Cokie Roberts opens 175th anniversary celebration of South Caroliniana
Posted on: 10/1/2015; Updated on: 10/2/2015By Megan Sexton, 803-777-1421
Journalist and author Cokie Roberts will be the guest speaker Tuesday (Oct. 6) to open the 175th anniversary celebration for the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina.
Roberts, who has used South Caroliniana collections for her books on women who helped shape America, will speak at the 6 p.m. program at Drayton Hall Theatre, 1214 College St. A reception and behind-the-scenes tour will follow at the South Caroliniana Library on UofSC’s historic Horseshoe.
"It’s so exciting for me to join in the celebration of the 175th birthday of the South Caroliniana Library. I had the joy of visiting the beautiful old building on a day when it just so happened that someone was bringing in some family letters to add to the collection. It certainly brought home to me what a living place the library is even as it preserves and protects the past. I have been the beneficiary of that preservation as I have mined the writings, most of them unpublished, of South Carolina’s fabulous women,” Roberts says. “The staff has patiently unearthed many treasures that have greatly enriched my work. I can’t wait for the party!"
The event is free and open to the public. RSVP to (803) 576-6016 or by email.
Roberts, a political commentator for ABC News and NPR, has won countless awards including three Emmys in her more than 40 years in broadcasting. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting. From 1996 to 2002 she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program “This Week.”
In addition to her appearances on the airwaves, Roberts, along with her husband, Steven V. Roberts, writes a weekly column syndicated in newspapers around the country by Universal U Click. The Robertses also wrote two books together: “Our Haggadah: Uniting Traditions for Interfaith Families,” published in 2011, and “From this Day Forward,” an account of their now more than 45-year marriage and other marriages in American history. The book immediately went onto The New York Times bestseller list, following Cokie Roberts’s No. 1 bestseller, “We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters,” an account of women’s roles and relationships throughout American history. Roberts’ histories of women in America — “Founding Mothers” (2004) and “Ladies of Liberty” (2008), along with her recently published “Capital Dames,” about women and Washington during the Civil War — all also rated as New York Times bestsellers.
Roberts holds more than 25 honorary degrees, serves on the boards of several nonprofit institutions and President George W. Bush appointed her to his Commission on Service and Civic Participation. In 2008, the Library of Congress named her a “Living Legend,” one of the very few Americans to have attained that honor. She is the mother of two and grandmother of six.
The Oct. 6 talk by Roberts kicks off South Caroliniana’s 175th anniversary celebration, and the university has events planned during this school year to mark the milestone of the nation’s oldest freestanding academic library. At the same time, renovations to the building are being planned to make sure the archival treasures remain safe and secure. Those items include the Civil War diaries of Mary Boykin Chesnut and photographs, newspapers, books and manuscripts that tell the history of the state and nation.
A full schedule of the year’s events can be found on the University Libraries website.
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