J. Bardin is best admired for his abstract art. Indeed, he was one of the first South Carolinians to introduce the New York abstract movement to South Carolina in the 1950s. While a USC professor of art, Bardin became the first South Carolinian to win the prestigious Springs Art Show in 1961. He won it again in 1962 and 1963 before relinquishing the title to his student Warren Johnson, better known as Blue Sky.

Thanks to WWII Columbia produced its first paper driver's license in 1945. Brass tags, like the one pictured, were issued prior to paper. During the war metal was in short supply and the South Carolina Highway Department's request for 8,300 lbs of brass was denied by the War Production board. Although there was a shortage of paper it was considered a less critical resource. 

Thanks to librarian ingenuity not only did we, sort of, connect Margaret Thatcher to South Carolina but in a moment of crowning glory we connected Thatcher, the Masters and South Carolina. 

The daily commute to work just got more interesting for folks traveling down Gervais Street.  The beautiful Dunbar Funeral Home is being renovated by Historic Columbia Foundation and the USC School of Law.  One of the resources being used to provide a historic visual guide to how the house looked when it was built is the book Modern Cotton Mill Engineering. The Walker Local and Family History Center digitized the book, and it is available online.  Not only does the book feature the Whaley home but also several other homes that Whaley built in Columbia.  Some still exist. Can you guess where they are?

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

This 1904 publication was illustrated and complied by W. S. Kline and published by the R. L. Bryan Company of Columbia, S.C. It provides a description of the city’s history, businesses and industry and includes several photographs of buildings and landmarks.

On June 23, 1926 the Jefferson Hotel hosted a grand Southern Bell Telephone Company affair honoring Columbia's original telephone subscribers. The 1880 subscribers were mostly deceased but family members, the governor and city officials were on hand to celebrate Columbia's telephone subscriber pioneers.  Listed in the first telephone book were eleven city residences, including the governor's mansion.  Lorick and Lowrance were among the first businesses to dial up, as well as attorney F.W. McMaster, cotton buyer P.H. Haltiwanger and ice dealer C.C. Habenicht.  The State Lunatic Asylum also had a telephone but only in the female building.  It is not clear if that is an indication of a woman's capacity to talk or if that was just a convenient location. In all 63 businesses, government entities and homes were listed in Columbia's first telephone directory.

The Scots Irish were the first Irish immigrants in America, but their story is frequently forgotten by succeeding generations. This may be due to the fact they are considered the first culture to make a complete break from their origins in the British Isles and to think of themselves as truly American.  As a consequence, uncovering your family origins can be an adventure in research.  However, the history of how they came to live here is quite compelling and unique, and chances are that if you are from South Carolina then it’s fairly likely that someone in your family tree is Scots Irish and if you are from the upstate then it’s very likely that most of your family tree is Scots Irish. 

Civil rights news moved away from Harvey Gantt and drifted back home to the midlands in March 1963. 

When the calendar page flips to March it’s time to think about Camden’s Carolina Cup.  However, it was not too long ago that Columbia was a major stomping ground for horse training.  In the 1920’s the Buxton brothers, Clarence and Merritt, discovered that Columbia’s winter weather provided an ideal training location for thoroughbreds.