Monthly Archives: February 2012

Charleston and the Irish

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The Charleston Historical Society will co-sponsor its next lecture at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum at 68 Spring Street on Thursday, March 15, 2012, at 7:00 PM. The lecture, entitled, ” Charleston and Its Irish: Celebrations in the 1890s” will be presented by Stephen J. White, Sr.  It relies on some of his recent research and writings on one of the most vibrant periods of Irish Charlestonians in the late 19th Century. The lecture is free and open to the public.
White has sorted through three decades of records and articles in The News and Courier as in the early years of The Evening Post. In them he has found a vast store of rich accounts of an extraordinary range of public, philanthropic and social activities among close to a dozen Irish societies, clubs, militias, and civic organizations. The major focus in this talk will be how they led all of Charleston in its annual, colorful observances of St. Patrick’s Day. This presentation is part of our current, annual St. Patrick’s Week celebrations.
Stephen Jennings White, Sr. is a native of Charleston whose Irish ancestors emigrated from their homeland to the Holy City five generations past. He attended Cathedral Grammar School on Queen Street and graduated from Bishop England High School in 1971. He earned his BA degree in history and philosophy from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1975. He taught history at the Archibald Rutledge Academy in McClellanville and at Bishop England before entering graduate studies. In 1981 he completed a MA degree in Early America History at the University of Virginia, and then completed all requirements for a PhD except for the dissertation (ABD). In 1995 he received a Masters in Public administration from the College of Charleston/University of South Carolina joint program.
White has taught at the University of Virginia, St. Andrews Academy in Boca Raton, Florida, the College of Charleston, The Citadel, and Trident Technical College locally. He also worked in the Admissions Office and the Office of Academic Advising at the College of Charleston for a half dozen years. In 1999 he founded, and has since served as the Director of, the Charleston Historical Society, and since 2007 he has served as the Executive Director at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum.
White is married to the former Christine Westcott Stewart of Charlottesville, Virginia and they have raised five children on Smith Street in Harleston Village, on the Charleston peninsula.
For more information about this lecture and all future lectures, call Stephen White at the Charleston Historical Society at (843) 723-3398, or at the Karpeles Museum at (843) 853-4651.