McKissick's Folklife Resource Center was created in 1985 as a repository for fieldnotes, photographs, slides, audio tapes, video tapes, albums, publications, and other information of value to Southern folklife scholars and interested members of the general public. Since that time, the Museum has conducted several major studies of the region's folklife with assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the South Carolina Humanities Council. The traditions documented include sweetgrass and split oak basketry; bluegrass and gospel music; quilt-making; alkaline-glazed, Catawba, and Jugtown pottery; African-American celebrations; net-making; and iron-working.

The Center is also a repository for materials generated by independent researchers, and maintains vertical files on South Carolina folk artists, as well as on folk arts related organizations in and outside the state. All of the materials housed in the Folklife Resource Center are available for research and for educational purposes.

For information on the reproduction and rental costs of materials in the Folklife Resource Center, please go to our Schedule of Fees. The Resource Center is open to the public by appointment.

• Folklife Documentary Video Program

  • Since 1998, The Resource Center has been involved with The Woodward Studio, Ltd. in the production of folklife video documentaries dealing with traditional culture and foodways. Completed projects include The Sheep Stew of Dundas (2001) and Carolina Hash: A Taste of South Carolina (2001). In addition, several years of fieldwork resulted in the exhibit Southern Stews (2000) and the subsequent film Southern Stews: A Taste of the South (2002). Current projects include documentaries on Kentucky Burgoo and South Carolina camp meetings. For more information about Woodward Studios go to www.stanwoodward.com

• Jugtown Pottery

  • Working with the Folklife Section of the North Carolina Arts Council, McKissick studied the impact of the Jugtown Pottery on traditional pottery in Moore County, North Carolina. From this research emerged the exhibit and catalog New Ways for Old Jugs: Traditions and Innovations of the Jugtown Pottery (1994).

• The Dave Project
  • Descriptions, measurements, color slides and black and white photos of approximately 160 pots attributed to Dave, an enslaved African-American potter from South Carolina were made in preparation for a traveling exhibit and catalog titled "I Made This Jar..."  The Life and Works of the Enslaved African-American Potter, Dave (1998).
• Conference on Fifty Years of Folklore Research
  in South Carolina
  • On October 3, 1986, McKissick Museum, the USC Department of Anthropology, and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress brought together folklorists and cultural resource promoters to learn about past folk arts research in the state and to discuss future research opportunities. Tapes of the proceedings are available.
• Conference on Access to Sweetgrass
  • McKissick Museum and the Charleston Museum co-sponsored a conference to evaluate public policy related to Charleston County basketmakers' access to sea grass resources. The proceedings and recommendations were taped and published in booklet format (1988).
• Crossroads of Clay: The Southern Alkaline-Glazed
  Tradition (1990)
  • In 1983, McKissick Museum initiated a study of the development and diffusion of the southern alkaline-glazed stoneware pottery tradition. These research materials constitute the largest consolidated collection of information on southern ceramics in the United States. Based on this research, the museum mounted an exhibit with a catalog entitled Crossroads of Clay , and published Great & Noble Jar: Traditional Stoneware of South Carolina (1993).
• Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award
  • Each year, the Assembly of the State of South Carolina recognizes substantial contributions to the state's traditional heritage by presenting the Jean Laney Harris (formerly South Carolina) Folk Heritage Awards. Documentation of winners since 1988 is on file at the Resource Center.
• Jewish Heritage Project
  • The South Carolina Jewish Historical Society, the College of Charleston and McKissick have collaborated to interview over 200 Jewish South Carolinians with the aim of producing a major traveling exhibit and catalog exploring the processes by which traditional rituals, beliefs, and identities are retained, transformed, or relinquished.
• African-American Celebrations in South Carolina,
  1863 - 1960
  • In 1993, McKissick Museum mounted an exhibit accompanied by a catalog entitled Jubilation! African-American Celebrations in the Southeast that explored the origin, scope, and meanings of African American celebratory events staged in the southeastern United States during the period between emancipation and the Civil Rights movement.
• Port Royal Project
  • This project documented Port Royal area folklife, including maritime work traditions, sweetgrass basket makers, animal story tellers, river baptisms, praise houses, and the Penn Center Heritage Festival. A permanent outdoor exhibit developed from fieldnotes, black and white photos, color slides, and audiotapes was installed at the waterfront park in Beaufort in 1988.
• Quilts Like My Mama Did
  • As a follow-up to the Quilt History Project (1983-1986), the Folk Arts Program produced both a video and a slide-audiotape presentation featuring African-American quilters from the Pawley's Island area.
• Row Upon Row: Sea Grass Baskets
  of the South Carolina Lowcountry (1986)
  • Archival research and extensive fieldwork with contemporary basket weavers about African American coiled basketry traditions resulted in an exhibit and catalog now serving as the definitive history of sweetgrass basketry in South Carolina.
• Rural Arts Initiative Program
  • The Rural Arts Initiative is a program of the South Carolina Arts Commission designed to provide a community with a consulting folklorist to promote the study and documentaiton of that area and its people. To date, McClellanville and Camp Baskerville have been surveyed.
• Rural Humanities Project
  • Between 1987 and 1990, the folklife traditions of the counties of Oconee, Anderson, Pickens, Abbeville, Greenwood, McCormick, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper, Chesterfield and Marlboro were surveyed. In addition to fieldnotes, audiotapes, color slides and black and white photos, the surveys resulted in a 5-part poster series documenting the folklife of the Pee Dee region.
• South Carolina Quilt History Project
  • Beginning in 1983 and continuing through 1986, McKissick documented approximately 2,765 quilts. Social Fabrics: South Carolina's Traditional Quilts (1985) and Glorified Patchwork: South Carolina Crazy Quilts (1989) exhibited fieldwork and quilts found during the survey.
• Southeastern Crafts Revival Project
  • For two years, McKissick Museum undertook archival and field research to assess the scope and nature of the early twentieth-century arts-and-crafts revival in the Southeast and examine its impact on popular conceptions of southern vernacular culture. Thus far, the project has resulted in an annotated guide to archival resources in the region and a bibliography.
• Stout Hearts: Traditional Oak Basket Makers
  of the South Carolina Upcountry (1986)
  • A traveling exhibit and catalog, the Stout Hearts project investigated the traditional and contemporary practices of split oak basketmakers in the upper part of the state.