Irvine Furman Belser papers, 1877-1969.

ArchivalResource

Belser, Irvine Furman, 1889-1969. Irvine Furman Belser papers, 1877-1969.

Irvine Furman Belser papers, 1877-1969.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29789116

Papers of I.F. Belser, re his education at U.S.C., Yale, and Oxford; courtship of his future wife; social activities in S.C. and elsewhere; and management of extensive real estate holdings; topics include Genealogy, Land Records; Retirement, Rhodes Scholarship; Segregation / Integration of public schools; Trinity Episcopal Church (Columbia, S.C.); University of South Carolina; U.S. Army; Writings; and other topics. Student letters, 1912-1914, document the courtship of Belser and May Heyward; bulk of these letters were written by Belser while a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church College (Oxford University); topics include his studies; sports (rugby, tennis, and rowing); membership in several clubs (including American Club and Twenty Club); letter, 19 Nov. 1911 contains a plan and description of Christ Church; letters often compare English food, manners, and clothing styles to their American counterparts. Letters from his mother describe news of in Columbia, Sumter, and Clarendon County, S.C., as well as S.C. politics. Belser was sorely disappointed in Coleman Blease's gubernatorial win in 1912. Letters exchanged between Belser and Heyward prior to their marriage (July 1914) suggest the difficulties of a long-distance relationship; World War I broke out in Europe during their honeymoon in the U.K.; letters from May's mother, Mamie Heyward, express concern for their safety, urge them to remain in England instead of continuing to the continent, and report names of other South Carolinians stranded in Europe while on vaction; Irvine received several letters from Oxford friends, including the mother of a British friend who wrote, 6 Apr. 1915, to say that her son was at the front and to share her feelings about the war; Ian A. Clarke wrote letters, 19 June 1915 and 16 Jan. 1916, re life in the British trenches as a member of the 4th Gordon Highlanders where he was wounded at least twice. Personal papers re Belser's investment in, and management of, farm land in Clarendon, Fairfield, and Richland Counties, as well as his education and his community service; extensive records, 1946-1969, re his ownership of Hickory Hill plantation in Clarendon County, farmed by sharecroppers and also providing additional income through timber sales and crops, chiefly cotton; maintenance of dwellings; improvements to the property; preparation of fields to attract doves for hunting; tenants' requests for cash advances; difficulties of rural electrification ca. 1950-1952 (after Belser had wired tenant homes for electricity, the Black River Electric Cooperative refused to run its lines onto the property for power connection). Also contains correspondence, memoranda and various records, 1957-1966, re Belser's chairmanship of the Trinity Episcopal Church Property Purchase Committee and the committee's acquisition of privately held lots near the church; files, 1954-1957, re U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling segregation unconstitutional, include clippings and correspondence from Edgar A. Brown and L.Marion Gressette; maps and plats, 1932-1969, showing properties in Richland and Clarendon Counties owned by Belser. Includes family history materials re Belser, Gignilliat, Heyward, and allied families; genealogical chart of descendants of Christian Belser (1753-1812) of Charleston County, S.C.; copy of 1842 document, "will of Thomas Baker, Planter" of Sumter District, S.C.; historical sketch of St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Sumter County, S.C.) Awards and certificates; and miscellaneous materials and photographs, Yale Alumni Board; Oxford diplomas for undergraduate and graduate degrees awarded to Belser [filed in oversize folder]; papers re reunions of the 1908 and 1909 USC football teams and reunions and publication of a history of the class of 1910; family photographs of IFB, Katherine Bayard Heyward, and others at family reunions and elsewhere; photos, 1961, of 50th reunion of Class of 1911, Calhoun College of Yale University. Oversize items include photocopy of military commission, 2 Aug. 1877, issued to Ritchie H[ugh] Belser, father of Irvine F. Belser, as First Lieutenant, "Comer Mounted Rifles," Volunteer Troops, State of South Carolina, with signatures of Wade Hampton and E.W. Moise; blueprint copy of surveyor's plat, 1892, for Hawley's Rice Creek Plantation, Richland County, S.C., surveyed for J.L. Hawley by D.B. Miller, Jr.; surveyor's plat, 15 Jan. 1932, for property of W.B. Jamison, near Killian (Richland County, S.C.) indentified as "formerly part of estate of Thorgood Thornton." Other oversize items include marked highway maps, 1963, of Clarendon and Richland County, S.C.; and map of Public Service Authority, Santee-Cooper Project, Santee Reservoir, land maps no. 43 and 44 for Clarendon County, S.C.; plat showing division of property of Dr. George W. Dick in Sumter, S.C., dated June 1940; and soil map in color of Rimini area of Clarendon County, S.C.

2 large oversize folders.

University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries