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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"A rice raft with plantation hands, near Georgetown." From a Keystone View Company stereograph card, around 1890. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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James Alford, Ernest Staton, and Bright Stevenson work in the interior of the Staton Dairy barn in Darlington County around 1923. Courtesy of the Darlington County Historical Commission.
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Erosion photographs taken about 1935 by the Department of Agriculture. The caption says, "Active roadside gully formed in old roadbed. Note new location of roadbed. This is the way many gullies in the...
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The Columbia Hotel, long a landmark for visitors to the city, was torn down in 1972. It appears here in a postcard photograph around 1900. Courtesy of the Howard G. Woody Postcard Collection.
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Drug stores played an important role in the business districts of small towns in South Carolina. This is the interior of the Searson Drug Store in Allendale around 1907. Courtesy of the South...
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A truck coming off of the new assembly line at the Mack Truck plant in Fairfield County. Photo by Doug Gilmore, August 1,1988. Courtesy of "The State" newspaper.
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The Portman Shoals Power Plant in Anderson County provided electric power for the Upcountry areas of South Carolina. Photographed for the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. Courtesy of the...
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The Fairfield Cotton Mill, built in 1898, expanded its operation with the construction of this new building in 1918. The original owners sold the plant to Hampton Cotton Mills of Greenville in 1912...
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"From its first shipment of Carolina products to England in 1670, when seven cedar boards were included, lumbering in many forms has brought dependable wealth to South Carolina. In all its phases...
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A cotton press for compressing short-staple cotton. To maximize use of space on the vessels in which cotton was shipped to England, the use of cotton presses to compress the bulky cotton was adopted...
