Libraries and archives. (Historical News and Notices).

The South Carolina Room of the Charleston County Public Library now has available an extensive finding aid for help in accessing the more than 16,000 items in its collection. Charleston Area History: A Bibliography of Works in the Charleston County Public Library was compiled by Ron J. Caldwell, a librarian in the South Carolina Room, and seeks to guide readers to the published books and articles, as well as the unpublished dissertations and theses, on the history of the Charleston area held in the library. With over 3,000 entries, this book is the most extensive bibliography to date of the history of the Charleston region, which includes Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties. This new bibliography is available for use in the South Carolina Room of the Charleston County Public Library and at any of the following branch libraries: Dorchester, Mount Pleasant, Saint Andrew's, Cooper River, Dart, James Island, and West Ashley. For more information on the Charleston County Public Library and its holdings, please call [phone], or visit the website at www.ccpl.org.

The Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, reports the following recently accessioned manuscript collections: papers, 1764-1832, of the Blow family of Portsmouth and Tower Hill, Sussex County, primarily consisting of the records of planter/merchant George Blow; records, 1778-1867, of Washington Henry Academy, Hanover County, including minutes of trustees' meetings, correspondence of officers, financial, land, and legal records; papers, 1791-1875, of the Harrison family of Wigwam, Amelia County, including correspondence of William Henry Harrison (1810-1881), in part while a student at the University of Virginia, as well as letters to Lady Jean Skipwith of Prestwould, Mecklenburg County; circular letter, January 31, 1804, of Thomas Hill Wooding and Daniel Coleman concerning deliberations of the Virginia House of Delegates during the session that commenced in December 1803; papers, 1810-1962, of the Wyllie family of Danville and Lynchburg, including correspondence, financial, legal, land, and slave records; records, 1821-1971, of Manakin Episcopal Church, Powhatan County, including vestry books, parish registers, and account books; account books, 1857-1879, kept by John L. Paris as a blacksmith at Speedwell, Wythe County; papers, 1861-1889, of William Alexander Stuart, merchant of Saltville and Elk Garden, including wartime letters from his brother, General J. E. B. Stuart, and postwar business records; papers, 1862-1882, of Paul M. Higginbotham concerning his service in the 19th Virginia Infantry Regiment, C.S.A.; diary (two volumes), 1863-1864, kept by Walter F. M. Moring while serving in and around Richmond in the 44th Virginia Infantry Regiment, C.S.A.; papers, 1910-1999, of the Miller family primarily concerning farming at Pomona, Bedford County; scrapbook, 1922-1926, kept by Juluette Collier (Cotten) Johnson while attending the Virginia State Teachers' College at Fredericksburg (now Mary Washington College); records, 1935-2000, of the Jewish Woman's Club of Richmond including constitution and by-laws, board minutes, programs, and financial materials; papers, 1939-1970, of Mary Cynthia (Linkous) Graham of Christiansburg, primarily consisting of her World War II correspondence with her future husband, William Cecil Graham of the United States Army Air Forces, and scattered items of her three brothers, all of whom served in the armed forces: and papers, 1958-1959, of Doctor Paul Leonard Stagg concerning the opposition of clergy in Front Royal to Virginia's massive resistance to school desegregation.