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“G” is for Gibbes, Robert Wilson (1809-1866)

“G” is for Gibbes, Robert Wilson (1809-1866). Naturalist, physician. A native of Charleston, Gibbes. graduated from the South Carolina College in 1827. He then studied medicine in Philadelphia and received his medical degree from the Medical College of South Carolina. Gibbes established a practice in Columbia. Keenly interested in natural history, he collected bird specimens, mollusk shells, and minerals. He was especially interested in vertebrate fossils, and it was in the field of paleontology that he made a lasting contribution. A man of notable versatility, Gibbes was a patron of the arts and owned an impressive collection of paintings. In 1852 he purchased the Daily South Carolinian and was its editor from 1852 to 1858. In 1853 Robert Wilson Gibbes published Documentary History of the American Revolution, which pertained mostly to South Carolina.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.