University of South Carolina Libraries

06/19/2026

When was the last time a photograph changed the way you see history?

This Juneteenth, University of South Carolina Libraries released more than 5,000 images from Columbia photographer Richard Samuel Roberts, capturing Black life in South Carolina during the early 20th century.

The images are stunning. The stories are even more powerful.

On this Juneteenth, we honor that legacy — and the generations of Gamecock alumni who carry it forward.

Read more and view the full Roberts collection at https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/exhibits_events_news/news/2026/new_digitized_photo_collection.php

06/16/2026

“We didn’t take this black guy who was running for student body president out, we took our campaign out,” says Walker. “And we began to see the stickers we gave out on books and saw a lot of students were carrying them, not just black students but white students too. And white students were saying they wanted to work on the campaign because of the proposed strategies.”

Meet Harry Walker, first Black student body president at the University of South Carolina. When Walker first started at Carolina in 1968, the student body was made up of about 14,000 students. Out of that 14,000, only a little over 300 were Black. In Walker’s class, there were only about 70. Learn more about Walker, his time at USC, and the Civil Rights work he continues to do during his retirement on our blog!

https://digital.library.sc.edu/blogs/caroliniana/2026/06/09/a-conversation-with-uscs-first-black-student-body-president/

06/11/2026

Mark your calendars! We are hosting another open gallery for our "Echoes of Independence" exhibit!

Join University Libraries on July 11th from 10am to 2pm for an open house for the "Echoes of Independence: 250 Years of Revolution and Memorialization" exhibit celebrating America's 250th. Dr. Michael Weisenburg, Director of Rare Books and Special Collections and curator of the exhibit, will be there to answer questions and guide people through the exhibit. Come see items like Francis Marion's muster roll, 1st edition of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and more!

06/10/2026

We had a great time hosting the Ann Pamela Cunningham Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution today for a tour of our exhibit, "Echoes of Independence: 250 Years of Revolution and Memorialization"!

They even had the chance to look through some DAR scrapbooks that we hold in our collections at the South Caroliniana Library! Ann Pamela Cunningham is featured in our exhibit, as she was a South Carolinian who started the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association which preserves and maintains George Washington's Mount Vernon.

The exhibit is open to the public Monday - Friday from 9am to 4pm. Come see it for yourself as we gear up to celebrate the 250th!

06/03/2026

We’re proud to have received a lot of praise from faculty and students for the work we do to support them, and we’re grateful for the feedback that will help us become even better at our core mission of fostering innovative, inclusive learning and world-class research by connecting people, comprehensive information resources and expert services at the point of need.

https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/exhibits_events_news/news/2026/high_satisfaction_with_libraries_in_recent_surveys.php

05/27/2026

“It’s one thing to be able to get a two-dimensional paper with your ancestry on it, but it is another thing completely to be able to see your family members in photographs like these,” says Judge Roberts. “You can see the clothes they wore which could signal where they were employed, or what they did for a living. These kinds of revelations infuse people with a greater sense of self.” - Judge Richard Warren Roberts

Check out the new Richard Samuel Roberts Digital Collection!
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/exhibits_events_news/news/2026/new_digitized_photo_collection.php

05/27/2026

05/21/2026

Andrea L'Hommedieu, Head of Oral History at the South Caroliniana Library, collaborated with the South Carolina Honors College this Spring to teach “Oral History Meets Pop Culture”, a class that invited students to gain hands-on oral history skills while analyzing and learning about the history of comic books.

Students got the opportunity to learn about the process by which oral histories are created, as well as the importance of oral history when it comes to the historic record, all while exploring their own interests in the special collections’ holdings. They then got the opportunity to present their finals projects to the community.
Learn more about the class at the link below!

https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/exhibits_events_news/news/2026/collecting_comic_book_history.php?fbclid=IwY2xjawR7-DhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFrUU9SOENpYk5QZmRRdldnc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtRIQ95Vf9nJ-sqxdS2enmGeNbCRusU7nkpkZBe5RRb092lAKSFuM23ppuEA_aem_JjOs7JysFirwtbnnnfjjkw

05/19/2026

05/18/2026

Moving Image Research Collections' Marine Corps Film Repository team took a field trip out to the airport to see one of only two B-29 Superfortresses still flying. Many of these bombers used Iwo Jima as an emergency airfield when returning from missions over Japanese home islands, instances of which we have on film in our Marine Corps Film Repository.

Want to see the planes in action? Check out the link to the film below!

https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/MarineCorps/id/2286/rec/1

Pictured in front of the bomber, "Fifi," Brittany Braddock, Sam Heidenreich, Jack Porter, and Greg Wilsbacher.