Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. Speeches and Appearances Series of Mayoral Records Now Open to Researchers

The Records Management Division is pleased to announce that we have indexed the Speeches and Appearances Series of former Mayor Joseph P. Riley’s records, and a finding aid is available on our website.

The Speeches and Appearances series of the records of Joseph P. Riley Jr. consists primarily of speeches and appearances Mayor Riley made in his role as mayor of the City of Charleston from 1975-2016. Record types include research files, notes, drafts, and final copies of speeches; event invitations, pamphlets, programs; and related correspondence. The series is municipal in nature and does not contain any documentation from Mayor Riley’s personal life or from his re-election campaigns.

The record series contains speeches and remarks Mayor Riley delivered at community and official City events, groundbreakings, ribbon cuttings, memorial services, and significant addresses he delivered before City Council, including state of the city and inaugural addresses. Often the files contain only handwritten notes on yellow-lined paper, as Mayor Riley was known to deliver his remarks without full texts of speeches. Records within the series mark occasions from the celebratory to the solemn.

Left: Mayor Riley addressing the media in the weeks following Hurricane Hugo, 1989 (image copyright Ron Anton Rocz). Note the yellow notepad in his right hand. Right: The contents of the folder for the address Mayor Riley made on the first anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, September 21, 1990. The file contains the program, non-Hugo speeches he used for reference, and his handwritten drafts.

The inaugural address records contain handwritten drafts of the addresses, final printed versions, and official inauguration programs. The series also contains a facsimile copy of a leather binder containing all of Mayor Riley’s inaugural addresses that was presented to Mayor Riley as a gift in his first term. Note that all final inaugural addresses are published in the minutes of City Council and are accessible online through Municode.

The front cover of a reproduction of the binder gifted to Mayor Riley in his first term.

A view of the inside of the binder containing Mayor Riley's inaugural addresses.

In his first inaugural address, Mayor Riley looked to the country's founding for inspiration.

Page 2 of Mayor Riley's final inaugural address in 2012 discussing a great city's responsibilities.

Mayor Riley delivered his first annual state of the city address in 1977 as a means of communicating the City’s annual accomplishments, challenges, and goals. The state of the city records contain drafts, correspondence, reports, and other municipal communication Mayor Riley used in compiling the annual address. This subseries is incomplete; there are no records for the years 1980, 1984, 2005, and 2006. Note that all final versions of the city addresses are published in the minutes of City Council and are accessible through Municode.

The first page of a draft of Mayor Riley's first State of the City address, delivered January 1976.

Speeches are arranged chronologically by year and then alphabetically by event or subject. Any undated and/or partial speeches are filed under “Speeches, general” at the end of a year. As processing work continues on Mayor Riley's records, additional speeches will be added to this series.

Mayor Riley speaking at an annual United States Conference of Mayors, circa 2000.

Mayor Riley addressing the crowd at an exhibit opening at the South Carolina Aquarium, 2000.