Nancy Ann Ciehanski Papers, 1969-2001, Bulk 1980-1984, Finding Aid

Nancy Ann Ciehanski (1930 – 2007), a Hilton Head Island resident from 1979 to 1999, served her community during the critical transition of the area from an unincorporated portion of Beaufort County into an incorporated municipality in 1983. Her papers document the political landscape of Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County leading up to the first municipal elections of the Town government, 1980-1984. She was most involved with the Beaufort County Joint Planning Commission (JPC), the Water and Sewer Utility, League of Women Voters and the Hilton Head Island Town Council . She was the first mayor pro tempore of the Town of Hilton Head Island. Her personal interests included women's rights, sustainable land development, and environmental conservation. Posted: 15 March 2023

Madame Murray Sketches Collection, 1862 – 1867, Finding Aid

Ellen Murray's widowed mother, Harriot Despard Murray (c1800 - 1867) made sketches of local sites located on St. Helena and Lady's Islands during the Civil War. Madame Murray would visit her daughter who taught alongside and lived with Laura Towne near Penn School. Posted: 13 March 2023

Ellen Augusta Chapman Crofut Diaries, 1874-1881, 1885-1905 Finding Aid

Ellen Augusta Chapman Crofut (Mrs. James M. Crofut) kept a daily diary for most of her adult life. She took note of the weather, family news, and social affairs particularly with extended members of the Onthank Family and at the St. Helena Episcopal Church in Beaufort, SC. Created: 31 January 2023

Sue M. Capehart Collection of Piano Sheet Music, 1846-1868 Finding Aid

Music was particularly important to the people of mid-nineteenth century America. Sales of sheet music were immensely profitable for the many publishing houses, North and South. When war came, the soldiers and the ones they left behind at home had a shared musical foundation of sentimental songs, ballads, comic songs, operatic and patriotic tunes. The Capehart Collection includes 57 examples of popular sheet music for piano including some rare Confederate imprints. Created: 25 January 2023

Byrne Miller Papers, 1932-2003, Bulk 1969-1995 Finding Aid

Byrne Miller came to Beaufort, South Carolina in 1969 and immediately enhanced the community with her love of modern dance and the joy she found in teaching dance. The bulk of the collection directly relates to her dance activities and contribution to the arts. Her papers indicate her involvement as a caregiver to family members with mental illness, the tragic death of an adult child, and the ravages of Alzheimer Disease which led her to participate in and become an advocate for experimental medical treatments for that disease. Latest update: 17 November 2022; Posted: 17 November 2022