What are Some Archives Treasures?


Genealogy research Genealogists utilize the Archives to trace their ancestors’ movements in York County and sur- rounding areas.


Works of York County and South Carolina women’s history trailblazers For instance, papers of Sara Vandiver Liverance, a Greenville News journalist who was the driving force in getting the S.C. General Assembly to allow jury service for women in 1967, and papers that belonged to Mary Elizabeth Massey, a Win- throp history professor who was one of the first historians to study the role of women during the Civil War.


Civil War diaries and letters from both Union and Confederate soldiers.


Sports collections and information Including information on the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League, whose story was


made into a 1992 movie “A League of Their Own” and the papers of Matt Christopher, one of the nation’s most popular authors of children’s sport fiction, who penned more than 100 novels and three times as many short stories.


Photography One of the Archives’ most sought after photo- graph collections is from John Schorb, one of America’s first photographers who operated a studio in nearby York. The Archives also houses 46 years’ worth of photographs from Winthrop’s late staff photographer, Joel Nichols.


Oral histories Visitors can hear firsthand the thoughts of those who lived through the civil rights movement, var- ious wars that America has fought, Sept. 11, 2001, reflections, and recollections from time spent in the Middle East in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the experiences of Catawba Region citizens concerning local and regional events and history.


What are Popular Research Topics?


The Archives has received requests about the contributions of African Americans to York County history, particularly during the civil rights movement. Another popular topic is the history of the Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company, commonly known as the Bleachery.


My favorite collection is our enrollment registers, which recorded every student who


attended classes at Winthrop. I love them because they are visual proof of every student that attended Winthrop, during the regular school year, from 1895-1950.


-Brittany Slagle Pigford '99, Archivist 8


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Interior view Theses Vestibule sign Trunk


My favorite item is the steamer trunk that belonged to Annie Davis Epting, a 1909 graduate. The trunk is literally a Winthrop time capsule from when she attended from


1905-1909 with artifacts, memorabilia, and papers. It is just so rewarding to be able to comb through collections and artifacts like her trunk and just imagine what it was like to be a student attending Winthrop in the early 1900s.


-Andrew Johnston '01, '08, Assistant Director of the Archives


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