SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

JAMES  B. DUKE LIBRARY, FURMAN UNIVERSITY

Collection Development Policy

The Department of Special Collections and Archives at Furman University is comprised of the following primary components: the Furman University archives; manuscript collections; several book collections (rare books, Furman-related, and Baptist books), and the South Carolina Baptist Historical Collection.

I. Furman University Archives

The University Archives is the official repository for Furman University records. In the University Policy and Procedures Manual Section 011.2, University Records, it is  mandated that all records created by an employee of Furman University during the performance of his or her University duties are the property of Furman. The term record is defined in the broadest manner as “any items, regardless of physical form” including photographs, maps, blueprints, videos, etc. There is also an instruction that no records are to be destroyed or sent to University Archives without the consultation of the Archivist.

We collect the following materials in University Archives:

1. Any record of historical, legal, fiscal, or administrative value to Furman University that is not currently used in the office in which it originated. These include records of all academic and administrative departments and units.

2. Publications created by or under the authority of Furman University (two copies, if possible), including ephemera.

3. Student publications including yearbooks, newspapers, and literary publications (two copies).

4. Records of student and faculty organizations.

5. Student research papers, work, and presentations on historical topics relating to Furman University or the South Carolina Upstate created in Engaged Learning programs, independent study, faculty/student research, or internships.

6. Faculty, staff, student, and alumni-authored publications.

II. Manuscript Collections

We collect the following materials in the Manuscript Collection:

1. Materials on the history of Furman University and the history of Greenville Woman’s College.

2. Materials depicting student life at Furman University.

3. Personal and professional papers of faculty members who have met the following criteria: longevity of service, significant scholarship, or considerable contribution to Furman.

4. Materials on the personal and professional lives of prominent Furman and Greenville Woman’s College alumni/alumnae.

5. Materials of businesses or nonprofit organizations in Greenville and the South Carolina Upstate.

6. Materials pertaining to the history and residents of Greenville and the South Carolina Upstate.

7. Papers and manuscripts associated with authors active in Greenville or the Upstate literary community.  

8. For the South Carolina Poetry Archives, the personal and professional papers of South Carolina poets.

9. For the Microtonal Music Archives, the personal and professional papers of composers, performers, or scholars of microtonal music.

III. Book Collections

1. A book shall be considered for Special Collections if it fits into current collecting interests (see below), can be used for class instruction, or has the potential for supporting faculty/student research projects. Furman’s rare book collection is a general-interest teaching collection spanning the 550+ years of printing in the West, along with earlier examples of printing/written communication in the Mediterranean world/East, or South America, including manuscript cultures from two milennia, and other printing and communication tools, formats, and genres, ranging from cuneiform tablets and palm leaf manuscripts to contemporary queer zines.

2. Books from the library of the Greenville Woman’s College may be considered.

3. Books about Greenville, Greenville County, and the South Carolina Upstate may also be included.

4. Books, including reference materials, with connections to Furman manuscript holdings may be considered.

5. First editions and published works by authors active in Greenville or the Upstate literary community may be considered.

6. The South Carolina Poetry Archives aims to be comprehensive in its collecting of monographs, chapbooks, and anthologies by South Carolina poets, from the 18^th century to the present.

7. Books about the South Carolina Baptist denomination, historic and contemporary, that are not already held in the collection, may be considered, as well as histories of Baptist churches in South Carolina.

8. Serials

1. Individual volumes of serials may be considered because of content (e.g. first published report of an important scientific breakthrough, the first printing of an important piece of literature, etc.).

2. Multiple volumes and runs of popular and specialized serial titles may be considered if they have potential use in teaching and research.

Recent areas of attention and depth of rare book holdings include: 18^th-20^th century conduct guides and courtesy books, British and American; medieval manuscripts; African American history, culture, and literature, from the 18^th century to the present; women travelers in the Middle East; 18^th century editions of Voltaire and his circle; 1960s-70s radical and counterculture materials, especially communes and utopian communities, Black Power/Black Pride; 2^nd and 3^rd wave feminist materials; book arts that reference early printed books and/or created by Southern women artists; 16^th century Martin Luther/Reformation pamphlets and sermons; Madame d’Aulnoy’s and other French contes de fees (17^th-18^th century fairy tales); pulp paperbacks about interracial romance; 19^th-20^th century materials on women in the workforce; LGBTQ+ history from the 19^th century to the present; queer zines; 19^th century British women’s interest and reform; the social history of the British in India; Victorian London, including culture, crime, empire, and reform; microtonal music theory and compositions.

IV. Baptist Historical Collection

The Baptist Historical Collection was founded at Furman in the 1890s to document the history of the denomination as well as the individuals, churches, and associations that comprise the Baptist faith in South Carolina. The Baptist Historical Collection is largely a subject collection, not defined by dates or types of materials, but by content, authors, and publishers.

We collect the following materials in the Baptist Historical Collection:

1. Published histories of Baptist churches in South Carolina.

2. South Carolina Baptist congregational records.

3. Minutes of the annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and South Carolina Baptist associations.

4. Monographs and articles about the Baptist denomination in South Carolina as well as biographical materials regarding Baptist leaders, ministers, and lay personnel.

Rev. 4/2025