Unearthing Treasures: Tracing Your African American Ancestors at the South Carolina Historical Society

On Saturday, November 9, the South Carolina Historical Society will partner with Lowcountry Africana to host a day-long introductory seminar on tracing African American ancestry in South Carolina, showcasing the rich archival resources at the SCHS and how these can open new research windows for African American ancestry research. Conducted by Toni Carrier, Ramona LaRoche, and Paul Garbarini with help from the South Carolina Historical Society’s archival staff, the seminar will cover the most important aspects and research strategies for finding ancestors of African descent. Treasures from the SCHS’s rich collection will be on display and will inform our discussion.

Participants will spend the morning learning how to decipher meaning from archival records such as plantation journals, maps, and plats, and images. In addition, the wealth of web-based resources for conducting African American genealogical research, many of which are available through Lowcountry Africana’s website, will be discussed.

After lunch, the remainder of the seminar will be spent conducting hands-on archival research in the collections of the South Carolina Historical Society with assistance from seminar leaders and archivists.

Details:
Date: Saturday, November 9, 2013
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $10.00 (for lunch)
Location: 100 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401

To register, please call Virginia Ellison at 843-723-3225 ext. 11

This is event is made possible through generous sponsorship from the Humanities Council of South Carolina.