Tag Archives | Herb Frazier

Hidden Collections No Longer Hidden!

In 2009, under Principal Investigator Harlan Greene, the Avery Research Center received a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Hidden Collections grant totaling over $200,000 to address the center’s backlog of unprocessed archival collections.  These funds provided staff, equipment, and other resources necessary to complete a variety of projects that have improved access to our diverse archival materials.

Mia Fischer transcribing and editing an oral history.

Mia Fischer transcribed and edited oral histories.

I am happy to report that this project came to its successful completion in June 2011!  Under the CLIR grant, the Archives team was able to process over 400 linear feet of archival material; photograph and digitize Avery’s material culture collection; and transcribe and convert to digital format 35 oral histories.  Collections processed and finding aids encoded with these funds include the papers of renowned anthropologists Joseph A. Towles and Colin Turnbull; local journalist Herb Frazier; civil rights activists James E. Campbell and Bill Saunders; former South Carolina Representative Herbert U. Fielding; psychologist and educator Frederica Daly; and renowned architect Herbert A. DeCosta, Jr.  These and the numerous other collections processed during the project are of considerable research value on both a local and national level.  A full listing of our published finding aids are available from Avery’s website, and the results of the material culture project may be found at the Lowcountry Digital Library’s website.

Melissa Bronheim processing architectural drawings from the H. A. DeCosta Papers.

Melissa Bronheim processed the H. A. DeCosta, Jr. Papers, which included a number of architectural drawings.

I had the fortunate opportunity of being a part of this project in various capacities from start to finish, but the work could not have been completed without our Assistant Archivists and previous Project Archivists, who deserve much more recognition than what I can provide in this blog!  Please join me in congratulating them and the Avery Research Center for the successful completion of a project of incredible scope and size.

Project Archivists:

Jessica Lancia

Amanda T. Ross

Project Assistant Archivists:

 Melissa Bronheim

Rachel Allen

Mia Fischer

Andrew Grimball

Joshua Minor

Project Registrar:

Susan Jacoby

Project Photographer:

Liz Vaughan

Project Cataloguer:

Anne Bennett

 

Thanks again to everyone who made this project possible!

Cainhoy Crossing: An Afternoon Tour of Cainhoy and Daniel Island

Herb Frazier

Herb Frazier speaks to the Cainhoy Crossing tour group. Photo courtesy of Lisa Randle and LOHA.

On Sunday, October 17, 2010, the Lowcountry Oral History Alliance (LOHA) had its first official group outing, a bus tour of the Cainhoy peninsula guided by Herb Frazier.  We all knew that Herb would be a great tour guide, but the depth and scope of his talk was really impressive.  Living in Charleston for over half a decade, I am still constantly learning about the local history.  Daniel Island is a place I admittedly have known little about.  To me, it has always been what you first see when you take the exit from Interstate 526: new homes, a little urban shopping area with restaurants and medical offices, and the sports landmarks, the Family Circle Tennis Center and Blackbaud Soccer Stadium.  The area exudes modern upscale living and deceivingly looks like it has been inhabited for only the last fifteen years or so.

Behind this first impression of Daniel Island, however, is an incredibly deep history.  Concerned about development in the area and its possible contribution to the disappearance of the long-standing African American culture that exists there, the Coastal Community Foundation asked Herb Frazier to research and write on the area in 2004.  Herb began collecting oral histories from the area in 2005, and the result has been a much larger project than originally anticipated.  He has identified about 22 distinct African American communities in the area, while his talk only covered a few of these.

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