The Camden Archives and Museum is a must place to research if you have Kershaw County or surrounding area ancestors. Information on other South Carolina locations and be assessed there as well. he building is the city's former Carnegie Library, built-in 1915. It's located at 1314 Broad Street/US Highway 521, Camden. (803) 425-6050.
Hours are posted on the website, but I recommend calling before you arrive.
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| Camden Archives and Museum Camden, Kershaw, South Carolina |
The Archives
The staff is helpful and will help you with any research questions and help you locate records, books, maps, periodicals, and microfilm that may contain information on your family. I have been able to call ahead and ask for books, files, and other items to be pulled before I arrive.
Hanging files can be requested and brought to the research tables for you to look through and see what information has been collected on Surnames, Organizations, businesses, history, and other topics. For a list of some of the holdings please click here.
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| Research Tables |
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| Periodicals |
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| Books from Kershaw County and other Locations |
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| Microfilm Readers |
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| Map Collection |
The Museum
Walking through the archives leads to the museum. Permanent and rotating exhibits feature artifacts from all time periods of the area's history. Since Camden was a major player in the Revolutionary War many of the artifacts come from the Battle of Camden and other locations.
Don't overlook museums in your genealogy research. The exhibits will give you an idea of what was going on during your ancestor's lifetimes. Photos, clothing, tools, etc, represent what life may have been like for them, or what they may have experienced or known about. Even if they don't belong to your ancestor, we can learn so much by the items in a museum's collection. Some lucky researchers have found artifacts belonging to their ancestors in exhibits. The photos below are some of the items on display on my last visit. The Alexander Young shown in one of the photos may have been related to my step-grandfather!
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| Original Town Clock Circa 1825 |
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| Artifacts from the Battle of Camden |
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| !844 Wedding Slipper of Lucretia (Douglas) Kershaw |
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| 1918 Victrola |
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| Alexander Young Silver Maker Exhibit |
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| The Ross E Beard Gun Collection |
For more information about the Camden Archives and Museum use these links:
YouYube Channel
Facebook Page
The Camden Archives and Museum is a special place to research for me.
From newspapers, books, hanging files, and city directories, I have found many valuable pieces of information on my family who called the area home.
Have you researched the Archives and visited the Museum?
Please leave a comment and share your experience!
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