This collection from the South Caroliniana Library consists primarily of the Civil War letters of Edward Laight Wells, discussing the mood in Charleston during the secession crisis in 1860, fighting with the Hampton's Legion 1864-1865, and the immediate aftermath of the war. Other letters are from Eliza Carolina Middleton Huger Smith discussing the health and welfare of her family during the war. Also included are quotations, autographs, Confederate notes, poetry, recipes, genealogical information and newspaper clippings.

Chiefly Civil War correspondence of Edward Laight Wells (1839-1917), relating to Charleston, S.C., at time of secession, and his service with Company K, 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment (Charleston Light Dragoons) and Hampton's Legion; and Eliza Carolina Middleton Smith (1824-1919), relating to family and the Civil War. Includes accounts, scrapbook of poems, diary (1865-1866) of Isabella Johannes Middleton Smith, and commonplace book (ca. 1865-ca. 1914) of Eliza Carolina Middleton Smith. Other persons and places represented include Wells's wife, Anna Mason Smith, and Athens and Augusta, Ga.

From Lincoln's election to secession from the Union, this compelling history explains how South Carolina was swept into a cultural crisis at the heart of the Civil War. "The tea has been thrown overboard -- the revolution of 1860 has been initiated." -- Charleston Mercury, November 8, 1860 In 1860, Charleston, South Carolina, embodied the combustible spirit of the South. No city was more fervently attached to slavery, and no city was seen by the North as a greater threat to the bonds barely holding together the Union. And so, with Abraham Lincoln's election looming, Charleston's leaders faced a climactic decision: they could submit to abolition -- or they could drive South Carolina out of the Union and hope that the rest of the South would follow. In Madness Rules the Hour, Paul Starobin tells the story of how Charleston succumbed to a fever for war and charts the contagion's relentless progress and bizarre turns. In doing so, he examines the wily propagandists, the ambitious politicians, the gentlemen merchants and their wives and daughters, the compliant pastors, and the white workingmen who waged a violent and exuberant revolution in the name of slavery and Southern independence. They devoured the Mercury, the incendiary newspaper run by a fanatical father and son; made holy the deceased John C. Calhoun; and adopted "Le Marseillaise" as a rebellious anthem. Madness Rules the Hour is a portrait of a culture in crisis and an insightful investigation into the folly that fractured the Union and started the Civil War.

Papers and certificates of Jonah Smith Wells, mainly relating to Tableup Grazing Co.

Papers of a family which resided in Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, and the Oregon coast. Collection includes: correspondence, 1917-1919, from Henry W. and Emory F. Smith during their service at home and in Europe during World War I; correspondence form Earl Lee Page during his naval service during World War II; and miscellaneous correspondence, photographs, and greeting cards relating to the Smith and Page families.

Papers of the Flewell-Smith family.

A collection of writings by the Smith family of Sharon, Connecticut. Includes diaries by William Mather Smith, lecture notes by his son, Gilbert Livingston Smith (1813-1835), and book chapter drafts by his granddaughter, Helen Evertson Smith (d. 1918). Also included are religious writings, probably written by William Smith.