Three nationally renowned historians will come together in February for a lecture series that will set the stage for Beaufort’s tricentennial.
The University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB) and the Beaufort Three-Century Project (B3C) are partnering to present four nights of lectures that will span Beaufort County’s history from the early European explorers through the 20th Century. Dr. John McCardell Jr., Dr. Lawrence S. Rowland, and Dr. Stephen R. Wise will present the seminar-style series of lectures every Friday night from 7-9 p.m.in February at the USCB Performing Arts Center, 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, S.C.
The Beaufort Three-Century Project is conducting a number of public events and projects to engage the community in understanding and learning about our history. “This series will bring together the rich scholarship and research of these noted historians to help us enhance our understanding of the past so we can move toward the future,” said B3C project coordinator Deborah Johnson. “We were delighted when USCB began crafting the series and pleased to have the opportunity to co-sponsor this,” she said. “It is truly a wonderful gift to Beaufort to have these historians with their range of knowledge and the ability to convey this knowledge in a manner that all can enjoy and appreciate. It is a rare opportunity to have three scholars of this magnitude as part of one cohesive telling of history.”
Jan. 17, 2011, will mark the 300th anniversary of Beaufort’s charter. This lecture series will inform those who have an interest in researching projects and others by providing the overall context of Beaufort’s history. It comes on the heels of the anniversary event of story-telling and film clips that brought out more than 275 people on Jan. 17 and is the second component of building excitement for the next two years leading up to the tricentennial.
The Beaufort Three-Century Project is an effort to tap the community’s cultural memory through exploration, studies and special events that honor the past to better chart the future. It will culminate with a tricentennial celebration on Jan. 17, 2011.
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The lecture topics will include:
• Friday, Feb. 6 – “Spanish, French and English Colonial Era … Revolutionary War”;
• Friday, Feb. 13 – “Sea Island Cotton Kingdom and The Idea of a Southern Nation”;
• Friday, Feb. 20 – “The Civil War in the Sea Islands and the Port Royal Experiment”;
• Friday, Feb. 27 – “Reconstruction and 20th Century Beaufort.”
Admission to each lecture is $10 payable by cash or check at the door.
For advanced registration to ensure a seat, call Jo Ann Kinsley at 521-4147 or e-mail kingsley@uscb.edu. Those who register in advance for all four lectures ($40) will receive a DVD of the lecture series.
The panelists hold doctoral degrees in history and have been published in their respective areas of expertise.
Dr. John M. McCardell Jr. retired as the 15th president of Middlebury College, VT. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, he did his graduate work at Johns Hopkins and Harvard University where he received a Ph.D. in history. In 1976, McCardell joined Middlebury as a history professor and has worked in academic development and planning, dean of the faculty, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and acting president. McCardell’s doctorate dissertation was published by Norton & Co. under the title The Idea of a Southern Nation, a book that after 18 years continues to be one of the most cogent discussions of the rise of Southern nationalists and Southern nationalism in the mid-nineteenth century.
Dr. Lawrence S. Rowland is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina Beaufort where he was professor of history for 26 years. He completed a doctoral degree at the University of South Carolina with a dissertation on Eighteenth Century Beaufort: A Study of South Carolina’s Southern Parishes to 1800. Rowland is the author of The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, Volume I, 1514-1861, with Alexander Moore and George C. Rogers Jr., and Window on the Atlantic: The Rise and Fall of Santa Elena, South Carolina Spanish City. Currently, he is working on The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, Volume II, 1861-1990, with Dr. Steven R. Wise and Gerhard Spieler.
Dr. Stephen R. Wise is director of the museum and cultural resource manager for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island. Wise earned doctoral degree from the University of South Carolina studying under noted Civil War historian Thomas L. Connelly. Wise’s first book, Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War, was acclaimed as a comprehensive account of the Confederate effort to deliver supplies through the Northern blockade. A second book entitled Gate of Hell: The Campaign for Charleston Harbor 1863 received an award from the S.C. Historical Society for the best book written in 1994 on state history. A PBS documentary based on Gate of Hell was presented in the summer of 2006.
