Manuscript Society Annual Meeting
Charleston, South Carolina May 18-22, 2016
The 2016 Annual Meeting will be held May 18 to 22, 2016. Based in Charleston South Carolina at the Francis Marion Hotel, our annual meeting will offer the usual variety of excellent manuscript and book collections, sumptuous meals, and scintillating attendees will be featured. Unique to this meeting is the ambiance of a setting that has been a center of important history since Colonial times, and a group of outstanding archivists and historians who will illuminate that history for us.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Our meeting opens with the Wednesday evening reception at our headquarters hotel, with food from a hotel kitchen that will equal the many famed restaurants of Charleston. Attendees will meet and greet new and old friends, only to have to compete with them to win some of the usual array of interesting offerings in our manuscript auction.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Thursday will be centered at the beautiful Addlestone Library of the College of Charleston, a short walk from the Hotel Francis Marion. A seminar in the morning will start with Dr. Nicholas Butler of the Charleston County Public Library discussing Charleston’s Colonial and Revolutionary history. A native of South Carolina, he was chosen a year ago to present this history to Society of Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. “Nic” is very enthused to recap this history to “the Society of Collectors of Signers” (that would be us). Perhaps we will have a pool to guess how many of our attendees own all 4 South Carolina Signers.
The next speaker will cover events of the War Between the States in the Lowcountry. George Loud, a retired lawyer, now lives in Hilton Head and, as a docent at the Coastal Discovery Museum gives lectures on the War regularly. His talk includes discussion of the War’s beginning, the history of the Savannah- Charleston Railroad, the coastal blockade, the success of the Union Army and the occupation of Hilton Head and Beaufort. An interesting point was the inability of Union forces to destroy the Railroad despite their superior numbers.
The seminars final speaker will be Harlan Greene, archivist of the Addlestone Library, a novelist and historian, author of Renaissance in Charleston: Art and Life in the Carolina Low Country. Greene will detail the rather profound cultural changes right up to current times which make Charleston such an interesting place, and of course, a leading travel destination.
Later Thursday afternoon we have carriages and guides waiting to take us about downtown Charleston to see some of the sites whose history was discussed. Thursday evening is free to enjoy one of the fine Charleston restaurants. Be sure to make advanced reservations the more famous ones.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Friday’s schedule includes a morning at the Charleston Library Society, with its extensive book and manuscripts collections in an elegant 260 year old building. Documents include letters of George Washington, Declaration signer Charles Pinckney, Revolutionary War officer Francis Marion, and Porgy and Bess author DeBose Heyward.
Afternoon venues include the Waring Historical Library at the Medical University of South Carolina and the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Both are venerable institutions which will show us documents and artifacts that differ uniquely from those we have become accustomed to at our meetings.
Friday evening we have been invited to a reception at the home of Jim and Gloria Hayes. Jim, a long time manuscript dealer and expert on the War Between the States, its events and personalities has been a supporter of the Manuscript Society for many years, and his large eclectic stock is likely to be thinned a bit by our autograph enthusiasts.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Saturday morning tours include the Charleston Museum with, among other things highlights an exhibit of the Native American culture of the Lowcountry as well as interesting Carolina related archives, and the Confederate Museum with material of the War.
Saturday afternoon is open for exploration of Charleston and its Harbor on your own.
Saturday evening’s Banquet will be at the Francis Marion Hotel.
Sunday, May 22, 2016 (Additional Add-On Day)
Sunday will see us spending the day along the Ashley River at the Magnolia and Middleton Plantations. It will be a leisurely day of gardens, wildlife, and historic houses plus artifacts including manuscripts, with lunch at Middleton Place. We again will be accompanied all day by a knowledgeable guide.