Charleston Library Society

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Cities
2023-09-16 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York) | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Kenna, our incredible Camps in the Stacks leader. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read Last Stop on Market Street By Matt de la Pena and the craft will be a mini city!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Pets!
2023-09-19 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-09-20 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Melissa, our Children’s Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Melissa will read Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio and the craft will be egg carton pets!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Interview with an Artist // An Evening with Fletcher Williams
2023-09-19 18:00 - 19:00
The multimedia, multidiscplinary creator Fletcher Williams III opens up about everything from art as storytelling, to his inventive use of materials and embrace of new forms of craftsmanship, to how and why he creates immersive art installations that are as much experiences as exhibitions.
Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public.
To purchase, click here or call 843.792.9913 during Box Office Hours (11:00AM–4:00PM, Monday through Thursday).

A PBS Masterpiece Presentation // Watch World on Fire Season 2 Before It Airs
2023-09-20 17:00 - 19:00
Join members of the ETV Endowment for an advance screening of this epic World War II drama’s Season 2 debut, weeks before it airs on SCETV/PBS (October 15, 9:00PM). The hit series, which premiered in 2020, tells the story of battle through the eyes of ordinary people whose lives have been thrown into chaos. This season, World on Fire takes viewers from the streets of Britain into occupied France, Nazi Germany, and the North African desert, where British troops struggle alongside Indian Sappers and Australian Diggers to adapt to a very different kind of combat. Space is limited so register early.
Tickets are free with RSVP. Register via the form below.

A CLS x Buxton Books Exclusive // Local Authors Showcase: Breakfast, Books, and a Panel Discussion
2023-09-22 10:30 - 13:00
In celebration of our 275th Anniversary Year, and with generous support from SC Humanities, we are thrilled to host this special literary showcase with our friends at Buxton Books. The morning begins with lite bites and an author meet and greet, followed by a panel discussion on the importance of storytellers in our community, and a book signing. Panelists will include, Yvette Murray, George Brewington, Lydia Fitzpatrick, Matt Lee, Kristen Ness, Victoria Benton Frank, and Julian Buxton. As a bonus, the first 50 people to arrive will also receive a surprise title from a local author.
This event is free with RSVP. Simply fill out the form below to secure your spot.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Welcome Fall!
2023-09-23 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Kenna, our incredible Camps in the Stacks leader. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read Bella’s Fall Coat by Lynn Plourde and the craft will be a leaf wreath!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Neighbors
2023-09-26 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-09-27 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Melissa, our Children’s Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Melissa will read Maybe Something Beautiful by Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell and the craft will be a suncatcher!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Documentary Series // 'Prisoner of Her Past'
2023-09-27 18:00 - 20:00
Prisoner of Her Past is a 2010 documentary film adapted from Howard Reich’s book by the same name and the latest installment in the Library Society’s Documentary Screening series. The film grapples with the lives and experiences of those impacted by World War II, confronting the past and unraveling a family history.
This program is supported by South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization; inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage. SC Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy Demands Wisdom.
Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public.
To purchase tickets, click here or call 843-723-9912 during box office hours.
About the Film:
On the night of Feb. 15, 2001, 69-year-old Holocaust survivor Sonia Reich ran out of her house in Skokie, Illinois, telling police she feared someone was going to “put a bullet in my head.” It took Howard, her son, a year to find a doctor who came up with a specific diagnosis: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In effect, Sonia was reliving her unspoken childhood as a Jew running for her life from Nazis. Sixty years later, Howard traveled the world to discover her untold story. He learned that of the 12,000 Jews in Sonia’s small town of Dubno, Poland, less than 100 escaped machine-gun executions; his mother was one. Prisoner of Her Past (originally published as The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich) illuminates the demons that haunt Howard’s mother to this day.
About SC Humanities:
The mission of South Carolina Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. This not-for-profit organization presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state.

A Sense of Place // Inside the International African American Museum
2023-09-28 18:00 - 19:00
The highly-anticipated International African American Museum opened its doors over the summer, marking an incredible achievement for all involved and a valuable addition to Charleston’s cultural core. Many are aware of the commitment it took to create this seminal institution, and of the importance of its physical location on Gadsden’s Wharf—a once-prolific port where scores of enslaved people passed through—but the museum’s full origin story is a little less well-known. To offer insight, SCETV’s Thelisha Eaddy will host IAAM’s President and CEO, Dr. Tonya Matthews, Wilbur E. Johnson and Robert Macdonald for a discussion on the carefully planning and thoughtful intent that brought the museum to life at last.
Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public.
To purchase, click here or call 843.792.9913 during Box Office Hours (11:00AM–4:00PM, Monday through Thursday).
About the Panelists:
Dr. Tonya Matthews:
A non-profit executive veteran, Dr. Matthews is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the International African American Museum (IAAM) located in Charleston, SC. Under Dr. Matthews’ leadership, IAAM has become a champion of authentic, empathetic storytelling of African American history and thus is one of the nation’s newest platforms for the disruption of institutionalized racism. Dr. Matthews’ storied career includes her role as Associate Provost for Inclusive Workforce Development & Director of the STEM Innovation Learning Center at Wayne State University and, prior to that, as the President & CEO of the Michigan Science Center. Dr. Matthews’ dedication to community and accomplishments are widely recognized. She has been noted as one of the Charleston’s Most Influential by Charleston Business Magazine twice and honored as Trailblazer by Career Mastered Magazine (2017). She is a former member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Science Education and was appointed by both Democratic and Republican administrations to the National Assessment Governing Board. Dr. Matthews received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her B.S.E. in biomedical and electrical engineering from Duke University, alongside a certificate in African/African American Studies. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and The Links, Inc. Dr. Matthews is a native of Washington, D.C. and – in each community she has settled – is known for planting roots on the side of town best for keeping an eye on progress.
Wilbur E. Johnson:
Wilbur E. Johnson is an attorney and has served as Managing Partner of Young Clement Rivers, LLP, a law firm based in Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Johnson is affiliated with various professional organizations. He is a past member of the SC Bar House of Delegates and the SC Bar Nominating Committee. He is also a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference and holds memberships in the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, the International Association of Defense Counsel and the American Bar Foundation. He is listed in the “Best Lawyers in America” publication. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Charleston School of Law. Mr. Johnson is actively involved in civic and charitable affairs in the community. Currently, he serves as a Board member of several organizations, including the Historic Charleston Foundation, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, Chair Emeritus of the New Morning Foundation and the International African American Museum Board of Trustees. Mr. Johnson is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve, Richmond Bank Board of Directors.
Robert Macdonald:
Robert R. Macdonald, Director Emeritus, Museum of the City of New York, Vice Chair Emeritus, South Carolina Aquarium. Forty-six years experience as a museum director in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Louisianan, and New York. Macdonald began his career at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. He attained undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Notre Dame and a graduate degree in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an Associate Fellow at Berkeley College, Yale University, a past President, American Alliance of Museums; Chevalier de L’Order des Arts et des Letters; Cruz de Caballero de la Order de Isabel la Catolica; Award of Distinction, American Association of Museums. Macdonald is a consultant to museums in the United States and abroad, including Charleston’s International African American Museum. Bob and his wife Cathy moved to Mt. Pleasant in 2002. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.
Thelisha Eaddy:
Thelisha Eaddy is the local host of South Carolina Public Radio’s Morning Edition, a national news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). Eaddy was recently featured as the first African-American woman to serve in that position.
Eaddy joined SC Public Radio’s team of reporters in 2015 to cover the long- term recovery of the historic flood in Columbia. Since that time, she has continued covering top news stories for the network. In addition to her on-air reporting, Eaddy can be seen on other South Carolina ETV programming, reporting live coverage of elections and providing analysis during Governor Inaugurations, moderating debates, and hosting the program Palmetto Perspectives. In 2019, Eaddy also produced The Road We Trod, a one-hour special on South Carolina's Historically Black Colleges and Universities and their impact on history and the economy. A native of the South Carolina Lowcountry, Eaddy’s first broadcast job was in her hometown of Saint Stephen. She studied at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and learned valuable behind-the-scenes radio and TV broadcasting skills at Trident Technical College in Charleston. Eaddy is an award-winning, multimedia journalist, receiving the 2009 South Carolina Broadcasters Association Radio Reporter of the Year award and several Radio Television Digital.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Bears
2023-09-30 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Kenna, our incredible Camps in the Stacks leader. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read Leaves by David Ezra Stein and the craft will be pasta bears!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - The Night Sky
2023-10-03 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-10-04 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Melissa, our Children’s Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Melissa will read When Moon Fell Down by Linda Smith and the craft will be a night sky mobile!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Martyrdom and the History of Christianity
2023-10-03 18:00 - 19:00
On Tuesday, October 3, CLS and Buxton Books presents an evening for lovers of history and theology.
In Cult of the Dead, Kyle Smith dives into the origins of Christianity and its history of memoralizing the legacies of martyrs. Smith’s sweeping historical account adopts a fascinating approach to the evolution of religion and the phenomena of death and martyrdom. Smith will be joined in conversation by the Reverend Dr. Adam J Shoemaker
Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public.
To purchase tickets, click here or call 843-723-9912 during box office hours.
About the Book:
A cultural history of how Christianity was born from its martyrs.
Though it promises eternal life, Christianity was forged in death. Christianity is built upon the legacies of the apostles and martyrs who chose to die rather than renounce the name of their lord. In this innovative cultural history, Kyle Smith shows how a devotion to death has shaped Christianity for two thousand years.
For centuries, Christians have cared for their saints, curating their deaths as examples of holiness. Martyrs’ stories, lurid legends of torture, have been told and retold, translated and rewritten. Martyrs’ bones are alive in the world, relics pulsing with wonder. Martyrs’ shrines are still visited by pilgrims, many in search of a miracle. Martyrs have even shaped the Christian conception of time, with each day of the year celebrating the death of a saint. From Roman antiquity to the present, by way of medieval England and the Protestant Reformation, Cult of the Dead tells the fascinating story of how the world’s most widespread religion is steeped in the memory of its martyrs.
About Kyle Smith: Kyle Smith is Associate Professor and Director of the History of Religions Program at the University of Toronto. An award-winning teacher, he is the author or co-author of five books about Christian saints and martyrs.
About Reverend Dr. Adam J. Shoemaker: Adam received a bachelor’s degree from Boston University, a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, a Diploma in Anglican Studies from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, and has completed the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke Divinity School. His dissertation addresses a pivotal moment in the unique history of St. Stephen’s. The title of his dissertation is “Building Community Across Walls: A History of an Integrated Church amid a Gentrifying Neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina.”

Storytelling Series // Fashioning Narratives with Judith Thurman, Harold Koda, and Caroline Rennolds Milbank
2023-10-05 18:00 - 19:00
What does a dress, or how we dress, have to tell us? Few people better demonstrate the worlds that can be discerned from fashion than Judith Thurman and Harold Koda. In Judith Thurman’s work, literature and fashion can be co-dependent—a mention of a dress of rare lace leads to Alice B. Toklas and Anita Loos, and a Charles James seam smoothes easily to Virginia Woolf’s letter to Vita Sackville-West. That Thurman discerns this thread of communication is evident in her description of Alexander McQueen’s fashion as a “form of confessional poetry.” Besides her recently published collection of essays, A Left-Handed Woman, she is the author of award-winning biographies of the pivotal cultural figures Colette and Isak Dinesen (for which she won a National Book Award), and has also worked as a producer on the film about Dinesen’s life, Out of Africa.
Harold Koda led the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s legendary Costume Institute for nearly two decades, curating such brilliant fashion exhibitions as “Dangerous Liaisons,” which animated the 18th-century epistolary novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses in a series of sometimes risqué vignettes of mannequins carrying on amongst the fine French furniture and objects d’art of the Wrightsman Galleries. Imaginative in concept, breathtaking in the look and array of garments, Koda’s exhibitions and writings have definitively moved the fashion exhibition needle from gazing at the past to brilliantly illuminating the present.
Join us on Thursday, October 5, from 6:00PM to 7:00PM, for their perspectives on the unlikely power of genre-spanning storytelling in a conversation moderated by the fashion historian and returning CLS program host, Caroline Rennolds Milbank.
Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public.
To purchase, click here or call 843.723.9912 during Box Office Hours (11:00AM–4:00PM, Monday through Thursday).

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Ghosts
2023-10-07 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Kenna, our incredible Camps in the Stacks leader. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara and the craft will be a puffy ghost!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

October New Members Mingle
2023-10-09 17:00 - 18:00
Please join us for our New Members Mingle! Every second Monday of the month, we host our newest members of the CLS family with a fun and informative tour of the facility, including key information on utilizing Library resources, an exploration of some of the treasures from the CLS archives, a visit to the Igoe Shakespeare Library and concluding with a tour of our bindery and information about our conservation efforts. Questions are welcome throughout our time together.
The tour starts at 5pm, and generally ends around 6pm. The tour schedule includes:
5:00 – 5:10 pm Welcome
5:10 – 5:20 pm Introduction of staff and an overview of the Main Reading Room and Exhibits
5:20 – 5:40 pm Tour of key areas of the Library, including the Melvin P. Seiden Gallery, the Kellogg Family Map Room, the Ruth and Bill Baker Conference Room, the Igoe Shakespeare Library and the Stephen F. Gates Vaults
5:40 – 6:00 pm Tour of Dorothy’s Book Bindery and the Jerrold and Ann Mitchell Conservation Lab; Q&A
Please RSVP with the form below. We look forward to seeing you!

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Quests and Adventures
2023-10-10 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-10-11 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Melissa, our Children’s Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Melissa will read On a Magical Do Nothing Day by Beatrice Alemagna and the craft will be adventure goggles!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Storytelling Series // Behind the Hedges of the Rose Garden (and Windows into Other Fabled Places)
2023-10-10 18:00 - 19:00
We’re thrilled to welcome author and garden historian Linda Holden for an evening program that brings us back into the world of Bunny Mellon. Throughout the evening Holden will explore Mellon’s personal aesthetics and approach to landscape design, with a focus on her mindfulness and intentionality when approaching the interior spaces of renown figures of the public
Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public.
To purchase tickets, click here or call 843.723.9912 during box office hours (Monday–Thursday, 11:00AM to 4:00PM) to purchase tickets.
About the Author
Linda Jane Holden is a garden historian and sought-after speaker on the White House Gardens during the Camelot years. She is the author of Presidents Gardens, a contributing author to White House History, a publication of the White House Historical Association and co-author of Bunny Mellon Style and Garden Secrets of Bunny Mellon. Linda first became aware of Mrs. Mellon’s contributions to landscape design while working in the White House during the Reagan administration. She lives in Virginia.

CLS Book Club: King by Jonathan Eig
2023-10-11 10:30 - 11:30
Join us on Wednesday, October 11, at 10:30AM for a lively Book Club discussion on the masterful biography, King: A Life by Jonathan Eig, with special guest Rev. Nelson B Rivers, III. We’ll unpack some of the book’s core themes as we delve into the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
From the small farming community of Bennett’s Point, SC near Charleston, the Rev. Nelson B. Rivers, III, has risen throughout the ranks of the NAACP to become the Chief Operating Officer of the oldest and most revered civil rights organization. His climb epitomizes the unlimited possibilities of a life of commitment, dedication and purpose.
Rev. Rivers received his bachelor’s degree from Wilberforce University in Ohio, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees. He is an ordained Baptist preacher and is currently pursing a Master of Arts in Theology Degree at the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, MD. He is married to the former Carolyn Smalls of Charleston and has four children.
Always determined to make things better, Rivers has given his time, talents and expertise to the NAACP for over thirty years. He has worked at every level of the organizations-as branch committee chair, advisor of a local youth council; President and leader of the reorganization of the nearly defunct North Charleston, SC Branch; Executive Director of the South Carolina State Conference; Director of the Southeast Region (the largest of the NAACP’s seven regions); Chief of Field Operation; and his current position, Chief Operating Officer. With Rivers at the helm of the South Carolina Conference, NAACP membership in the state tripled from 1984 to 1994. His work led to the election of more than 300 new black elected officials in South Carolina between the years of 1986 to 1994. His skills as a grassroots organizer resulted in massive direct action activities. Among them was the January 2000 historic march and rally that brought over 50,000 people to the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse to protest the state’s flying of the Confederate battle flag. In 2014, Rev. Nelson B. Rivers, III became the Vice President of Religious Affairs and External Relations for the National Action Network under the leadership of Rev. Al Sharpton.
He has received numerous awards for his civil rights and community work including the Order of the Palmetto, the State of South Carolina’s highest award; the honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by his alma mater, Wilberforce University; and induction into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame. He has appeared on various radio and television programs including Donahue, 60 Minutes, a speaking role in the movie “Separate but Equal” starring Sidney Poitier, BET Tonight with Ed Gordon, among others. In July 2004, at the NAACP 95th Convention, he was recognized as the top NAACP staff professional when he was awarded the Medgar Evers Award of Excellence.
CLS Book Club is FREE, in-person, open to the public—whether you’ve finished the book, are thinking about starting it, or couldn’t make it past the half-way point. All that is required is an RSVP via the form below.
For a copy of the book, check out our catalog here, or shop local at Buxton Books.
About CLS Book Club
The CLS Book Club has become a space for conversations about wide ranging topics, but such a book, so directly connected to a library’s mission, has never been chosen. We hope that this book will provide an opportunity to discuss banned books, freedom of speech, educational access, historical importance of librarianship, and the power that libraries hold in the 21st Century and beyond.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Monsters
2023-10-14 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Kenna, our incredible Camps in the Stacks leader. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin and the craft will be a monster mask!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Creatures, Monsters OH MY
2023-10-17 15:30 - 16:30, 2023-10-18 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Melissa, our Children’s Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Melissa will read Jitterbug Jam by Alexis Deacon and Barbara Jean Hicks and there will be a creature craft!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Behind the Podium // An Insider's Perspective on the Importance of Collections
2023-10-17 18:00 - 19:00
In the world of books, autographs, and photographs, Doyle is a legend. The renowned auction house has worked with the estates and collections of screen greats like Bette Davis and Rock Hudson, music legends from Louis Armstrong to Count Basie, and fashion vanguards such as Oleg Cassini and Alexander McQueen, and for this one evening, it will bring its wealth of knowledge and expertise to King Street, via Peter Costanzo
The New-York based SVP of Estates and Director of Rare Books, Autographs, and Photographs will reveal insider secrets gleaned from a career spent on the lead up to and from the other side of the podium: what it takes to ready an item for auction, how to know what exactly an auction-worthy item is, the importance of maintaining records of provenance, what goes into the cataloguing process, the source of the persistent intrigue surrounding maps—just to name a few. From conservation and the preservation of legacy, to Doyle’s views on rare books, to an introduction to Americana, this program will cover it all—and then some.
Tickets: Members – $10 // General Admission – $15
To purchase, click here or call 843.723.9912 during Box Office Hours (11:00AM–4:00PM, Monday through Thursday).
About Doyle
Founded in 1962 on integrity, expertise and service, Doyle is one of the world’s foremost auctioneers and appraisers of fine art, jewelry, furniture, decorations, Asian works of art, coins, stamps, rare books and a variety of specialty categories. Located in New York City, the global capital of the auction market, Doyle offers over 100 sales each year that attract a broad base of buyers and consignors from around the world and now oversees an ever-expanding network of offices and Regional Advisors throughout the United States, including galleries in Palm Beach, Beverly Hills and Charleston.
About Peter Costanzo
Peter Costanzo joined Doyle in 2010 and is a Senior Vice President in Trusts & Estates and Director of the Rare Books, Autographs, Maps, and Photographs Department. As a certified appraiser, he specializes in printed and manuscript Americana, literature, illustration art and 20th century figures, as well as value of photographs and rare books in all fields. Throughout his work he has organized a number of landmark auctions, among these the Rare Book Auction in New York as well as orchestrating the complete Oleg Cassini estate in 2019. Prior to Doyle, Mr. Costanzo began his career in 2007 at the rare books auction house Bloomsbury, where he rose through the ranks from junior cataloguer to specialist and conducted thirty sales as principal auctioneer.

Lite Lunch // A Conversation with Christine Todd Whitman and Dana Beach
2023-10-18 12:00 - 13:00
A commitment to public service and a passion for a cause have a way of bridging gaps. Throw in a love of storytelling and a surprisingly few degrees of separation, thanks to a meeting a decades ago, and you have the makings of a superlative discussion filled with new content and established context.
Join us for a special conversation on Charleston and conservation with the former New Jersey Governor and Environmental Protection Agency Director Christine Todd Whitman and the author and longtime CLS supporter and Coastal Conservation League pioneer Dana Beach.
Tickets are $25 for Members, $35 for General Public.
To purchase, click here or call 843.723.9912 during Box Office Hours (11:00AM–4:00PM, Monday through Thursday).

"Monuments Man": The Mission to Save Stolen Artwork
2023-10-19 18:00 - 19:00
During the destruction and devastation brought about by World War II, a segment of the US army set out preserve Fine Art threatened by the Third Reich. The U.S. Army Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives Group was tasked initially with preservation and ultimately, to track and recover art masterpieces stolen by the Nazis. The story of James Rorimer, his fellow Monuments Men, and their hunt to rescue valued artworks tells one of many unique stories from World War II.
With Monuments Man: A Mission to Save Vermeers, Rembrandts, and Da Vincis from the Nazis’ Grasp now back in print, we are thrilled to welcome Louis and Anne Rorimer, James Rorimer’s children, to walk us through their father’s life and work.
Tickets: Members – $10 // General Admission – $15.
To purchase tickets, click here or call 843-723-9912 during box office hours.
About the Book:
A classic now back in print and enriched with new imagery, James J. Rorimer’s riveting first-hand account takes readers on a treasure hunt as he follows the Allied troops across France and Germany to save Nazi-stolen masterpieces of art.
James J. Rorimer, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, became a leading figure in the art recovery unit known as the Monuments Men, an elite group imbedded in the US Army, who risked their lives during World War II to save Europe’s greatest artworks from Hitler’s grasp. In the film Monuments Men, Matt Damon’s character is based on Rorimer as he embarks on the world’s most dangerous real-life hunt for stolen artworks with the goal of locating, seizing, and returning the works to their original holders, including museums and private collectors.
This new edition of a book first published in 1950 includes the original illustrations from the first edition plus a wealth of new imagery and ephemera uncovered during extensive research, including WWII photographs, many taken by Rorimer himself, that are accompanied by gorgeous reproductions of many of the Old Masters Rorimer helped save by artists such as Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Bruegel, Vermeer, Goya, Velazquez, and van Eyck. Maps created specially for this volume, and other facts about WWII history and geography, add new dimension to a remarkable story of courage, perseverance, and ultimately, triumph.
About the Authors:
James J. Rorimer was the curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art until 1955 when he was made director of the museum, a position he held until his death in 1966. Rorimer’s children, Louis and Anne Rorimer, collaborated to co-author this brilliant new edition of Monuments Man. Anne Rorimer is an Art Consultant and Historian, specializing in American and European Art created after 1965. Like her father, Anne has been a Museum Curator. First of modern and contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago and subsequently at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. She has authored many monographic and thematic articles as well as her own book, New Art in the 60’s and 70’s: Redefining Reality. Louis Rorimer was a lawyer by profession. After retiring from a 35 year career, he returned to his family’s art history roots, Greek and Roman antiquities in particular, focusing on the role of provenance. Louis Rorimer holds a B.A. from Harvard and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University. He and his wife of 44 years, Savery Rorimer, manage an organic farm in Chagrin Falls, OH, Snake Hill Farm.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Witches
2023-10-21 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Kenna, our incredible Camps in the Stacks leader. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Kenna will read A Job For Wittilda by Carolyn and Marker Buehner and the craft will be a witch hut!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Pumpkins, Bats and Black Cats
2023-10-24 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Melissa, our Children’s Library Coordinator. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Melissa will read Moonlight the Halloween Cat by Cynthia Rylant and the craft will be decorating pumpkins!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 pm and Saturday at 10:00 am–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.
