Waring Historical Library

The spidery cursive scratched into the handwritten journal from 1834 is difficult to read, but under "Recipe for a cough" the remedy calls for 60 grains of saltpeter, which was one of the components of gunpowder.The journal from a plantation in Berkeley County is one of the riches inside Waring Historical Library at the Medical University of South Carolina. The library is beginning a fundraising effort to restore the building to its former glory but also make it more accessible. An international resource for scholars, the library is also seeking to expand and diversify its collection with the records and history of medical treatment of Black people in the South in segregated hospitals and clinics, records missing from most archives but which could have relevance on health disparities that persist to the present.