No Baptist state convention in America has a richer, more interesting history than does South Carolina. And most Baptists, while grateful for their historical roots and contributions, have limited knowledge of all that South Carolina Baptists have done to make and preserve their Southern Baptist heritage.
Mark Jeffcoat, director of the SCBC’s support services group, holds a two-volume photo directory of South Carolina Baptist churches, which he produced several years ago. In addition to the photos, the directory includes basic information about each church.Baptists in this state should be proud of their history and how it is being preserved and displayed in the new South Carolina Baptist Convention Historical Room at the convention building in Columbia.
The new room, which opened late last year, is the dream of recently retired executive director-treasurer Carlisle Driggers, who wanted to have available a special room where people could visit and walk away with a deeper appreciation for the rich history of South Carolina Baptists.
At the 2002 SCBC annual meeting, messengers approved a series of recommendations to establish history and archive space at the convention building in Columbia. Thus, the former media library, on the ground floor, has been remodeled to become a suitable place for Baptist historical research and learning. Also, an archives room, temperature and humidity controlled, has been created in the basement area and houses the valuable papers and materials of former South Carolina Baptist Convention leaders.
In April, Mark Jeffcoat, director of the convention’s support services group, was tagged “resident historian” and given responsibility for developing and coordinating the historical rooms as well as the convention’s services to the churches related to historical preservation.
The focal point of the new Baptist Historical Room is an 11-foot timeline which spans the period from the settlement of Charles Towne in 1670 through the years of Empowering Kingdom Growth. The timeline depicts the work of 14 Baptist heroes and 30 different major events. “The timeline sits on a background of churches that represent the diversity of our cooperating congregations,” Jeffcoat said.
The room also provides for reading and research, copies of The Baptist Courier, official news journal of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, dating from 1947 to the present. Also available are annuals of the South Carolina and Southern Baptist conventions from the 1940s to the present.
A display case, contributed to the convention by the former Spartanburg Association (now Spartanburg County Network), was in Bertha Smith’s prayer center in the Upstate. The case displays plates commemorating historical celebrations of South Carolina Baptist churches. Two glass cabinets will display church and associational histories. The oldest SCBC annual, dated 1825, is on display along with other convention annuals dating back into the 1800s. The collection is fairly complete since 1900.
Among other historical keepsakes are several volumes of a 1881 Baptist Encyclopedia, donated by members of a church in Aiken and a pastor in Florence. The formal black preaching coat used by Williams Brooke, South Carolina Baptist general secretary-treasurer from 1942-1949, is displayed along with Brooke’s seminary diploma, signed by W.O. Carver and E.Y. Mullins, two Baptist seminary pioneers.
Another rare and invaluable resource available is a two-volume photo directory of South Carolina Baptist churches. This was a project of the convention’s history committee, and was produced by Jeffcoat several years ago. In addition to pictures, the directory includes basic information on each church.
“We are getting ready to add a microfilm reader, and we recently obtained microfilm of all our convention annuals back to 1821,” Jeffcoat said.
The Historical Room has copies of several hundred church and associational histories, and Jeffcoat encourages any church or association that produces a history or other materials related to a historical celebration to send copies to be added to the collection.
Jeffcoat’s office provides to churches services related to researching, presenting and celebrating their history. “We will soon introduce a number of resources on our Web site that will provide instructions on writing a church history, recording an oral history, or planning a historical celebration,” Jeffcoat said.
Jeffcoat said the history committee is considering more than 30 resources and services to help local churches and the convention preserve South Carolina Baptist history. Among them is an effort to build a collection of publications by convention staff, South Carolina pastors and other South Carolina Baptist writers and composers. Jeffcoat can be reached at (800) 723-7242, ext. 2620, or e-mail markjeffcoat@scbaptist.org
So when you are in Columbia and can spare 30 minutes or so, drop by the convention building at 190 Stoneridge Drive and walk through the Historical Room. You will leave a more informed, amazed and grateful Baptist.
Brannon formerly was director of public relations for the South Carolina Baptist Convention and at the time of his retirement held a similar position with the Texas convention. He and his wife Sandra now live in Columbia and are members of St. Andrews Baptist Church.