described sailing down the Savannah
River in a pilot boat with the ebb tide
and anchoring alongside the enemy
on Cockspur Island. Upon boarding
the British ship, he recalled “part of
the volunteers guarded the Mate &
Crew whilst the others went to work,
and by Noon, placed the Powder
Load & Shot safely aboard the Pilot
Boat. We then proceeded with the
Flood Tide up to Savannah, our
Colors flying and Drums beating.”
To the best of his knowledge, the
supplies were sent to Salem and
used to supply the American army
near Boston.
Despite this, Cardozo went on to fight
against the British once more in the
Siege of Charleston and was taken
prisoner upon its fall. As opposed to
many captured soldiers who were
released on parole, Patrick Cantwell,
a magistrate overseeing Cardozo’s
pension case, implied that Cardozo
was exiled to a prison ship before
adding, “The Jews were particularly
obnoxious to the enemy; and none
of the Jews were more faithful to the
Revolution than D. N. Cardoso [sic].”
Following the war, Cardozo married
Sarah Cohen, the granddaughter
of Rabbi Moses Cohen — the
first religious leader of Kahal
Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) — in
1784, and then started a family
in Charleston. Cardozo, whose
household, according to the 1830
census, included the five people he
enslaved, also served as measurer
of salt and coal at the Port of
Among the scans are more than 130 pages of insight on
Cardozo, Lazarus, and Cohen, providing a glimpse into
three Jewish experiences at the nation’s founding.
16 College of Charleston Libraries
Island] and was almost always on
duty, suffering with his comrades the
usual . . . hardships incident to the
life of a soldier.” After the regulars
at Fort Moultrie were redirected
from Sullivan’s Island to Savannah,
Lazarus was promoted to sergeant
major and transferred to the 2nd
Battalion under the command
of Captain Richard Lushington.
Sometime after the regulars
returned to Fort Moultrie, Lazarus
served under future Charleston
mayor John Huger and later fought
in the Siege of Charleston. Despite
his early and prolonged dedication
to the rebel cause, Lazarus swore
allegiance to “his Majesty’s person
and Government” during British
occupation and was released from
prison on parole. By 1790, he had
established a shop at 101 King Street
and enslaved two people. When he
died in 1835, he was receiving a
semi-annual war pension of $28.33
and was described by the writer of
his obituary as “a single-minded and
zealous patriot.”
While Lazarus — and later his
widow — ultimately received federal
assistance after the war, not all
veterans were so fortunate. In fact,
while Cohen’s Revolutionary War
story draws many parallels, it ends
without federal recognition.
In August 1779, Charleston
merchant Gershom Cohen married
Rebecca Sarzedas before serving
under Lushington and fighting in
the Siege of Savannah alongside his
brother-in-law, Dr. David Sarzedas
(1760–1841), the following month.
During Rebecca Cohen’s pension
hearing, Sarzedas recalled arriving
in Beaulieu, Georgia, and marching
toward Savannah: “On my arrival at
that place, I recognized several of
my friends and acquaintances from
Charleston . . . amongst them was
my Brother in Law, Mr. Gershon [sic]
Cohen, who was in action storming
the British lines.” When the rebels
failed to retake the city, Cohen was
sent back to Charleston, where
Rebecca was likely managing their
store in his absence.
After fighting in the Siege of
Charleston in May 1780, Cohen
was imprisoned for 12 months and
then released prior to the British
evacuation in December 1782. At
that time, the patriot legislature
began to enforce the South Carolina
Confiscation Act of 1782, expelling
some 500 loyalists and seizing
their land. According to historian
Rabbi Barnett A. Elzas, Gershom
Cohen was repeatedly called
as a character witness for those
under investigation, describing his
neighbors as “honest” and men of
“good character.”
Even after the war and the
confiscation proceedings, life was
not without hardship. In 1786, a
fire broke out in Gadsden’s Alley
between Broad and Elliott streets,
destroying the Cohens’ livelihood.
Nonetheless, Gershom and
Rebecca rebuilt their lives, and in
the 1790 census, the family, and
the six people they enslaved, were
listed at 22 Church Street. Two
years later, the Cohens oversaw and
advanced significant contributions
to the construction of KKBE’s first
synagogue, which was destroyed in
an 1838 fire.
Upon his death in 1802, Gershom
Cohen was buried in KKBE’s
Coming Street Cemetery, thirty
years before Monroe passed the
third Revolutionary War pension
act. When Rebecca later applied for
her widow’s pension, her claim was
denied. After years spent raising
her children in Charleston and
operating her own store on King
Street, Rebecca died while living
with her son Philip in New York City.
Despite the Cohens’ dedication to
their nation and community, neither
of them received any tangible
acknowledgment from the federal
government.
While the sieges of Savannah and
Charleston feature prominently
in all three of these stories, each
pension application reveals the
singular lived experience of each
veteran with their differing insights
on the war and its aftermath. While
Cardozo and Lazarus only briefly
benefited from Monroe’s pension
acts, and Cohen never lived to see
them, these pension records have
preserved their perspectives — or
the perspectives of their loved ones
— for nearly 200 years. As just three of
the more than 82,000 Revolutionary
War pension stories digitized by the
National Archives, there are many
Jewish viewpoints yet to uncover.
“The Jews were particularly obnoxious to the enemy; and
none of the Jews were more faithful to the Revolution than
D. N. Cardoso [sic].”
College of Charleston Libraries 17
T
Roots &
Remembrance
The Jewish Heritage Collection (JHC) at the College
of Charleston continues to add new collections to its
archives, expanding and deepening our understanding
of South Carolina’s Jewish history. There are many
recent acquisitions worth highlighting and donors
worth thanking, but limited space allows us to mention
only a few.
JHSSC’s most recent meeting inspired many attendees
to donate items highlighting their time in Jewish youth
groups across the state. Mindy Kligman Odle, Mickey
Kronsberg Rosenblum, Diane Barbanel Vickers and
Ellen Feldman Arnovitz each donated scrapbooks and
other materials including photos, newsletters and more
from their time in B’nai B’rith Girls, while Alex Cohen,
Steven Goldberg and Jerry Emanuel offered materials
that enrich our understanding and appreciation for the
AZA boys’ groups. Shortly before his recent passing,
artist Sigmund Abeles, who grew up in Myrtle Beach,
generously sent us additions to his existing collection of
personal and professional papers. The South Caroliniana
Library at USC also holds a substantial collection
donated by him. Connie Aaronson of Maryland, a
descendant of the Mordecai Davis family, entrusted JHC
with a gorgeous, hand-painted genealogical book from
1929 that documents her family’s lineage dating back to
medieval Spain, through the Caribbean, and into South
Carolina and New York.
If you have materials you may be interested
in preserving and making available for future
generations through JHC, contact Dr. Max Daniel at
danielme1@cofc.edu.
From Myrtle Beach to Medieval Spain, recent donations
illuminate South Carolina’s vibrant Jewish past
BY MAX DANIEL
Above: The Jewish Heritage Collection is dedicated to
documenting and preserving over 300 years of southern
Jewish life, with a primary focus on South Carolina.
18 College of Charleston Libraries
The Friends are invited to join the Jewish
Historical Society at their upcoming fall events.
FALL CONFERENCE
“A Portion of the People”:
How a Call for Candlesticks
Ignited a Community
October 24-25, 2026
Charleston, SC
St. George Rosenwald
School Exhibit
November 22, 2026
2:00-5:00 P.M.
St. George, SC
To learn more about both events, please visit jhssc.org.
To RSVP, write to jhssc2020@gmail.com.
College of Charleston Libraries 19
The College of Charleston Friends of the Library and the Mroz
Global Leadership Institute are excited to announce Anne
Applebaum as the 2027 Winthrop Roundtable honored guest.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, journalist and The Atlantic magazine essayist Anne
Applebaum will draw upon her years of international reporting and historical
research to share her perspective on the far-reaching implications of today’s volatile
world events. She will be joined in conversation with Max Kovalov, Bennett Director of
the Mroz Global Leadership Institute.
Applebaum is a Senior Fellow at the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and
former Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at the London School
of Economics. She attended Yale University and was a Marshall Scholar at the London
School of Economics and St. Antony’s College, Oxford.
Started in 1989 as a small gathering hosted by philanthropists John and Libby
Winthrop, the Winthrop Roundtable has become the College of Charleston’s seminal
gathering during the spring semester with luminaries from near and far convening in
the Carolina Lowcountry to discuss solutions to some of the region’s — and world’s —
most pressing challenges.
Tickets will be available later this fall.
The 2027 Winthrop
Roundtable
January 29, 2027
Marlene and Nathan
Addlestone Library
6:00 p.m.
20 College of Charleston Libraries
F
Living Legacy
Once a school and cornerstone of the community, the Avery
Research Center now serves as a vibrant archive, museum and
cultural hub preserving the Lowcountry’s ties to the African
diaspora.
BY SAMANTHA CONNORS ’16
Fingerprint-sized holes dimple
the rough surfaces of copper-
red bricks in the walls of the
Avery Research Center for African
American History and Culture’s
third-floor auditorium. A typical
characteristic of 19th-century bricks
in the Lowcountry, these marks are
signatures of the creators, who
were often enslaved people prior to
emancipation.
For 158 years, these bricks have
held the story and structure of Avery,
established in 1865 as the Avery
Normal Institute, the first accredited
school for Black Charlestonians.
“It’s a story I usually tell when we look
at the building,” says Tamara Butler,
the center’s executive director. “It’s
quite liberating when you look at the
artifacts that we have here to think of
what people survived and desired
more. We had just gotten out of the
institution of slavery, and we saw the
best way to make our mark in this
world was through education.”
Now part of the College of
Charleston’s library system, the
Avery student posed in a flowerbed near a building on Avery’s campus.
College of Charleston Libraries 21
Avery Research Center preserves and
promotes the histories and cultures
of the African diaspora. And much of
the original structure and founding
mission remains. An archive, library,
museum and community hub, Avery
embodies the pursuit of knowledge
and education.
“Thinking about all the folks who
walked through this building with
the dream of educating a new
American citizenry gets me every
single time,” says Butler, “because
they came with all this intelligence
and technology, and they decided
to use that ingenuity to put into a
building that’s still here.”
Many prominent figures passed
through Avery over the years,
including T. McCants Stewarts,
a South Carolina educator and
attorney who later served as a
Supreme Court justice in Liberia;
Septima Clark, a well-known
educator and Civil Rights advocate;
Arthur J. Clement Jr., Charleston
NAACP president; and John Henry
McCray, an activist, politician and
journalist.
The archives house the stories of
prominent Averyites and other
important leaders, including Clark,
her cousin Bernice Robinson and
Esau Jenkins who established
Citizenship Schools on Johns Island
to expand Black voter education.
“I think what makes Avery so unique is
that this is literally hands-on history,”
says Butler. “I’m not talking about
replicas; you can put your hands on
things that are older than you. It’s the
idea that Langston Hughes breathed
on this sheet of paper, or Septima
Clark wrote in this notebook. It gives
me chills because I’m touching
things from people I only know of in
books, but these items actually lived
in their hands and homes. I think that
moves people.”
This remarkably rich collection
continues to evolve as people
donate new material, adding layers
to a living record of community
history.
“People may think they do not have
anything to donate to an archive, but
we all have archives,” says Georgette
Mayo, Avery’s processing archivist.
“It’s the things that people take for
granted. If you have a hobby in which
you collect and organize objects,
that’s your archive!”
“I think what makes Avery
so unique is that this is
literally hands-on history.
I’m not talking about
replicas; you can put your
hands on things that are
older than you.”
– Tamara Butler,
Executive Director of the Avery
Research Center
Mayo wants to expand people’s
concept of archival material to
encourage more donations, as
they are within Avery’s collection
development policy and mission,
and creative use of the Research
Center’s resources.
“I love seeing how our archives are
being used,” she says. “Researchers
always surprise me when they come
into the Reading Room with their
topics.”
Preserving Perspectives
As part of Avery’s mission, the Avery
Institute of Afro-American History and
Culture, a nonprofit that supports
the Research Center’s mission,
embarked on a documentary project
to steward the stories of Avery
students and graduates.
Avery Institute board member
Gwendy Harris and President Tony
Bell ’91 teamed up to locate and
document these stories. Bell is
also working on a documentary
with Avery project director DaNia
Childress about Avery’s directors
over the years.
“For so many people, Avery meant
the difference between what the
future would be for them. This was a
really pivotal point of people’s lives,”
says Harris.
The Avery Normal Institute was
founded in 1865 by abolitionist
group the American Missionary
Association as part of a nationwide
effort to establish schools for African
Americans after emancipation,
though some early Averyites and
their families were free people of
color before the Civil War.
The current location on Bull Street
was secured as a permanent place
for the school in 1867. AMA funded
the school until 1945, when it
became Avery High School as part
of the public school system.
Through its first 80 years, Avery
taught various grade levels − at
times supporting elementary
through secondary with an optional
additional year of teacher training,
known as “normal training.” It served
22 College of Charleston Libraries
as a high school once merged with
the public school system. The city
closed the school in 1954, after
Brown v. Board of Education, the
Supreme Court case that reversed
the separate but equal doctrine.
Retired College of Charleston political
science professor Marguerite Archie-
Hudson, a graduate of the 1954 class,
participated in the documentary,
sharing fond memories of her
experience.
“The curriculum at that school was
just astounding,” she says. “Their
intention was, when you leave Avery,
you should be able to go any place
that you want.”
For Archie-Hudson, this led to a life
of education and public service.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in
psychology from Talladega College,
a master’s degree in education and
counseling from Harvard University
and a Ph.D. in higher education
administration from the University of
California, Los Angeles.
After graduating from UCLA, she
served in the California State
Assembly from 1990 to 1996,
chairing the Assembly Committee
on Higher Education. In 1998, she
became president of Talladega
College; she was the first female
president in the school’s 134-year
history and first African American
woman to lead a university in
Alabama.
Reputation for
Greatness
Renowned for its academic
excellence, Avery created a pipeline
of highly educated teachers. Many
students who opted for normal
training later taught future Avery
students in rural areas, including
Sugar Hill Elementary on Yonges
Island, where Archie-Hudson
attended primary school.
“The teachers and administrators at
Avery were always extremely well-
educated,” says Archie-Hudson. “It
meant several things for us. One is
that we got to see people we never
would have seen. Langston Hughes
came and gave a lecture and read
one of his poems.”
Students received rich instruction in
college preparatory classes, classical
studies like Latin, vocational training
and a highly touted music program
along with theater and choral clubs.
Archie-Hudson also reminisced
about happenings in the auditorium,
where plays, musical events and
school dances were often held.
“We had to build sets for whatever
we wanted to have: a ballroom, park,
circus, whatever the theme was,”
she says. “We were one of the few
schools that got to do that.”
“The curriculum at that
school was just astounding.
Their intention was, when
you leave Avery, you should
be able to go any place that
you want.”
– Marguerite Archie-Hudson ’54
The Avery instilled a strong sense of
pride and fellowship in its students,
which radiated into the wider
community.
“They had a tremendous music
program,” says Harris. “Their
graduation was a big performance,
and so people, even if they didn’t
have kids graduating, came because
it was a major community event, and
they wanted their kids to participate.”
For many, the school’s closing in
1954 was devastating.
“The classes behind us, of course,
were heartbroken, because it was
their school,” says Archie-Hudson.
“Some people had been there since
elementary school.”
Living Connections
After it closed, the building served
as Trident Technical College’s Palmer
Campus from 1955 through the late
1970s. In 1978, the Avery Institute
nonprofit was formed, led by Avery
graduate (and state legislator)
Lucille S. Whipper, and established
a partnership with the College
of Charleston to open the Avery
Research Center in 1990.
“We’re teaching people not just
about African American history but
that our history is included when
people learn about the classics,”
says Butler. “Our history can be
curriculum that we use to teach and
learn.”
The Avery Research Center
encourages faculty in every
discipline to utilize the center’s rich
collections to enhance and deepen
students’ learning. The center is also
available to students for research,
tours and more.
“My time at Avery taught me that it
doesn’t matter who you are, what
College of Charleston Libraries 23
Top: Students gather in front of the Avery in 1920.
Right: Three Avery students posing on one leg in 1920.
Left: Septima P. Clark at her retirement party.
24 College of Charleston Libraries
your occupation is or what you
study, Black history will always be
part of our history,” says Patricia
Washington ’25, who worked at the
Avery as an undergraduate assistant
while earning a bachelor’s degree in
accounting from the College.
Professors teaching everything from
undergrad courses in English and
political science to graduate-level
public history courses have used
Avery’s resources.
“Students come in, and they get to
look at and touch shrimp nets that
were handwoven on Johns Island
in the ’60s, or they get to put their
hands on carvings from Guinea
that were brought here in the ’80s
or ’90s,” says Butler. This tactile
learning fosters a deeper, more
empathetic understanding of history,
transforming abstract concepts into
living connections.
Avery’s archival materials offer
intimate glimpses into local and
national history. The Craft and Crum
family collection, for example, traces
the journey of formerly enslaved
abolitionists William and Ellen Craft,
whose living descendants continue
to visit and enrich the archive with
new material.
“Our mission is to cultivate, so we
really like to think about building
community, giving community
members tools they would need
to preserve their own communities
and collect stories from their own
communities as well,” says Butler.
Other items, like, "Ain’t You Got a
Right to the Tree of Life?" a book
filled with photographs of Johns
Islanders
from the late 1800s through 1960s,
have helped recover names and
stories. For visitors with ties to the
area, flipping through its pages can
be a powerful experience as they
recognize people in the photos and
connect with the community’s shared
history.
“It’s a hard job, but a deeply fulfilling
one because I’m home,” says Butler,
who is from Johns Island. “My impact
is at home. These are people I know.
They trust me, so it just means a lot to
me that I get to lead this place.”
Many items in the archives prompt
emotional responses in visitors, says
Butler, including yearbooks, where
people often find friends and family
members, and the 19th-century
classroom replica, which evokes
memories and invites reflection.
“Everything stems from the archives,”
says Mayo. “It branches out into our
museum, our beautiful auditorium
where we do cultural programming,
not only for College of Charleston
students, alumni, etc., but for the
general public. And it’s free. It’s a
wonderful resource.”
Mayo views archival work as a way
to educate outside a traditional
classroom. This approach extends
into community programs and
offerings, including the Dr. Conseula
Francis Reading Circle, which Mayo
facilitates.
Open to students, faculty, staff
and community members, this
monthly book discussion honors
the late Conseula Francis, associate
provost and professor of English
and African American Studies. The
Reading Circle celebrates its 10-year
anniversary in 2026.
Other Avery community events
include lectures, the annual Avery
Family Reunion, Southern Sonics and
more. Through all its iterations, Avery
continues to play an essential role in
the community.
“The Avery is where I found my
people,” says Washington, “a
community that believed in me,
supported me and helped me grow
not just as a student but as a person.
Being part of this space has shown
me what it means to belong to
something meaningful.”
Expanding the Vision
The Avery has accomplished a lot in
its 40 years as a research center and
160 years as an educational space,
but Butler sees even more ahead.
She envisions Avery as the go-to
place to learn about the African
diaspora on this side of the Atlantic.
And she hopes to expand what Avery
can offer visitors and students.
Revitalizing the two-story building
next to Avery, which used to house
teachers, she says could lead to a
residency for scholars, researchers
and artists who want to stay on the
grounds.
“Having them right here in the heart
of it, I think changes the way people
work, write and create,” she says.
“Archives aren’t just what’s in the box.
It’s the people – librarians, archivists,
curators, artists, researchers – who
make sense of those stories. That’s
what makes the boxes valuable.”
College of Charleston Libraries 25
Top: Marguerite Archie-Hudson ’54. Photo by Kip Bulwinkle ’04.
Middle: Archivist Georgette Mayo. Photo by Kip Bulwinkle ’04.
Bottom: Executive Director Tamara Butler. Photo by Kip Bulwinkle ’04.
The chance to engage with a space
so layered in history offers a unique
lens for reflection and creative
inquiry.
“There’s this really beautiful photo
in the archives of a young lady
standing in the garden,” she says. “I
look at it and wonder what if an artist
saw that? Would they try to recreate
the garden? Would they just want to
take in the space?”
She also wants to continue building
students’ connections to the
Caribbean and West Africa through
opportunities to research and study
abroad.
“I hope we can start sending
students back into the diaspora,
so they can think about what the
archives are doing in London. What
are the archives doing in South
Africa? How can we help those in
Barbados? Because we already
know what’s possible. We’ve seen it
in South Carolina. How can we now
help these other communities?”
For many students, the resources at
Avery have already launched them
on a lifelong journey of discovery
and purpose.
“Avery’s legacy lives in the people
they have helped,” says Washington.
“It’s a place that has always poured
into me, believed in me and
reminded me that history is living.”
26 College of Charleston Libraries
D
Bound in Danger:
During the 19th century, a vivid emerald
green became a popular and irresistible
color for fashionable Victorians. It appeared
everywhere — in textiles, popular clothing,
wallpapers and bookbindings — signaling
modern taste and luxury while slowly
endangering those who came into contact
with it. Unknown to most at the time, many
of these brilliant greens were created using
arsenic-based pigments.
One of the most famous and widely
speculated examples of the effects of
high arsenic exposure was Napoleon
Bonaparte, who covered much of his home
with green wallpaper. After his death, high
levels of arsenic were found in his hair,
leading some historians to believe that the
prolonged exposure to the wallpaper may
have contributed to his declining health.
Arsenic poisoning eventually became a
well-documented problem in the Victorian
Era, causing symptoms such as hair loss,
headaches, vomiting, changes in skin
pigmentation, paralysis and other serious
complications.
As demand for printed books increased,
Victorian printers shifted from leather to
cloth bindings to reduce printing costs, and
many books were bound with hazardous
pigmentation materials such as arsenic,
mercury and lead.
In 2019, the University of Delaware launched
the Poison Book Project to identify, catalog
Tracing a Toxic Legacy Hidden in the Stacks
BY VICTORIA DONOFRIO ‘24
Out of 40,000 rare books and pamphlets in Special Collections,
seven matches have been identified so far.
College of Charleston Libraries 27
and track books bound with toxic materials. This
project has raised awareness among readers, libraries
and archives to examine books on their shelves for
arsenic and other harmful chemicals. Through the
Poison Book Project’s Arsenical Books Database,
individuals and institutions can cross-reference their
holdings to identify titles suspected of containing
toxic pigments.
To fully confirm that these materials are present, the
suspected books must undergo scientific testing,
typically by X-ray fluorescence, or an assessment
by an Industrial Hygiene or Environmental Testing
Laboratory. For an institution’s book to be officially
added to the Poison Book Project’s database, it is
required to go through the testing process to confirm
the presence of hazardous materials. For individuals
without access to testing, the project also offers
arsenic color-matching bookmarks as a visual tool to
help identify potentially toxic bindings.
With over 40,000 rare books and pamphlets, it was
likely that Special Collections at the College of
Charleston housed at least one poisonous book.
By cross-referencing titles from the Poison Book
Project’s database with our discovery system, we
identified seven matches so far. While these books
are not immediately dangerous, as brief handling
of a poison book does not pose a risk unless there
is prolonged or repeated contact, we still took the
appropriate steps to ensure the safety of our staff and
visiting researchers. The books were removed from
the shelves while wearing nitrile gloves, rehoused in
zip-top polyethylene bags and stored in a restricted-
access area to limit unnecessary contacts. These
materials remain available for research and public
use, provided they are handled properly and under
the supervision of Special Collections staff.
Although these books have not yet been tested
by X-ray fluorescence or by lab analysis, Special
Collections plans to pursue confirmation through
scientific testing when feasible and to submit the
confirmed arsenical bindings to the Poison Book
Project’s database. By participating in this ongoing
effort, we hope to support research and contribute
to the University of Delaware’s efforts surrounding
poison books.
With the shift from leather to cloth bindings, many books
were bound with hazardous pigmentation materials.
Unknown to most at the time, many of these brilliant
greens were created using arsenic-based pigments.
28 College of Charleston Libraries
USPS Reveals
Phillis Wheatley Stamp
at Avery Research Center
Formerly Enslaved Poet of the American
Revolution was the first African American author
of a published book of poetry.
BY GEORGE JOHNSON
College of Charleston Libraries 29
R
Residents in the South Carolina
Lowcountry celebrated the unveiling
of the United States Postal Service’s
newest postage stamp, which
features the late Phillis Wheatley,
a formerly enslaved poet of the
American Revolution who was the
first African American author of a
published book of poetry.
The free event took place at 11
a.m. on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, at the
Avery Research Center for African
American History and Culture on the
College of Charleston’s downtown
campus. In addition to the Avery
Research Center event, South
Carolina entities with connections
to Phillis Wheatley celebrated at
two other virtual press conferences
across the state.
The Avery Research Center’s ties
with Wheatley were established
in 1916 when the Phillis Wheatley
Literary and Social Club was formed
under the direction of Jeannette
Cox, wife of Avery Normal Institute
principal Benjamin Cox. The club,
consisting of 19 women, met and
discussed the works of Wheatley,
W.E.B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson
and others. Known as one of the first
Black women’s clubs in Charleston, it
was a space for discussions on social
issues and provided community
service opportunities throughout
Charleston. And now, 110 years
later, the club is still active and
continues to serve Jenkins Youth
and Family Village (formerly Jenkins
Orphanage), the Lowcountry Food
Bank and Charleston Development
Academy.
“We are honored to continue and
preserve the legacy established by
our charter members by providing
love, care and concern for our
community while emulating Ms.
Wheatley’s remarkable cultural and
civic-minded spirit on which the club
was founded,” says club member
Tammy McCottry, whose aunt, the
late Cynthia McCottry-Smith was
one of the longest serving members
in the club when she passed away
on Jan. 15, 2025. Currently, DeLaris
Risher is the oldest serving member
and serves as the club’s president.
The celebration included citations
from the city, county and statehouse
presented by Rep. Courtney Waters
(S.C. House 113).
Tamara Butler, executive director
of the Avery Research Center, says
Wheatley’s work had tremendous
influence on the Lowcountry.
“As the stewards of the Phillis
Wheatley Literary and Social Club
Papers, the Avery Research Center
team is excited to see Ms. Wheatley’s
life honored at the federal level,”
says Butler, noting that the Avery’s
research room is named after the
social club. “Guests are welcomed
by a 1950 and 2004 photograph of
club members. Inside the reading
room, a painting of Ms. Wheatley
penning poetry reminds students,
staff and visiting researchers of the
power of study and introspection
—all while inviting them to think
creatively and critically with the
archival materials they are viewing.”
The event was part of the Avery
Research Center’s 160th anniversary
celebration. Founded in 1865 as
the Avery Normal Institute, this
community hub advocated for
Charleston’s African American
community and trained Black
Charlestonians for professional
careers and leadership roles.
Although the institute closed
its doors in 1954, its graduates
preserved the legacy of their alma
mater by establishing the Avery
Institute of Afro-American History
& Culture (a 501c3 organization
that supports that Avery Research
Center).
For the last 30 years, the Avery
Research Center has collected
art and archival materials that
document the history, traditions and
legacies of African Americans and
their influence on American society
and culture, as well as their place
within the American narrative.
Opposite: Phillis Wheatley Literary
and Social Club in 1949. From the
Avery Research Center for African
American History and Culture.
Known as one of the first Black women’s clubs in
Charleston, it was a space for discussions on social issues
and provided community service opportunities throughout
Charleston.
30 College of Charleston Libraries
I
LUXE
Cafe
The Tea on
CofC Libraries’
Latest Pop-Up
BY ANN Q. BALDWIN ‘90
In the everchanging world of
libraries, from card catalogs and
physical books, to the digital age
with eBooks, databases and Internet
search engines, to the unknown
Artificial Intelligence changes,
which seem to grow exponentially
by the day, the quest for libraries to
redefine themselves is neverending.
Behind all library reinventions is the
librarian, a professional whose role
is to deliver information and help
patrons acquire information. All the
while, librarians must keep up with a
world that is changing so quickly that
an early career librarian has already
seen his or her job description
change, perhaps several times.
At the College of Charleston’s
Addlestone Library, faculty
librarian and User Experience and
Engagement Coordinator Amanda
Kraft, came up with a way to give the
people what they want, or at least
find out what they want. That’s the
first step.
Kraft searched for ways to find out
what College of Charleston students
most want from their library. The
answer came in what is cleverly
called LUXE (Library User Experience
(UX) and Engagement) Cafe.
Kraft explains, “LUXE Café is a
pop-up, tabling event designed
to help students get involved with
shaping library resources, services,
and spaces. More specifically,
in exchange for free snacks and
beverages, library faculty and staff
running the table act as roving
researchers, asking library users to
spend five to ten minutes answering
usability questions, completing
monitored tasks, or getting a quick
refresher on library basics.”
The idea, according to Kraft, is one
that has been modeled at several
institutions, such as North Carolina
State University Libraries’ Tiny
Café, “which borrowed it from the
University of Arizona Libraries, which
borrowed it from the University of
Houston Libraries, and the Penn
State University Libraries’ UX Café,”
Kraft says. Although none of the
aforementioned institutions had
as catchy of a title as College of
Charleston’s LUXE Cafe, the ultimate
goal of each institution was to find
out students’ opinions on what they
would like to see offered in their
institutions’ libraries.
To find what CofC students
most want, Kraft explains, “Every
semester, a cross-unit team of library
faculty and staff collaboratively
conducts research to understand
and improve users’ experiences as
they engage with library resources,
services and spaces in person and
online. The team works together
to collect, analyze, and document
data to evaluate library operations,
understand library staff and user
needs and preferences, and lead
innovative initiatives to create
welcoming library environments in
fulfillment of the Libraries’ and the
College’s strategic plans.”
Kraft and her team took what they
learned and concluded, “Cross-
cutting themes from 2024-2025
included student unawareness of,
and self-reported anxiety about,
library resources, services, and
spaces, and an expressed lack
of clarity/consistency on library
policies, so in addition to better,
more student-centered signage,
LUXE Café is sort of a prototype of
an idea that we had to inform and
regularly engage with students in a
more casual way.”
The goals for LUXE Cafe’s first year,
the 2025-2026 academic year,
according to Kraft, were simple:
“Just to give it a try! Then, assess
and adjust. That’s always the goal,
especially with prototypes. I was also
on a mission to make it easy for the
team to continue doing UX work in
my absence. I knew I would be on
academic sabbatical in 2025-2026,
and I wanted everyone to have a
uniform, streamlined way of doing
the work while I was gone.”
On academic sabbatical, Kraft left
the user experience (UX) research in
Access & Instruction Specialist Luke
Neubecker researched student
preferences during a recent LUXE
Cafe pop-up.
College of Charleston Libraries 31
the very capable hands of Head of
Research Services Elena Rodriguez
and staffers Laura Cergol, student
employee specialist, and Luke
Neubecker, access and instruction
specialist. Rodriguez reported,
“We offered 10 Cafes in the fall
semester, and asked students about
book stack signage, loaner laptops,
and information stations and
promoted our Library User Survey.
We also promoted our Point of
Need Instruction services, research
appointments or asking questions
at the Access and Instruction Desk,
during finals week.” At each session,
an average number of 30 students
visited LUXE Cafe, which was
stationed on the first floor, either
near the Rotunda or near the John
Rivers Communication Museum.
The times and days of the pop-up
style LUXE Cafe are varied on
purpose. Rodriguez explains, “There
isn’t a set schedule because it’s
very dependent on when we want
to conduct UX research or testing,
and we also want to make sure
we engage with different student
populations as much as we can,
like morning versus evening users.
However, it’s typically offered on a
Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.”
The pop-up event is announced
by the student organization Library
Student Ambassadors (LSA) through
social media.
Access and Instruction Specialist Luke
Neubecker shared, “I conducted two
LUXE Cafes this fall. The first was used
to gather information about printing
at the library — what do students do
when they need help with printing?
The second allowed me to gather
additional feedback about my UX
project from the spring, entitled ‘Book
Stacks Signage’. I asked students if
they would prefer subject signs added
to the book stacks, which currently
only have call numbers listed.”
Student Employee Specialist Laura
Cergol highlighted perhaps the
session with the highest participation
as she reported, “When we had our
Reading Day session to offer end-
of-semester support last fall, 40
students stopped by during the two
hours we were open, and a lot of
them said they were grateful for the
free snacks, drinks and stress relief
during finals! We were also able to
point them to library and Center
for Student Learning resources, so
I’d say that was a really successful
session.”
Cergol also gave us the tea on what
drinks are most popular. Cergol
shared, “The coffee is a big draw
of course, but we also have snacks
and tea. We have individual packs of
regular sugar, various sweeteners,
and plain and French vanilla creamer.
We do have hot tea! I’ve been
surprised by how popular the tea
has been, actually. We get a variety
pack so there are plenty of flavor
options for low- or no caffeine.”
With the ongoing worries about
whether Artificial Intelligence will
drastically change the libraries of
our future, the College of Charleston
Libraries have a secret tool that AI
cannot replicate − a team of humans
with an interest in our students’
ongoing library experiences, an
emphasis on listening to their input
and a commitment to make our
students’ needs our priority.
Access Services Manager Will Breard (l) and Head of Research and
Instruction Services Elena Rodriguez (r) ready the Keurig for students.
The LUXE Cafe allows for students to
offer feedback about library services
and resources and to make lasting
changes to Addlestone Library.
32 College of Charleston Libraries
F
In Memoriam:
Officer Paul Washington
BY ANN Q. BALDWIN ‘90
Faculty, staff and students returned to campus after the
2025 Thanksgiving break to discover a hole right in the
heart of the Addlestone Library. A fixture of comfort and
security was gone. The very sad news quickly spread that
Officer Paul Washington, Addlestone’s beloved security
officer of 16 years, died unexpectedly over the holiday
weekend, doing what he loved best, spending time with
his family. While the thought of his last hours spent with
family provided a small comfort to his campus family,
the realization landed hard that never again would
Library coworkers, Public Safety coworkers, students and
patrons of the Library enter or leave Addlestone Library
without seeing Officer Washington’s smiling face.
In a campuswide announcement, Ed Pope, vice president
of Human Resources, passed along the difficult news
that Officer Washington passed away suddenly on
November 29, 2025, and shared some details about
his connection with the College and his life before the
College. Pope stated, “Paul served as a State Security
Officer in the Department of Public Safety since 2009
and was responsible for security in Addlestone Library.
Prior to joining the College’s Public Safety team, Paul had
a long career as a soldier and senior non-commissioned
officer in the US Army.”
Officer Washington was well known on campus and
even had two campus families as a member of the
Department of Public Safety and as the gentle guardian
of Addlestone Library. Ed Pope included the comments
of Public Safety Chief Searson and Dean of College of
Charleston Libraries John White in his announcement to
the College. Chief Searson stated, “State Security Officer
Paul Washington truly embodied our departmental
motto of ‘service above self’ as he spent his life in the
service of others. Paul served his country faithfully in the
US Army for 28 years before joining our Public Safety
Team in 2009, where he served our campus community
for the past 16 years. His quiet demeanor and big smile
will surely be missed by us all.” Dean White expressed,
“Everyone in the library adored Paul. We really did think
of him as one of us. We’re all heartbroken at his loss.”
Prior to Covid, Officer Washington could often be found
at the helm of the grill at Library cookouts, events which
bring back fond memories from longtime Addlestone
employees. Access Services Manager Will Breard
recounts, “I’ll always remember Officer Washington’s
warm smile at the BBQ grill during Public Safety or
Library Cookouts. These weren’t just any cookouts; they
Washington’s warm smile, sincerity and prowess at the
grill are — and will remain — legendary.
College of Charleston Libraries 33
were a big production! He’d arrive early with the grill,
cooking all day with the perfect technique — low and
slow. Everything he made was delicious. No matter the
event, he’d invite everyone with a smile to join in the fun.
He was truly a grill master!”
Along with Dean White, some Addlestone staff worked
with Officer Washington for the entire 16 years he was
here. Shirley Roberts remembers, “I’ve worked with
Officer Paul for 16 years in the Addlestone Library.
Officer Washington struck me as an impressive balance
between being a beloved coworker and ensuring the
safety of everyone in Addlestone Library and across
campus. I will remember him most for his big smile,
kind words, and genuine sincerity. He will remain in our
hearts and memories forever.”
Perhaps one of his closest coworkers was Officer Greg
Palmer, who continues to sit at the security desk the two
men once shared. Officer Palmer shared, “I’ll always
remember how protective Officer Washington was of
the students and staff. His gregarious personality and
personable interactions were infectious. Maintaining
order and security, while building lifetime bonds was a
superpower of his that will forever leave a void to those
who had the privilege to be in his presence.”
Head of Access Services Brandon Lewter expressed,
“I first met Paul when I started working at Addlestone
Library in 2012. He always made me feel so welcome and
safe in the library. And I always appreciated the insight
he would give about topics surrounding library security.
He was always so observant which helped me feel even
safer in the building,” adding that, “He had a special way
of enforcing library rules and expectations in a way that
would always deescalate potentially volatile situations.
His dedication to the safety of the students and staff at
the library was unparalleled and never compromised.”
Head of Research and Instruction Services Elena
Rodriguez’s comment demonstrates how personable
Officer Washington was to everyone at Addlestone
as she shared, “Paul was a familiar and friendly face at
Addlestone Library. He was quick with a joke or a smile,
but his presence also meant feeling safe and secure.
More recently he would slide me a handful of chocolates
he knew I liked whenever he saw me, but not without
some good natured ribbing that always made me laugh.
Conversations with him as I left the library always put a
smile on my face. He will be deeply missed by me and
all who knew him.”
Librarian Kayla Kipps offered, “I will miss getting to see
Officer Paul’s kind smile every day at the library, and
will dearly miss getting to wave goodbye each day and
having him check to make sure we’ve got our phone,
wallet and keys before heading out to the parking
garage.”
Recent graduate, Nicole Bravo-Giubao ‘26, remembers,
“From a student’s perspective, I remember Officer
Washington as someone who was just really kind and
easy to talk to. I always enjoyed my interactions with him,
even if they were short. He would check in on me, ask
how I was doing, it felt like he actually cared. He was
always positive, and something as simple as his smile
could make your day a little better. He made people feel
seen, and that’s what I’ll remember most about him.”
College of Charleston alumnus, former library student
employee, and current Friends of the Library Board
member Tori Hyder shared, “Just heard of Officer
Washington’s passing. I dropped by the library today
and was disappointed I didn’t see him. I’m so sorry to
hear about his passing. He brightened my day every
time I saw him.”
Executive Director of Avery Research Center Tamara
Butler, perhaps, summed up the overriding feelings
the best when she expressed, “Mr. Washington was
always a bright smile and warm welcoming presence
at Addlestone. While he is missed, we continue to
remember his joy and honor his legacy.”
Officer Paul Washington, the security officer always
wearing a smile, will never be forgotten. His lasting
impact and presence will continue to live in our hearts.
“Maintaining order and security, while
building lifetime bonds was a superpower of
his that will forever leave a void to those who
had the privilege to be in his presence.”
- Officer Greg Palmer
library.charleston.edu • 843.953.8000 • 205 Calhoun St., Charleston, SC 29401
