Date of Award
12-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Historic Preservation
Committee Chair/Advisor
Amalia Leifeste
Committee Member
Ralph Muldrow
Committee Member
Elizabeth Ryan
Abstract
The scope of this thesis examines the private libraries inventoried in Charleston, South Carolina. The thesis answers the question about the prevalence of private book collections and rooms called the “Library” between 1780 and 1860, as seen in probate inventories. Additionally, this thesis explores the character of the private collections during this study period in a case study manner. This includes the size of the collections, location (urban vs. rural), where collections are stored, and in which rooms they are found. Of the 4,476 Charleston County probate inventories between 1780 and 1860 available through FamilySearch online, a total of 903 probate inventories are collected and entered into an Excel worksheet for further analysis. These probate inventories identify private library owners, and include findings related to evidence of book ownership within the decedent’s estate. 20% of individual Charleston County probate inventories contained information on the ownership of books. Books documented as being housed in a library room are scarce; only 0.01% of inventories from the study period have a room titled “library” in the probate inventory. The number of private libraries documented indicates that book ownership was rare in Charleston, even among people with robust enough estates to document them through probate inventories.
Probate inventories enabled the analysis of book ownership through spatial distribution, numbers, furniture types, and room names. This study found that private libraries were dispersed throughout Charleston County with more rural (112/903 inventories) than urban (50/903 inventories) settings.1 338 bookcases were documented in the 903 probate inventories analyzed that have some reference to book ownership. Thus, 37% of the inventories mentioned bookcases, and 75% of all documented case furniture was bookcases. Though not listed in most inventories, bookcases are the most popular specialized storage used to house collections of books, as recorded in probate inventories.
The presentation of data is analyzed by the distribution of private libraries in rural vs. urban residences, the precise location distribution of private libraries on the Charleston peninsula, library size over time, specialized case furniture for books recorded in inventories over time, names of rooms where books are recorded, and finally, the contents of private libraries as they appear in specific examples over time from private library owners who had a room documented as the library in their probate inventory. This thesis adds to our understanding of libraries in Charleston, South Carolina and the colonial South. In addition, this thesis further aids in using probate inventories to improve our understanding of historic interiors and their individualized contents. The thesis found that private libraries were more frequently documented in rural areas (112/903 private libraries.) Private libraries were typically collections of books stored in bookcases (338/903 private libraries) and within a room labeled as a library (57/903 private libraries.) This conclusion is based on the limited number of inventories that specify both book- related furniture and rooms identified as libraries. Five private libraries contain all three conditions of being rural, in a bookcase, within the “library.” Data extracted from this thesis may be referred to by anthropologists, historians, preservationists, and bibliophiles to provide context to the privately owned libraries of Charlestonians between the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Recommended Citation
Hein, Winter, "The Private Libraries of Charleston, 1780-1860" (2024). All Theses. 4410.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4410
Included in
History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Reading and Language Commons