Accessible Archives is a genealogy database that features historical information not found in larger databases like Ancestry or HeritageQuest.  If you haven’t tried it then you are in for a research treat provided by Richland Library.  Database highlights include digitized South Carolina colonial newspapers and digitized African American Civil War era newspapers. These are resources not found anywhere else online

The Spanish were the first Europeans to encounter Native Americans in South Carolina, a region that the inhabitants referred to as Chicora.  During one of the explorers’ incursions on the coast they abducted a native man, whom they named Francisco de Chicora, and brought him to Spain. On the return voyage, Francisco dove overboard and returned to his nation, escaping from a life of slavery. Native Americans had occupied South Carolina since the Pleistocene era, originally as bands of hunter gatherers following the migrating herds of large game.  Over the millennia these bands settled into more permanent villages, and inhabitants on the coast of the state were the first to develop pottery in North America. By the time that the Spanish first made contact, the Native Americans of South Carolina had coalesced into tribes, lived in small towns, and were experienced farmers of the three main domesticated crops of squash, maize and beans.­ At the this time there were 29 named tribes in South Carolina.  Sadly, initial encounters with Europeans brought these Native tribes in contact with Old World diseases such as small pox and influenza, which devastated their populations.  By the time the English founded Charles Town in 1670; Native American society in South Carolina had already been altered dramatically.  Furthermore, outside groups such as the Yamassee and Westo entered and took advantage of the weakened tribes. These new tribes were eventually defeated by the English colonists and the Catawba and Cherokee became the dominate Native American powers.  During the Revolution the Catawba became fierce allies of the colonists while the Cherokee, fearing encroachment on their lands by the Americans, sided with the British. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced the Cherokee to move from their ancestral lands in South Carolina while the Catawba were allowed to stay.     

Richland Library has a diverse collection of historic photographs organized into sets on Flickr. This collection includes late 19^th- and early 20^th-century photographs of Columbia, the Columbia Army Air Base, historic places of Eastover, and images of obituaries from World War I servicemen published in The State newspaper. Please contact the Walker Local and Family History Center at (803) 929-3402 for permission to use these photographs.

The Confederate Rolls of South Carolina is a rare, searchable ledger listing Confederate servicemen by name and divided by company and regiment. It includes age, rank, county, and remarks on their service. Compiled in 1898 for the Historian of the Confederate Records. Digital edition hosted by South Carolina Digital Library.

This searchable collection of Columbia City Directories from 1859 is an invaluable source for historians and genealogists. City directories offer an alphabetized listing of residents and businesses as well as a street-by-street listing of occupants. This collection is made possible through by Richland Library and University of South Carolina Libraries. Check back often this collection is always growing.

Cloudy, rainy weekends are great to curl up and do some genealogy research.  This weekend I used HeritageQuest and discovered that the 1940 census has just been added. Not every state is indexed but all of the images are available.  South Carolina, of course, is one of the states not indexed but HeritageQuest indicates on their site that all indexes will be available in 2013.  Many other states are indexed so take a look and see if there is one you can use.

The Walker Local History Room is located on the third level of the Richland Library’s Main Library. Anne, Debbie and Margaret are available to guide your research during regular library hours.

For my summer vacation I traveled to upstate New York for R & R and a genealogy road-trip. This year I left all my papers, notebooks, pencils and pens at home and relied on my IPad as a research tool. It was awesome companion. I discovered that my iPad was all I needed. Here are my top ten reasons for using a tablet as a genealogy research tool.