Past Meets Present

A black and white photo of the old post office on Gervais Street, which is now the South Carolina Supreme Court.

An inquiry about the original doors to the Supreme Court of South Carolina building on Gervais Street turned into a treasure hunt, yielding images of Columbia that are pretty different than what we know today. The law librarian at the Court asked for anything we could find about the front doors to the building, which was a post office until the state bought it in 1966. Images like this one from the Digital Public Library of America show their appearance. Connecting with the National Archives, we learned that the building's architectural drawings and plans are on file in Maryland.

Upcoming Event

Photo of Eric Barnes and a cover of a Historyman comic.

Speaker at the Center Series: Historyman Comics author, Eric K. Barnes, discusses "An Army of a Different Kind"

August 27, 2026, 6:00 PM

Please join us for our next Speaker at the Center talk with Historyman, Eric Barnes, who is on the trail of our American history through a number of projects, including the Historyman Podcast, Historyman blog, and Historyman Comics. These projects seek to illustrate and educate future generations about the challenges of the past, the hard-fought victories, and the visionary hopes of those who went before us.