For Women's History Month, we are discussing the first women employed with the City of Charleston Police Department. The Women’s Bureau of the Charleston Police Department was established in July 1922 as a division that focused on women’s welfare and gender-based crimes. Its first chief was Lottie S. Olney, who was also a major player in the bureau’s inception. She was a member of the U.S. Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board when she called a meeting at the city’s Chamber

The City of Charleston Year Book was a chapter in the City of Charleston's municipal reporting that has left us with a treasure trove of data, histories, illustrations, and perspectives on life in Charleston from the late-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. To compete with other cities that seemed to be rising from the ashes of the Civil War on the backs of modern industry, Charleston needed to prove itself. The Year Book began as a way to present Charleston as a progre

Welcome to our new series, Meet the Mayors! In these posts, we will be introducing readers to the historical mayors of the City of Charleston using our collections. You can see our finding aids for our Mayoral Collection here for a sneak peek at what's to come! John F. Ficken, from Hemphill, J.C. Men of Mark in South Carolina , 1908. For our series' inaugural post, we will be starting with Charleston's 48th Mayor, John F. Ficken, who served from December 1891 to December 189

We were fortunate to have Meghan Zimmerman join us once again as a summer intern at Records Management. Meghan joined us as a volunteer...