South Caroliniana Library reading room, circa 1900. Note the spittoons on the floor!
Libraries have changed. Libraries used to be places where a person who walked in without allergies walked out sniffing and sneezing. Old books have dust and bugs, causing one who picks up an old book to spread allergens everywhere. Not so anymore. Not only are better techniques available to keep old books clean but there are fewer books in libraries. Oh sure, libraries have some books, but so much has been done to move texts onto computers that the face of a library no longer is a book but a computer screen.
Walk into the newly renovated South Caroliniana Library, and the first impression it leaves is one of awe; what a beautiful facility! The floors are gorgeous and the architecture, believed to be designed, at least in part, by Robert Mills, is breathtaking. The second impression that slowly dawns is where are the books? The old South Caroliniana Library had books in its reading room alcoves, and this new, improved library has books, lots of books, but not sitting on shelves surrounding the researcher like friends in a bar. They are now stored in the newly renovated stacks area featuring state-of-the-art climate controls and a fire suppression system. The books now are part of the experience, not the experience itself.
The Lumpkin foyer of the building looks about the same as before, but the Olin D. Johnston Room — the old manuscripts room to the left — now has exhibits illustrating the history of the University of South Carolina. The curved stairwell upstairs to the Charles Joyner Reading Room looks a bit rustic because the carpet has been removed, but once there, you will find that the reading room is magnificent. There are 12 alcoves that used to be full of books; now, they track the history of South Carolina with displays of the Colonial period, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the period of Reconstruction.
South Carolina College was chartered in 1801 and began classes in 1805. The original building was officially named Rutledge College in the 1840s and is still called Rutledge College today. The building had lecture rooms, bedrooms for students and faculty, a chapel, and the library on the top floor. The library bought books, but some criticized the selection of books and magazines purchased. In 1820, a writer for the North American Review said the library was inadequate. The North American Review, founded in Boston in 1815, is the oldest literary magazine in America. By 1820, the college had built a two-story library and science building. The science labs were on the first floor and the books were on the top floor.
The library bought more books in 1823 and in 1825. Some books were purchased by professors traveling in Europe, and some were purchased from private libraries. A Dutch military officer passing through Columbia in 1826 said the library “was not considerable and did not contain anything remarkable.” Dr. Thomas Cooper, the second president of the university, died in 1839. His personal library was offered for sale, but the university trustees chose not to buy it.
The challenge of the library being on a floor over the science department was that the fumes from the chemistry experiments caused a fire hazard. By 1836, the third president of the college, Robert Woodward Barnwell, told the trustees the building’s foundation was bad, the roof was leaky, and he recommended building a new library.
Robert Mills was born in 1781 in Charleston, South Carolina. He was educated at the College of Charleston and learned from James Hoban, an Irish architect who designed the Charleston County Courthouse and later won the commission to design the White House. Robert Mills later designed the Washington Monument.
Robert Mills submitted drawings in 1837 for a new library building at South Carolina College, the first freestanding college library in the United States. At the time, the buildings on campus faced each other, creating a horseshoe. Robert Mills envisioned building the new library facing Sumter Street with the entrance onto campus and a central carriageway through the first floor. The design was grand but too expensive for the college, so the trustees approved a more modest design. How much of the ultimate design was from the mind of Robert Mills is uncertain. Charles Beck from Columbia was awarded the contract to build the new library. The books were moved from the science building into the new library in 1840 while Robert Woodward Barnwell was president. He remained president until 1841.
The Civil War came along in 1861, shutting down South Carolina College when all of the students volunteered for the Confederate army and the state authorities converted the buildings on campus into hospitals. When the university desegregated briefly during Reconstruction, Richard T. Greener became the acting librarian for six months in 1875. He was the first black professor at the university, serving from 1873 until 1877. He completed a catalog of the books in the library and prepared a report to the Federal Bureau of Education in Washington. A statue of Greener is located next to the Thomas Cooper Library.
When Democrats regained control of the government in 1876, they closed the university until 1880, when it reopened with an all-white student body and faculty. By the 1920s, the university library was too small for the growing student body. J. Carroll Johnson became the first resident architect at the university. He designed campus buildings as well as numerous residences in Columbia, including a house on South Driftwood Drive and a pink house on Chicora Street. Johnson was born in Sweden and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. He designed the First Presbyterian Church of Kershaw, the Lexington County Courthouse, and the First Baptist Church of West Columbia.
Johnson designed two fireproof wings to add to the university library in 1927 to provide more shelving and research space. A few years later, the president of the university, James Rion McKissick, became concerned about South Carolina manuscripts and historical materials that were being acquired by universities out of state. He described them as “literary bootleggers from outlandish parts.” McKissick formed the Caroliniana Committee in 1931 to acquire papers, photographs, diaries, letters, and manuscripts of Carolina citizens by gift or by purchase. In 1937, the Caroliniana Committee was replaced by the University South Caroliniana Society, a private, nonprofit organization.
Also in 1939, the university began construction of a new university library at the head of the Horseshoe, where the university president’s home had been. The new library was patterned after the Davidson College Administration Building. Once the new library opened in 1940, the question arose regarding what to do with the old university library, the oldest freestanding academic library in the country. Some discussion occurred about turning the library into a student union, but President McKissick wanted to turn the library into a repository for manuscripts and other unpublished materials from South Carolinians as well as for published books and pamphlets. After the general collection from the old library was moved to the new library in 1940, the old library was renamed the South Caroliniana Library.
The new library’s name was changed to the McKissick Memorial Library in 1944 to honor the university president James Rion McKissick, who had just died at age 59. His death shocked the university family, and the decision was made to bury McKissick on the Horseshoe in front of the old library, the only person so honored.
The McKissick Library became the McKissick Museum in 1976 when the Thomas Cooper Library was massively enlarged with four floors underground and three above-ground floors.
The South Caroliniana Library has benefited from good people leading the effort to acquire, protect, and restore historical treasures for the state’s citizens. When the first South Caroliniana Library director, Robert Lee Meriwether, who also was the chair of the history department, died in 1958, Erwin Lester Inabinett became the director of the library until Les retired in 1983. Allen Stokes had been on campus, except for a trip to Vietnam, for 16 years when he was named director. Allen served 20 years, then eight more again after Herb Hartsook’s brief tenure as director before he in turn went on to found the renowned South Carolina Political Collections. Henry Fulmer took over in 2013. Henry had been on campus 33 years when he became director. Eight years later, Henry retired, and Beth Bilderback became the interim director until Nathan Saunders arrived on campus in the fall of 2023.
Les Inabinett was the director when the Horseshoe Restoration Project in the 1970s repaired and improved buildings around the Horseshoe. The South Caroliniana Library was air-conditioned for the first time, and fire stairwells were added.
A cosmetic renovation was made in 1985 to address HVAC issues, water egress, UV exposure, window repairs, and fire and security upgrades; meanwhile, inside the building, the leaders of the library were busy building a first-class research facility for Carolinians and visitors to learn the history of our great state.
While director, Henry Fulmer was in charge of moving all of the collections to the Thomas Cooper Library and to offsite facilities so the South Caroliniana Library could be closed for restoration and renovation. The South Carolina Legislature appropriated a significant portion of the cost of the renovation while the largest private donation was made by alumnus Jim Barrow. The library reopened in 2023 with new glass doors designed to welcome visitors into the library to enjoy a modern research experience.
Resource credits: There are histories of the University of South Carolina by Maximilien LaBorde in 1874, Edwin Luther Green in 1916, and Daniel Walker Hollis in 1951. Elizabeth Cassidy West and Katharine Thompson Allen wrote On the Horseshoe in 2015, and Harold “Hal” Brunton, Jr., wrote Renovation & Restoration of the USC Horseshoe, A Memoir in 2002. John Morrill Bryan is a professor emeritus of art and architectural history at USC who published Creating the South Caroliniana Library in 2020. Many thanks to Henry Fulmer for his input.
