Historic Houses Office Records
Collection
Identifier: Series-0360
The collection of the Historic Houses Office is organized into five subseries: I) Departmental Administration, II) Correspondence, III) Engagement, IV) Documentation and Research, and V) Restoration, Conservation, and Maintenance.
The Departmental Administration files contain records pertaining to the office’s finance (including yearly budgets as well as development and grant opportunities), staff records, meetings (both with internal organizations and committees at Clemson University as well as with external organizations), and reports from its inception to 2019. These reports are differentiated from presentations in Series III) Engagement and reports in Series IV) Documentation and Research by their utility as a function of the administrative needs of the department rather than engagement or documentation and research.
The Correspondence files include the department’s official incoming and outgoing communication via memos, handwritten letters, typed letters, and emails from its directors, divided chronologically by year. Most of the files include memos, emails, and letters to and from Susan Cline-Cordonier (1990-1993), Debbie DuBose, and Will Hiott (1993-present). Several files further include Dr. Gary Ransdell’s correspondence in 1993, extensive communiqué concerning his decision to dissolve the department under his supervision as Vice President of Institutional Advancement, records not held in the Office of Institutional Advancement Records (Series 320). Communication concerning specific works and projects, such as the Fort Hill Restoration Project, are arranged in their respective folders.
The Engagement files encompass a broad assortment of activities, events, and publications involving the Historic Houses Office. They largely represent collaborative initiatives and knowledge-exchange opportunities since 1993 undertaken by Hiott with the university and private donors as well as local and state communities. These include conferences, events held at one or more historic properties on Clemson’s campus, house tours and exhibit displays at the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion, Hanover House, and Hopewell Plantation, articles for publication, educational didactics for visitors, internships at the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion, and Creative Inquiry collaboration projects concerning Clemson University’s historic properties.
The Documentation and Research files detail research conducted by the department on the history and development of Clemson University, broadly conceived. This subseries is divided into four sub-subseries. The Artifact sub-subseries consists of inventories of artworks and material artifacts held by the Historic Houses Office and private donations of such objects to the university. The other sub-subseries, Buildings and Places, and People, consist of documents, reports, and analyses of places and persons relevant to the history of Clemson University and its land holdings in the Upper Piedmont and Lowcountry regions of South Carolina. These sources range from the early Cherokee settlement of Esseneca, through the Revolutionary War and Antebellum periods when the present campus property was divided among estates and plantations such as Clergy Hall, Hopewell Plantation, Keowee Plantation, and the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion, and the early founding of Clemson College. Key resources include biographical information on Andrew Pickens, John C. Calhoun, Thomas Green Clemson, Floride Calhoun, Anna Clemson, and preliminary research on individuals within the local African American community, especially enslaved persons and post-Emancipation convict laborers. These items were gathered by Will Hiott from multiple sources, primarily from Clemson University Libraries and Special Archives, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and online sources, or generated by employees and affiliates of the Office of Historic Houses.
The last subseries of this collection, Restoration, Conservation, and Maintenance, outlines all matters pertaining to the physical maintenance, commemoration, and safeguarding of historic properties and artifacts at Clemson University. This includes plans, budgets, purchases, bids, contracts, and contractors’ reports. The primary components of this series concern the Fort Hill Restoration Project, which involved extensive restoration works conducted on the interior and exterior of the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion between 1999 and 2003. Further details on the relocation of the Hanover House, plans for restorations at Hopewell Plantation as well as other historic structures on campus, and campus preservation plans are also included. Beyond historic properties, the series also contains information concerning the conservation of artifacts held by the Office of Historic Houses.
This collection is open to the public without restriction.
The Historic Houses Office was established in 1989 within the Office of Institutional Advancement under the direction of Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dr. Gary Ransdell to oversee visitor education and the maintenance, protection, and preservation of historic properties positioned on Clemson University’s main campus. Before this time, the Fort Hill Mansion was under the jurisdiction of Public Affairs and curatorship of the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, with overall maintenance and preservation concerns falling under the general purview of the Department of Facilities. Similarly, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was also involved in the presentation and maintenance of Fort Rutledge before the establishment of the Historic Houses Office.
During the period of 1990-1993, the department was headed by a director, Susan Cline-Cordonier, who oversaw the responsibilities of an Archaeologist, Carrel Cowan-Ricks, and a Public Information Specialist, Will Hiott. The department reported to Debbie Dubose, Associate Vice President For Institutional Advancement, and the Historic Homes Advisory Committee. The records for this period comprise grant writing, fiscal planning, and coordination of special events and exhibits.
Due to extensive budget cuts in 1993, the office was dissolved and its duties were repositioned to the Office of the Visitor’s Center with the Office of Institutional Advancement from 1993-1997. Of the three original employees of the office, only Will Hiott remained, now as Assistant Director of Visitor Programs. In this new role, Hiott took on the sole responsibility of grant writing, fiscal planning, research, and coordination of special events and exhibits for historic properties at Clemson University. He also was designated as the liaison between Clemson University and the State Historic Preservation Office.
In 1994, the Historic Homes Alumni Advisory Committee was established by Ransdell with a charge as a task force to aid in the restoration of the Fort Hill property (also referred to as the Calhoun Mansion and Spring House). After several years of development campaigns, Hiott was named Curator of Historic Properties in 1997 to oversee the restoration project. Although it was originally meant to be completed by 1999, the project proved to be extensive and several setbacks, including a major mold issue, pushed the project’s completion to 2003. Maintenance of this structure is still ongoing. A substantial portion of this collection pertains to this Fort Hill Restoration Project. In 1998, the Department of Historic Properties was established and the Historic Homes Alumni Advisory Committee was renamed the Historic Properties Alumni Advisory Committee, now with the task of overseeing the preservation of historic properties at Clemson University and marketing, fundraising, and advancing public relations to further this mission.
After the completion of the Fort Hill Restoration Project, the Department of Historic Properties under Hiott’s direction continued to focus on historic preservation, research, and education. It should be noted that while the department’s name suggests that it oversaw matters pertaining to all historic properties at Clemson University, it was only responsible for the historic houses and research focusing on historic buildings at Clemson, including the Fort Hill Mansion, Hanover House, and Hopewell. This, however, excludes Woodland Cemetery and Cemetery Hill, which has been under the direct jurisdiction of the Board of Trustees since 2000, and before that Clemson University Facilities. The Department of Historic Properties acted mainly as an independent unit, even though it reported to the Office of Institutional Advancement and was regularly required to raise its own funds for restoration, preservation, and conservation projects and make reports directly to the Board of Trustees and the Historic Properties Alumni Advisory Committee.
The duties and role of the department have remained largely unchanged since 1997. Major reorganization of the Office of Institutional Advancement in 2017 saw the transferal of the department to Clemson University Facilities. In 2020, the department was again transferred, this time to the Office of the University Historian, then in 2021 to the University Provost, and presently to the Dean of Libraries.
30 Cubic Feet (24 cartons and 3 flat boxes)
English
The records of the Historic Houses Office are of particular value to those researching Clemson’s founding history through its built environment and to those interested in understanding the university’s record of historic preservation. This collection contains all office and departmental records pertaining to the activities of the Historic Houses Office (now called the Department of Historic Properties). The collection comprises meetings, agendas, budgets and personnel records as well as correspondence, public engagement, historical research, and documentation of historic properties at Clemson University for restoration, conservation, and renovation.
Arranged by subseries.
Received from Department of Historic Properties in 2009, 2012-2013, and 2020. Accessions 09-097, 12-084, 13-127, and 2020-17.
Collection processed and description created by Allison B. Kidd in 2021.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository