Smokey Bear Day

A black and white photo of two young girls with a Smokey Bear doll

August 9, 2022 marks Smokey Bear's 78th birthday!

The Smokey Bear doll featured in this photo is part of our collection; libraries used it for the Summer Reading Club in the 1950s. The Ad Council and Forest Service commissioned artist Albert Staehle to create the fictional character to help prevent forest fires.

Smokey's popularity remains strong, and so does the effort to protect America's land. Check out the resources below from our collection to learn more about South Carolina forests and watch this video for an up close and personal look at Smokey Bear.

Forestry Resources in our Digital Collection

Upcoming Event

Cover of Coast Lines: A Poetry Anthology

Speaker at the Center: Readings from "Coast Lines: A Poetry Anthology"

April 22, 2025, 2:00 PM


Join us at our next Speaker at the Center series to celebrate National Poetry Month with readings from the new poetry anthology, "Coast Lines," edited by Daniel Cross Turner and Libby Bernardin. Lovely inside and out, this anthology features over 140 works by 50 poets exploring the manifold beauty and diversity of the South Carolina coastal plain, accompanied by over 50 stunning photographs of the region’s distinctive ecologies and wildlife by photographer Philip Wilkinson.