The ways in which South Carolinians have earned their livings, enriched themselves and the state, and provided essential goods and services to each other, the region, and the nation have varied over time and place, and are becoming increasingly diverse. The images collected together in this category do not make up the whole story. Users of this collection are urged to look also at the following section on transportation, and to use the search function for additional images that illustrate the agriculture, commerce and industry of South Carolina.
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Charleston has been reestablished as one of the major port cities on the East Coast since the Second World War by the advent of the phenomena of container cargo, and the farsightedness of the South...
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The interior of the Coca Cola Bottling Company of Sumter in the 1930s. Photograph from the Lecoq Studios. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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The development of the Isle of Palms was a cherished dream of Charleston Mayor John P. Grace. Almost single-handedly in the late 1920s, he persuaded Chicago investors that South Carolina could compete...
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The lumber industry was heavily dependent upon the railroad industry in South Carolina. The Atlantic Coast Lumber Company bought the Georgetown and Western Railroad in 1900, equipped it with new rails...
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The retail section of Columbia, photographed in 1908. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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The Woodside Cotton Mill in Greenville boasted in this 1913 postcard view that it was the largest complete cotton mill under one roof in America. The trolley brought mill operatives directly to the...
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Spartanburg County, August 1936. J.T. Hudson's land at Woodruff, South Carolina. "Tractor and grader used to construct terraces. In addition to this machine, Mr. Hudson is operating five teams with...
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Turkey processing at the Louis Rich Poultry plant in Newberry. Photo by Doug Gilmore, February 12, 1988. Courtesy of "The State" newspaper.
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U.S. Goodyear farm in Bishopville, showing a combination tobacco curing and sweet potato curing storage barn. Photograph by E.C. Hunter in October 1939. Courtesy of the Clemson University Libraries.
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"A Keowee Church Farm Cotton Picking." This photograph of whites picking cotton, taken around 1900 in York County, is from the collection of Miss Margaret Gist. She was active in the missionary...
