A Walk through the Galleries
The exhibition takes visitors through a walking timeline of Jewish history in South Carolina:

First Families features a gallery of portraits from the 18th and 19th centuries.

One Great Political Family documents the state’s first Jewish immigrants and includes a selection of miniatures — small watercolor portraits painted on porcelain or ivory.

This Happy Land focuses on the ritual aspects of Judaism, matters of faith, and the story of the birth of Reform Judaism in Charleston.

Plantation Life explores the unusual history of Jewish plantation owners.

The Moving Frontier tracks the dispersion of Jews across the state and region.

The Lost Cause features portraits, photographs, and memorabilia from the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Little Jerusalem displays artifacts carried from the Old Country, including candlesticks, luggage, samovars, and mandolins, and demonstrates how South Carolina Jews maintained their traditions and sense of identity in the American South.

The Poliakoff Store reproduces the shoe department of a Jewish-owned store in Abbeville, which remained in business for a hundred years.

Pledging Allegiance tells the story of how Jewish South Carolinians integrated themselves into American society in the period between the world wars.

Of Blessed Memory is a tribute to members of South Carolina families who stayed in Europe and perished in the Holocaust. This section of the exhibit includes a montage of photographs and a memorial display of candlesticks.

Palmetto Jews, a new photo essay by Bill Aron, jumps into the present, with a look at contemporary Jewish life in the state.

For more information, please contact
Dr. Dale Rosengarten
Special Collections of the College of Charleston Library
Charleston, South Carolina 29424 USA

Phone: 843.953.8028
E-mail: rosengartend@cofc.edu