Special Collections partners with the Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL) to make digital surrogates of selected manuscripts, images, oral histories, and published resources available to the public while providing tools to browse, search, and analyze these materials online. In addition to providing broader access to these materials, digital collections aid in the preservation of materials by reducing the need for handling the originals. We prioritize collections with highest research value.
As a Lowcountry Digital Library partner, Special Collections is in the company of many other distinguished archives, libraries, and museums in the region. The LCDL serves not only an audience of scholars, but students, educators and other patrons from across the globe. LCDL is harvested and fully searchable within the South Carolina Digital Library and the Digital Public Library of America, which brings our resources to the national and international stage.
In addition to holdings from the College of Charleston's Special Collections, contributions from a wide variety of cultural heritage institutions are available on the Lowcountry Digital Library. Click here to browse holdings from the College of Charleston Special Collections.
Collection Highlights Include:
LGBTQ Life in the Lowcountry Oral Histories
Weston Family Papers, 1764-1855
The Lowcountry Digital Library allows users to browse a wide variety of media types including architectural drawings, audio, books, images, manuscripts, maps, oral histories, pamphlets, periodicals, postcards, sheet music, and videos - from over a dozen cultural heritage institutions throughout the region.
LDHI’s publishes digital exhibits highlighting underrepresented race, class, gender, and labor histories within the Lowcountry region, and in historically interconnected Atlantic World sites. These accessible online exhibits can be viewed anywhere. Highlights include:
A History of Burke High School in Charleston, South Carolina since 1894
A Tribute to Mother Emanuel Church
The Stono Preserve's Changing Landscape
The Pollitzer Family of South Carolina
Nat Fuller's Feast: The Life and Legacy of an Enslaved Cook in Charleston