Mailing Address:
Special Collections
College of Charleston Library
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424

Phone:
(843) 953-8016

Title: Frederick A. Porcher Papers

Collection #: 0038

Dates: 1836-1878

Size: 12 boxes (3 linear ft.)

Biographical Note: Born on Cedar Spring Plantation (S.C.), Frederick Adolphus Porcher was the son of George Porcher and Marianne Gendron Palmer. After graduating from Yale College he studied law, and from 1834 to 1836 served in the South Carolina legislature. Porcher became a professor of "History and Belles Lettres" at the College of Charleston in March 1848.

Scope and Content Note: apers consist of Frederick Adolphus Porcher's writing and miscellaneous items.

Writings include memoirs, essays, lectures, a eulogy for Daniel Ravenel, and transcriptions of correspondence, Latin poetry (with translations), and other literary works. Memoirs concern Porcher's life and career, South Carolina history and politics, and the "upper division of St. John's Berkeley Parish." Essays and lectures cover a wide variety of topics but are mainly concerned with English and American literature, the English language, and European and American history.

Includes a portrait miniature of Frederick A. Porcher painted on ivory by his daughter Clelia Lightwood Porcher.

Miscellaneous items include Porcher's calling card, two copper printing plates for the calling card, and a map (1836) of Europe.

Subject Headings:

Porcher, Frederick A. (Frederick Adolphus), 1809-1888.
Ravenel, Daniel, 1789-1873.
American literature.
English language -- Study and teaching -- South Carolina.
English literature -- Study and teaching -- South Carolina.
St. John's Parish (Berkeley County, S.C.) -- History.
St. John's Parish (Berkeley County, S.C.) -- Social life and customs.
South Carolina -- History.
South Carolina -- Politics and government.
Europe -- History.
Europe -- Maps.
United States -- History.

Inventory:

Box/Folder
Biography
1/1
Correspondence: 1878
1/2
Memoir (Incomplete)
1/3
Memoir (Handwritten copy) I
1/4
Memoir (Handwritten copy) II
1/5
Memoir (Handwritten copy) III
2/1
Memoir (Typescript – Incomplete & slight variation)
2/2
Memoir (Typescript) II
2/3
Memoir (Typescript) III
3/1
South Carolina History: Personal Reminiscences
3/2
Upper Beat of St. John Berkeley Parish: A Memoir
3/3
American Novelist
4/1
Belles Lettres (History of English Literature) I
4/2
Belles Lettres II
4/3
Belles Lettres III
5/1
Belles Lettres IV
5/2
An Essay in General Grammar
6/1
Grammar
6/2
Hebrew Poetry (Includes also an address to the YMCA, and excerpted materials from numerous sources, as well as diary notations)
6/3
History of English Language
6/4
Laus Patriae Coelestis
6/5
Literature, Lectures and Notes 
6/6
Lord Harly’s Proposal of a National Academy for the English Language
6/7
On the Present State of the Science of Linguistics
6/8
On Versification
6/9
Philology or the Modern Science of Linguistics
7/1
Rhetoric Lectures
7/2
La Satvre Menippee: a Political Satire Against the Holy League, 1594
7/3
Shakespeare Lectures
7/4
Ward’s Cantos
8/1
A Brief of Guizot’s Essay on the Municipal Regime of the Roman Empire
8/2
A Brief on Guizot’s Essay on Representative Government in England
8/3
Charleston: copies of correspondence relating to the 18th century history of Charleston—William Drayton, William Bull, Thomas Middleton, and John Rathay: 1761, 1777-1778
8/4
Charleston Board of Health: Personal Observations
8/5
Charleston: The City of the Planter
8/6
Crisis in the Revival of Learning
8/7
Dominican Mission
8/8
Greek History
9/1
Growth and Development of Representative Government in England
9/2
Igantius Loyola and the Jesuits
10/1
Joan of Arc
10/2
Machiavelli
10/3
Magic and Witchcraft
10/4
Mahomet
10/5
Massacre of St. Bartholomew
10/6
Nicolas di Rienzo
10/7
On Different Forms of Government and Their Respective Merits
10/8
On Different Forms of Government and Their Value
10/9
Origin and Development of the Papal Power in Europe
10/10
Origin and History of Monarchism
10/11
The Pine Lands: The Hope of Civilization in Lower Carolina (The Planter Class)
10/12
Ravenel Family Library
10/13
Roman History I
11/1
Roman History II
11/2
The Sicilian Vespers
12/1
Siege of Jerusalem
12/2
Thomas A. Becket
12/3
United States History Lectures and Notes (Untitled)
12/4
Art: Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture
12/5
Conversation and Thoughts on Astronomy and Evolution (Untitled)
12/6
Memorial to Daniel Ravenel (Untitled)
12/7
Notes on Religion (Untitled)
12/8
Reply of W.H. Walter of Trinity Chapel, New York, to Porcher’s Questions
12/9
Frederick Porcher’s Calling Card with Copper Printing Plate (French)
12/10
Frederick Porcher’s Map of Europe: 1836
12/11