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"B" is for Butler, Susan Dart (1888-1959)

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"B" is for Butler, Susan Dart (1888-1959). Librarian. Butler attended Avery Institute in Charleston, Atlanta University in Georgia, and McDowell Millinery School in Boston. For five years she pursued a career as a hat maker. In 1927, Butler opened a free library and reading room in Dart Hall, a building belonging to her father. Using his books, folding chairs, and two tables, Butler opened the reading room three afternoons a week. She acted as librarian and operated the facility with donations and often her own funds. In 1931, the Charleston Free Library established the Dart Hall Branch. The branch was staffed by three librarians and opened to the African American public with 3,600 books. A year later Butler became head librarian. Susan Dart Butler retired in 1957 after twenty-six years as a branch librarian.

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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.