It is wise to acquaint yourself with any repository which you might visit by writing to the appropriate archive or library in advance. Every repository has published materials that introduce its collections and research policy. State archives and historical agencies also have Internet sites that provide the same information. Some even have downloadable databases for some or parts of their collections.
South Carolina State Library, 1500 Senate Street, PO Box 11469;
Columbia, South Carolina 29211
Voice: (803) 734-8666,
Fax: (803) 734-8676,
Ref/Interlibrary Loan,
Fax: (803) 734-4757
South Carolina Department of Archives and History
8301 Parklane Road; Columbia, SC 29223-4905; Tel: (803) 896-6100, Fax: (803) 896-6198 The Reference Room staff will provide information about charges for copies and schedule for receiving copies. Self-service copying is available. Inquiries must be made in person or by telephone.
The Reference Room is open Monday - Friday, 8:45 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. daily.
South Carolina Methodist Conference Archives Sandor Teszler Library; Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina 29301
"Genealogists are generally positive and energetic, and most are ready to share their findings or research experience with anyone they can help. There are hundreds of genealogical societies at the grass-roots level. Knowledge of the genealogical community will place you in the midst of much activity, increase your productivity, and alert you to the importance of research standards and etiquette." Sandra Hargreaves Luebking,
Editor of FGS Forum, Co-editor of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
Because family history research relies greatly upon records found at the county level, many local societies represent counties. Organizations also form around shared interests. Ethnic or religious origins account for many groups, such as the Polish Genealogical Society of America and P.O.I.N.T. (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together). Societies also form around common locales of origin for members’ ancestors; hence, the Palatines to America and Germans from Russia societies. To locate these and other societies, consult Juliana Szucs Smith’s The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book. It lists addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and Internet addresses of thousands of organizations throughout the United States.
For almost every state there is a state genealogical society, a state genealogical council, or both. In addition to their own work, state-level groups sometimes help coordinate the efforts of local societies within the state. Their publications, newsletters and quarterlies, supplement those produced by the local societies.
Like most other states, South Carolina historical and genealogical organizations publish excellent periodicals including , , and T. Two important private publications are and . The South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the FHL have these and other periodicals pertaining to South Carolina genealogy.. [ see specific county page for individual county list ]
South Carolina's newspaper history began with the publication of the first issue of the South Carolina Gazette in 1732. The largest collection of South Carolina newspapers is found at the South Caroliniana Library; the Charleston Library Society and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History have slightly smaller collections (see Archives, Libraries, and Societies for addresses).
Newspapers are an important source of South Carolina vital records because marriage and death notices appeared in most newspapers. Newspaper extracts have been regularly published in The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research and South Carolina Historical Magazine. Dozens of published books of newspaper extracts are available. A bibliography is found in George K. Schweitzer, South Carolina Genealogical Research, (Knoxville, Tenn.: the author, 1985): 114–19.
While records of birth, marriage, and death are the most commonly sought and the most consistently helpful records, only the genealogist’s imagination and resourcefulness limit newspapers’ usefulness in supplying clues about historical events, local history, probate court and legal notices, real estate transactions, political biographies, announcements, notices of new and terminated partnerships, business advertisements, and notices for settling debts.
Newspapers can provide at least a partial substitute for nonexistent civil records. For example, a person’s obituary may have appeared in a newspaper even when civil death records for that person do not exist. And newspapers are an important source of marriage records, particularly in those states where civil recording of marriages was essentially nonexistent until the twentieth century.
Unlike official records, newspapers are not limited to a particular geographical area. They often include reports of the weddings of local citizens (even those that occurred in a neighboring county or another state), and they sometimes report visits of geographically distant relatives or the visits of former local residents. They often published death notices of individuals who had left the area long before but who still had local family or friends as well. In each case the newspaper account can identify the date and place of an event, thus opening the possibility of turning up additional documentation in other sources.
The first step in searching a newspaper is to identify those which served the area of interest and which have survived. The three most necessary tools are bibliographies (What was published?), inventories of library and depository holdings (Where is it?), and indexes (How do I find what I want in it?).
