College of Charleston Special Collections
The primary mission of Special Collections is to evaluate, acquire, organize, preserve, and make available rare printed and archival materials. Its holdings include the College archives, rare books, and manuscripts. Special Collections is home to over 500 separate manuscript collections that vary in size from a single item to collections over 400 linear feet. All cataloged manuscript collections are available for public viewing during normal business hours; however, certain restrictions may apply for rare or fragile materials.
The Special Collections Department of the College of Charleston is located on the third floor of the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library.
The primary mission of Special Collections is to evaluate, acquire, organize, preserve, and make available rare printed and archival materials. Its holdings include the College archives, rare books, and manuscripts. Special Collections is home to over 500 separate manuscript collections that vary in size from a single item to collections over 400 linear feet. All cataloged manuscript collections are available for public viewing during normal business hours; however, certain restrictions may apply for rare or fragile materials.
Plan Your Visit
Special Collections Website Home
Notable Collections
John Cordes Estate Book, 1764-1937 – Click to Expand
1 Folder
Call number: Mss 0034-017
Typescript copy of the John Cordes estate book (1764-1798) transcribed during a 1935-1937 W.P.A. project.
Inventory and appraisal (1764) of the John Cordes estate contains lists of slaves (names and appraised values), dishes, furniture, linens, animals, rice, indigo, and other items. The volume also includes slaves (with names and valuations) taken by Catharine Cordes of Charleston (S.C.), and by Theodore Gaillard. Memorandums signed by the estate’s executor Samuel Cordes are with other family members including John Cordes (1749-1798).
Accounts list overseers’ wages, Negro cloth, salt, beef, Negro shoes, doctor’s bills, taxes, horses, wages, schooling for Thomas Cordes, household expenses for Catharine Cordes and her daughter Catharine; and income from work done by Halthan Hall Negroes, indigo grown at Yaughan, rice, and corn.
Additional estate appraisals (1784, 1796) and accounts are for Isaac Barn (Samuel and John Cordes, executors), Samuel Cordes (includes slaves at Lane and Curriboo Plantations and elsewhere), and John Cordes (1749-1798, includes slaves). Also included is a register of Porcher family members compiled by W.M. Porcher in 1850.The African American Bell family of Charleston, SC were descended from Sally (Sarah) Johnson, the matriarch of a free family of color. These papers document properties owned by the family, especially the historic home at 2 Green Street, Charleston, sold to the College of Charleston in 1971. View Record in College of Charleston Special Collections Catalog
Samuel Prioleau Papers, 1811-1832 - Click to Expand
4 Items
Call Number: Mss 0034-057
The marriage settlement of and letters to Samuel Prioleau.
Marriage settlement (trust deed) of Hannah Motte Prioleau and Samuel Prioleau for property in trust with Hannah Prioleau’s father, Major James Hamilton, property consisting of a fourth part of 65 slaves (listed by name) to which she would be entitled upon his death.
View Item in College of Charleston Special Collections Catalog
Fairfield Plantation Papers - Click to Expand
13 items ([25] leaves) ; 9-35 cm.
Call Number: Mss 0034-140
This collection consists of items related to Fairfield Plantation and includes maps, photographs, correspondence, a handwritten list of the property’s slaves, and other miscellaneous and primary materials.
Fairfield Plantation was located along the Waccamaw River near Georgetown, S.C. It was owned by members of the Alston family from 1769 until the property was sold to George Vanderbilt in 1936. Fairfield was later combined with several of Vanderbilt’s other properties to form Arcadia Plantation. View Item in College of Charleston Special Collections Catalog
Weston Family Papers, 1764-1855 - Click to Expand
4 volumes
Call Number: Mss 0055
Georgetown County, South Carolina rice plantation owner. Papers consist of Plowden Weston’s business ledger (2 volumes), a plantation journal, and meterorological records for All Saints Parish, South Carolina.
Ledger (1764-1769) contains accounts with numerous individuals and several estates of individuals. The ledger was also used as a plantation journal and contains entries and accounts (1830-1847, 1851, 1855) pertaining to Weston family plantations.
Plantation journal (1802-1817) contains primarily accounts for the purchase of supplies for Waccamaw plantations (Laurel Hill and Holly Hill) and for the sales of rice. Interspersed among these accounts are lists of slaves, accounts for Francis M. Weston, accounts with Gaillard & Mazyck, medical “receipts,” copies of letters, and miscellaneous entries. View Item in College of Charleston Special Collections Catalog