H. Ordinary People & Everyday Life | History of SC Slide Collection

Many of the images in the three sections of the collection preceding this one ("Economic Activity in South Carolina,""Transportation in South Carolina," and "South Carolina Towns and Cities") are also about the everyday lives of ordinary people: the work they have done, the places they lived, the means by which they moved back and forth between home and work, or home and play. But this section is intended to focus particularly on the people themselves. The organization of this section is a mixture of category and chronology. Because South Carolinians have taken sports seriously, the first images here are of competitive sports. These are followed by images of outdoor recreation; of ceremonies, parades and demonstrations; of the making of music and of dancing, as well as other forms of the art of entertainment; of cooking and cleaning; of creating crafts. The final group of images is one of portraits: people in groups, and people as individuals. In some cases, we know their names. In many cases, we do not. For all, their smiles, their poses, their surroundings are memorable: from the anticipation of a group of teenagers about to board a bus for a trip, to the serenity of a young Civil War wife to travel to Charleston to see her soldier husband - these are all people to whom we respond in recognition and delight.

Photo of the Laurens Football Team circa 1909 courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.