Many From the Porch subscribers are most likely aware of our ongoing interest in old schools. What you need to know is Roots & Recall truly needs your collaborative effort to document these structures before they totally disappear. The S.C. Department of Archives and History as well as the Pettis Archives at Winthrop University house school photo collections. Working with several groups, R&R hopes to not only display these images for the public but also assist in accumulating images of primarily rural schools and pictures of activities tied to them.
You could be of significant help in this statewide effort by sending in old snapshots, current images, and information on schools that have impacted your lives. How about schools that have been remodeled into homes or schoolhouses that are no longer on primary roads? Unfortunately, there have been hundreds of school buildings demolished in the past decade and those who attended them are quickly dying. It is therefore imperative that you spread this word and take time to share your knowledge and images. This effort will hopefully result in an exhibit explaining the development of rural schools and the substantial help many received from the Rosenwald Foundation.
S.C.’s rural schools are a nostalgic tie to our agrarian forefathers, and documenting these structures is a vital part of saving our own family history. Unfortunately, I was too late in photographing a school my own great-grandmother attended near Richburg, S.C., which was demolished with little or no thought of its value. I also recently documented an African-American school of which I had no knowledge until this year. Roots & Recall’s users will be able to see images of it in the mid-19th century as well as how it appears in 2014. So, please join in this effort and submit your pictures to history@rootsandrecall.com.