3. Robert Woodward Barnwell (1831-1863) correspondence, 1854-1856

Barnwell's letters detail his preparation for a trip to Europe, including a physical description of himself and his cousin Nathaniel Barnwell Fuller, as noted in their passports; their time abroad, especially Robert's studying of Hebrew and theology in Berlin, where he compares American women and German women, Beaufort women and Berlin women (May 7, 1855) and notes his sorrow for how hard the German women have to work without servants, with some information on his European travels. Upon his return in 1856, he describes setting up housekeeping in Zion Parsonage, outside Columbia, South Carolina, where he is serving as a minister, his failure to be elected librarian of South Carolina College, and success at being elected a professor. With many mentions of other faculty members, and a reference to the histories of South Carolina written by William James Rivers, David Ramsay and William Gilmore Simms. He mentions his ordination in Statesburg (1856) and references high church and confirmation of Negroes. One letter (March 1856?) contains a page written by his brother Willy (William Finley) Barnwell.