Provenance of articles in exhibit:

Almost every item in this exhibit was used at some time on the land that is now occupied by Francis Marion University.  Many of the items had been stored for many years in the old J. Eli Gregg barns.

Especially prized are the items that had been used by Catherine and Archie Waiters when they lived in these hewn-timber houses.  The Waiterses were very generous in being willing to let these items come to the exhibit by gift or by sale.

A number of items came from the home of Janie and Ed Pinkney, the last African Americans to live on the land that became Francis Marion University.  In their last years, they lived in a new house east of the location of the present computer center building.  However, they had lived for many years in a hewn-timber house that was very much like Ms. Catherine’s house, and the furniture placed in the exhibit was almost certainly used by them when they lived in the hewn-timber house.

The Pinkneys continued living on the university land for a number of years and they watched while the early buildings on the campus were being built.  After their deaths, when their house was to be moved off the campus, Amelia Wallace had their furniture moved to one of the J. Eli Gregg barns.  That is how this exhibit has so many items that were actually used by African Americans who lived here.

In making this collection, I tried to limit it to items that came from Mars Bluff, and specifically from the present Francis Marion University land.  I violated this rule to complete the collection of woodcraft items.  I bought a broadax and adz in Charleston, and was given a modern adz from Russell Culberson of Mars Bluff--to show the shape of the adz handle.  I was such a purist that I refused to buy a pit saw in Tennessee because it was not our old Mars Bluff pit saw.  

ARTICLES WERE OBTAINED FROM THESE SOURCES

J. ELI GREGG BARNS

Ax head

New ax with handle

Bark spud

Basket

Bell

Cant hook

Canning jars, full and empty

Wooden crate

Drawknife

Large wooden food container

Froe

Longer glut

Hinge

Hoe

Hog scraper

Horseshoe

Iron with blacksmith handle

Lantern

Pintles, three

Pump

Rasp

Crosscut saw

Field scale

Gin house scale

Gin house scale weights, two

Sewing machine

Wash pot, small

Wedge

CATHERINE AND ARCHIE WAITERS

Broom tied with soft cloth 

Broom tied with new denim 

Metal dipper

Ruska Gregg’s glut

Iron

Lye soap

Photo of Alex & Florence Gregg

Pot for fireplace 

Bright patchwork quilt

Pastel quilt

Singletree

Wash pot

Yard brooms, two

JANIE AND ED PINKNEY

Red bed

White bed

14 oz. bottle

Broomstraw

Armchair

Blue straight chair

Small rocking chair

Porch rocking chair

Hoe with pipe handle

New broom

Worn broom

Broom with loop cloth

Ironing board

Lodge badge

Snuff can

Table with shelf

Table with tin top

Pine table

Wooden Trunk