South Carolina State University Connections: Emily America Copeland and Rossie Brower Caldwell

Emily America Copeland became chair of the library science department at South Carolina State College (now South Carolina State University) in 1946. Ms. Copeland was a 1942 graduate of the library school at Atlanta University (Clark-Atlanta University). She held library positions at Spelman College, Atlanta University, Finley High School (Chester, South Carolina). Gammon Theological Seminary, the Woodstock Branch of the New York Public Library, Albany State College, and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Florida A&M University). From 1958 to 1976, Ms. Copeland was the chair of Florida A &M University Library Science Department.

Sources: Walker, Lillie S. "Black Librarians in South Carolina." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 94. Print.; Copeland, Emily America. "Lady Emily." The Black Librarian in America. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1970. 77-91. Print.; Caldwell, Rossie B. "South Carolina State Library Group." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 73. Print.; "Emily A. Copeland." Florida A & M University. Blackbaud, Inc., 2022 Web. 28 May 2022.

Rossie Brower Caldwell was a librarian and professor at South Carolina State University from 1957-1983. Ms. Caldwell was also a librarian at Reed Street High School, Emmett Scott High School, and Wilkinson High School. She received her MLS from the University of Illinois.

Sources: Walker, Lillie S. "Black Librarians in South Carolina." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 96-97. Print.; Caldwell, Rossie B. "South Carolina State Library Group." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 69-74. Print.; Clanton, Deborah. The Papers of Rossie B. Caldwell [Finding Aid]. South Carolina State University Historical Collection, Miller F. Whitaker Library, South Carolina State University, 2000. Print.; "Caldwell, Rossie Brower." The Directory of Minority Professionals in LIS (Library and Information Science). Comp. George C. Grant. Winter Park, FL: Four-G Publishers, Inc., 1991. 36-37. Print.

Susan Dart Butler and the Dart Hall Branch Library (Charleston, South Carolina)

In 1927, Susan Dart Butler (1888-1959), the daughter of Rev. John Lewis and Julia Pierre Dart,  established the Dart Hall Library for  the African American citizens of Charleston, South Carolina. The library was located in a room in Dart Hall which was formerly used as the printing office for the newspaper, The Southern Reporter. Prior to his death, Ms. Butler's father, Rev. John Lewis Dart, was the editor and owner of the newspaper.

The Dart Hall Library  became a branch of the Charleston Free Library in 1931. Ms. Butler, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, served as the branch's manager from 1931 until her retirement in 1957. She passed away in 1959.

Update 03/22/2013:

Susan Dart Butler was the wife of Nathaniel Lowe Butler, Sr. whom she married in 1912. Ms. Butler attended the Avery Normal Institute, Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University), the McDowell Millinery School, and the Hampton Institute Library School (Hampton Institute is now Hampton University).

Ethel Evangeline Martin Bolden, a 1959 graduate of the Atlanta University Library School, wrote her Master's thesis on Susan Dart Butler. Ms. Bolden was responsible for establishing the first elementary school library in Columbia, South Carolina for African American students. Ms. Bolden's thesis is now available online through the efforts of the University of South Carolina (click on the link below to access):

http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/biographies/butler/butler-index.htm

Sources: Lee, Dan R. "From Segregation to Integration: Library Services for Blacks in South Carolina, 1923-1962." Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship. Ed. John Mark Tucker. Champaign: Board of Trustees of the U of I, 1998. 95. Print. ; Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South, or, Leaving Behind the Plow. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. 61. Print. ; Jordan, Casper LeRoy. "African American Forerunners in Librarianship." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 20-30. Print. ; Walker, Lillie S. "Black Librarians in South Carolina." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 90-93. Print. ; Josey, E.J. "Foreword." Educating Black Librarians: Papers from the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the School of Library and Information Science, North Carolina Central University. Jefferson: McFarland, 1991. x-xi. Print. ; "Susan E. Dart." United States Census, 1900. FamilySearch.org, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. ; "Ethel Bolden Papers, ca. 1900-2002." University of South Carolina, University Libraries, South Caroliniana Library. University of South Carolina, 24 Aug. 2007. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. ; "Ethel Martin Bolden." South Carolina African American History Calendar, Mar. 2004: n.pag. Web. 23 Jan. 2011. ; "AKA Honors Ethel Bolden." Columbia Star. Columbia Star, 30 Mar. 2007. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. ; Haith, Dorothy M. "The Southeastern Black School Librarian." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 90-229. Print. ; Bolden, Ethel Evangeline Martin. "Susan Dart Butler: Pioneer Librarian." MS thesis. Atlanta University, 1959. Pdf.

The Faith Cabin Libraries

The Faith Cabin Libraries were founded by Willie Lee Buffington, a white mill worker and Methodist minister from Saluda, South Carolina. The libraries were named so, in that they were "built on faith, and housed in cabins". From the 1930s until the 1970s, the Faith Cabin Libraries provided books and library services to African Americans in Georgia and South Carolina.

See related posts: The Freedom Libraries ; The Marblehead Libraries.


Sources: Monk, Jim. "Willie Lee Buffington." The State (Columbia, S.C.) 4 Apr. 2005:n.pag. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. ; Williams, Robert B. and Copp, Robert W.H. Adventures in Faith: Library Services to Blacks in South Carolina. Columbia: Board of Trustees of U of South Carolina, 2002. Web. 16 Jan. 2011. ; Allen, Francis W. "Faith Cabin Libraries." Library Journal 66 (1941): 187-188. Print. ; Lee, Dan R. "From Segregation to Integration: Library Services to Blacks in South Carolina, 1923-1962." Untold Stories Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship. Ed. John Mark Tucker. Champaign: Board of Trustees of the U of Illinois, 1998. 100-101. Print. ; Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South, or, Leaving Behind the Plow. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. 73, 95, 142. Print. ; Lee, Dan R. "Faith Cabin Libraries: A Study of an Alternative Library Service in the Segregated South, 1932-1960." Libraries and Culture 26.1 (1991): 169-182. Print.