The South Carolina Room staff have created these Research Guides and Finding Aids to show patrons what sources are available for individual topics such as probate or military records. 

Births and Baptisms

Lists available birth records for Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties.  Although the State of South Carolina did not require birth records to be kept prior to 1915, this guide introduces researchers to church records and city birth records for Charleston.

Sources for Lowcountry Immigration 

Genealogists interested in researching when their ancestors settled in the Charleston area will learn about what naturalization records and ship passenger lists are available.  The guide also lists books on early settlers to South Carolina.

Gullah History and Resources 

This collection is an archive of Gullah culture around the South Carolina Lowcountry, and includes histories in the forms of books, stories, songs, and poems, culinary information, and a selection of fiction works by Gullah writers. 

Burial Records for the Evergreen (Grimball) Cemetery, James Island

The Evergreen Cemetery is a 9/10ths-of-an-acre tract of land in which 356 people are interred. It is currently not known who owns the land where the cemetery sits because there is not a TMS (Tax Map Submap) number for the property. Thompson and Smith found that of the 312 burials in Evergreen Cemetery, only 261 are marked. There are 51 unmarked graves with historical documentation. Currently 287 grave markers are on the cemetery property: 259 are marked stones, two are crushed metal, two others are made of marked PVC pipe, 10 unmarked stones, a single set of red flags, and 13 are unmarked PVC pipes. 

DNA Research 

This is a source guide for understanding and using DNA testing as a tool for genealogical research.  Included are several recommended books for learning about the DNA testing process.

Census Resources 

This guide includes a listing of what kinds of census records survive for South Carolina, what census sources are available in the library’s holdings, and also offers research tips for locating persons in the census.

City of Charleston Directories

The South Carolina History Room holds city directory records for many years starting in 1782. 

Letters of Guardianship 

This set of film contains legal proceedings dealing with minor beneficiaries who are named in Charleston County Will records and includes letters from 1783 to 1827. Also included in the set is a “Miscellaneous Records” roll which contains Court of the Ordinary Records from 1783 to 1812, and a “Receipts” collection of Court of the Ordinary listings from 1853 to 1870.

Charleston County Marriage Records 

South Carolina did not require counties to record marriages until 1911, so researchers often hit a ‘brick wall’ when searching for marriage information. This guide offers a comprehensive listing of abstract books and primary source documents available in the South Carolina Room for conducting marriage record research. Materials include microfilm of Charleston County Marriages 1879-1922, marriage information implied in other records such as probate documents and renunciations of dower, and several books on the surrounding Low Country area and the rest of South Carolina.

Charleston Area Cemeteries 

Lists the cemetery inscriptions books, general history, and microfilm sources in the South Carolina Room holdings, and offers a brief discussion of surviving death records, which may offer burial information.

Magnolia Cemetery Records 

Magnolia is large cemetery located just outside the City of Charleston. It has served the area since 1836 and is still in operation today. The microfilm collection consists of “Index of Burials, 1838 to 1978”, “Interments, 1838-1908 and 1937-1979”, and “Records of Burials, 1836-1931.”

Charleston Record of Deaths

Many of the parish and church registers cited under "BIRTHS" also contain listings for funerals.Also, obituaries from the Charleston Post & Courier are included in the online index from 1990-present.

Wills

This search aid includes records on wills from the earliest colonial days into the 1900s through archives of Charleston County.