LibGuides: South Carolina History: Digital Resources

NewsBank - Accessing With a SC State Library Card

NewsBank aggregates both current and archived information from thousands of newspaper titles, newswires, web editions, blogs, videos, broadcast transcripts, business journals, periodicals, government documents, and other publications. NewsBank is available free to all South Carolina State Library cardholders.

The South Carolina State Library (SCSL) is open to the public. SC residents age 18 and over are eligible to apply for a free library card and may borrow circulating materials from our collections and access our electronic resources.

The State Library offers two ways to access our services:

Physical Card: Provides access to all physical and digital resources.
E-Card: Grants instant access to all digital services and materials.

To get a Library Card, please use THIS LINK.

To access NewsBank with your SC State Library card, please visit NewsBank & State Library Resource Databases.

Digital Newspaper Collections

Chronicling America - Historic Newspapers
Chronicling America is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
Historical Newspapers of South Carolina
Historic Newspapers of South Carolina provides free online access to historic local and regional newspapers originating throughout South Carolina since the 1700s.
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The Historic Newspapers of South Carolina repository provides online access to fulltext searchable historic newpspapers originating in South Carolina since it became a state in 1788. The is online collection is a continuation and extension of the South Carolina Digital Newspaper Program (SCDNP) that began in 2009 as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. The University of South Carolina is one of many institutions that participated in the program as part of a national effort to preserve America's historical newspapers. This site seeks to continue what that program began by continuing to digitize and make accessible as many historical newspapers originating in South Carolina as we can find.

Civil War Sources

Civil War in the American South
In recognition of the sesquicentennial of the start of the American Civil War, Civil War in the American South provides a central portal to access digital collections from the Civil War Era (1850-1865) held by members of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL). This site currently links to more than 10,000 items from 32 libraries. The shared collection continues to grow, providing ready access to a world-class collection of primary source materials from the American Civil War era.
South Carolina and the Civil War
South Carolina and the Civil War brings together eyewitness views and accounts of this period of American history, selected from the rich holdings of University of South Carolina Libraries. Books, diaries, sheet music, maps, letters, photographs and illustrations all provide glimpses of everyday life during exceptional times. This collection provides students and other researchers with primary sources on the Confederate and Union soldiers, women, African Americans, and others who lived in camps and on battlefields, in urban and rural areas, at the homefront and on both sides of the blockade during our bloodiest conflict.

Digital Collections

Documenting the American South (DocSouth)
Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
The University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sponsors Documenting the American South, and the texts and materials come primarily from its southern holdings. The UNC University Library is committed to the long-term availability of these collections and their online records. An editorial board guides development of this digital library.
Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL)
The Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL) produces digital collections and projects that support research about the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and historically interconnected sites in the Atlantic World.
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The Lowcountry Digital Library serves not only an audience of scholars, but students, educators and other patrons from across the globe. LCDL is harvested and fully searchable within the South Carolina Digital Library and the Digital Public Library of America, which brings our partner institutions and their collections to the national and international stage. LCDL is also indexed by Google and all other major search engines. This increased visibility, coupled with LCDL's complimentary digital preservation services, facilitates the sustainability, accessibility, and public engagement of our partners’ digital projects.
SC Department of Archives and History - Online Research
Links to multiple online records available through the SC Department of Archives and History in Columbia, SC.
South Carolina Digital Library
The South Carolina Digital Library provides free access to historic materials, such as photographs, manuscripts, journals, books, oral histories, objects, etc. illustrating the history and culture of South Carolina from over 40 cultural heritage institutions across the state. Over 200,000 items have been added so far.
South Carolina State Library Digital Collections
The South Carolina State Library Digital Collection provides documents and information that expand the State Library’s mission to provide equal access for all South Carolinians. These online collections create greater access to the State Library’s unique historical resources, government documents, and new digital projects.
Spartanburg County Public Library Historical Digital Collections
The Spartanburg County Public Libraries Digitization Program creates digital collections of local history materials from the Kennedy Room of Local and South Carolina History and Cleveland Genealogical Department and makes them available:
to enhance local history and genealogical research;
to increase access to its holdings;
to promote lifelong learning by the citizens of Spartanburg, South Carolina and the public at large.