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
Amalia Pugh Scrapbook: Beaufort, S.C. Now and Then, 2002 Finding Aid
Former Beaufort County Library employee Maisie Pugh compiled a homage to her adopted hometown of Beaufort, SC with photocopies of postcard and photographic images and brief historical texts. Posted: 23 February 2023
Onthank Letters, 1912 – 1915, Finding Aid
Mae Onthank of Seabrook, SC wrote letters to her fiancee, Billy MacLeod of Lynchburg, Virginia chronicling her life, activities, and plans for their wedding in June 1915. Latest update: 7 February 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
Dorothy Sterling Letters, 1955-1956 Finding Aid
Author Dorothy Sterling corresponded with the staff at the Beaufort Township Library as she was researching the life of Robert Smalls for a biography in the mid-1950s. This small archival collection consists of 7 letters and research notes. Latest revision: 26 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
Beaufort National Cemetery Monument Sketch, 1868, Finding Aid
Mrs. Potter's Memorial Monument and tablet at the Beaufort National Cemetery honors the Union soldiers who died in a Charleston area Confederate prison camp during the Civil War. Created: 27 October 2022
Jean Ribaut & Charlesfort
Jean Ribaut built the First Protestant settlement in the New World in Beaufort District. Learn more about the European competition for property and wealth in 1562. Latest update: 6 May 2022; Created: 12 November 2008.