S. Sen. Ernest Hollings and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Photos by Jim Covington The Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library, adjacent to the Thomas Cooper Library at USC, opened last Friday, July 23. Designed and built by Columbia architectural firm Watson Tate Savory, the $18 million building, 50,000 square feet, was dedicated with the help of Vice President Joe Biden, U. S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Congressman John Spratt, Congressman Jim Clyburn, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, and Sen. Fritz Hollings himself along with a crowded floor of invited guests. Welcoming the guests were Harris Pastides, president of USC, and Tom McNally, dean of libraries for USC.

The Hollings Library houses three departments on three floors: South Carolina Political Collections (SCPC), Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, and Digital Collections.

The SCPC was established in 1991 for government research at all levels, local and national, since WWII. It’s the premier repository for such research in the state including access to the papers of 11 governors and 23 former and current members of Congress.

Federal Judge Ross Anderson and Congressman Jim Clyburn The Irvin Department includes sources spanning over 600 years. Having grown seven–fold in the past 25 years, the holdings include more than 150,000 volumes and at least 50 archival collections. Columbia’s Warren Irvin, whose father contributed heavily its collections, was in attendance with Mrs. Irvin for the dedication.

The Digital Collections was established in 2004 and has more than 60,000 items among its 60 collections available for research. The new library has installed a Zeutschel scanner, the only overhead scanner of its kind in the United States. The scanner digitizes large format materials such as maps and manuscripts. Through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, for example, the library with its Zeutschel is scanning South Carolina newspapers from 1960 to 1923.

U.S. Sen. Ernest Hollings The Hollings Library is open to visitors, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., MonU. day through Friday.
Vice President Joe Biden
Deborah Hollings, S.C. Chief Justice Jean Toal, and Michael Hollings
USC President Harris Pastides
Beverly Meng and Bill Austin
Jimmy Truesdale and former USC President John Palms
Polly Kosko
Belinda Gergel, Columbia City Council
Leona Plaugh, Columbia City Council
Nancy Williams, Reece Williams, and Paul Willis
U.S. Sen. Ernest Hollings and Herb Hartsook, director of S.C. Political Collections, Hollings Library
Dean Jack Pratt, USC Law School, and Cantey Heath
Mayor Steve Benjamin and Dalton Tresvant Photos by Jim Covington
Dean Hildy Teegen, Moore Business School; Herbert Adams, USC Board; and former Lt. Gov. Mike Daniel
Federal Judge Sol Blatt
S.C. Rep. Gilda Cobb–Hunter, Rick Patel, owner Columbia Sheraton where Vice President Joe Biden spent the night
Dorothy Spears and Maj. Gen. Stan Spears
Dwight Patterson and Liz Patterson, former member of Congress
Coach Ray Tanner,USC Baseball National Champions, and former USC president, Andrew Sorensen
Dean Tom McNally, USC libraries, and Congressman John Spratt
John Hardee, SCDOT commissioner, and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley
Jamie and Dick Harpootlian
Martha Payne, former assistant to Sen. Ernest Hollings, and John Temple Ligon, her next door neighbor, 1951–54
Federal Judge Joe Anderson and Miles Loadholt, USC Board
Mayor Steve Benjamin and Dean Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, USC Arts and Sciences