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Kohn-Hennig family gives collection to USC

The South Caroliniana Library has acquired one of the most important private collections of materials about South Carolina.

The August Kohn-Helen Kohn Hennig Collection is probably the largest private collection of printed materials and books pertaining to or written about South Carolina. The 4,000-item collection is also noteworthy because it was built and cared for by three generations of the same family.

Originally started in the 1880s by August Kohn, a USC graduate and former Board of Trustees member, the collection is now being donated to USC by Julian Hennig Jr., Kohn's grandson and son of the late Helen Kohn Hennig; his wife,Virginia Gaston Hennig; and their children, Helen Kohn Hennig Kluiters and Julian "Jay" Hennig III, all of Columbia.

The Hennig family was on the Columbia campus March 9 to talk about the collection.

"My grandfather began the collection, my mother continued it, and my wife and I have added to it," said Julian Hennig Jr. "It was the wish of my grandparents that the collection be kept together and that it be kept in the South Caroliniana Library. We've chosen to give it to USC now to make it available to more scholars, and because we wanted to rely on the expertise of the library staff to catalog and preserve the materials."

The collection has "a significant amount of new material never before available for researchers and others interested in South Carolina's history," said Allen Stokes, university librarian for special collections. "We have long considered it to be one of the most important collections because of the valuable information that is has about South Carolina," said Stokes, who estimates the value of the collection at more than $300,000.

"We are particularly awed by the historical pamphlets in the collection. There are probably about 80 bound volumes, plus some loose pamphlets, many of them about agriculture or textiles in the state."

The collection also includes a rare book from the early 20th century, "Modern Cotton Mill Engineering," about the state's textile industry, published by W.B. Smith Whaley and Co., and a rare 18th-century journal by Samuel Urlsperger, titled "Detailed Reports on the Salzburger Emigrants Who Settled in America."

Other significant books include memoirs, biographies, and documentary editions of South Carolina's participation in the American Revolution and the Civil War. The collection will be on exhibit through May 12 at South Caroliniana Library.