South Carolina Archives
Series Description

Miscellaneous Communications to the General Assembly, 1777-1877

CREATOR: General Assembly.

TITLE: Miscellaneous communications to the General Assembly

DATE: 1776-1877; (bulk 1783-1865)

VOLUME: 11.00 cubic ft.

ARRANGEMENT: Series arranged chronologically by year and thereunder by assigned number, with a separate sequence for those items bearing no contemporary recording of the date (N.D. or No Date items).

SUMMARY SCOPE NOTE: This series consists of reports, letters, or other written information called for by act, resolution, or legislative committee or otherwise submitted to the General Assembly. These communications originated in the legislative process and became a practical method whereby the General Assembly obtained important information. Although some of the communications were called for on an annual basis, most were irregular, submitted as called for by specific legislative act or other directive. 

A major source of these communications were commissioners for various state projects who were called on to report the progress and outcome of their work. The series also contains letters concerning membership in or resignation from the General Assembly and other letters that closely resemble petitions in content. An official frequently called on to report was the Comptroller General. Communications from him in this series differ from his annual reports in that they are generally less extensive and on specific subjects.

Other boards and public officials submitted reports that have been included in this series. Among these were the auditor general, solicitors, directors of the Bank of the State, the quarter master general, the attorney general, commissioners to run various boundaries, the treasurers, and other state financial officials. Information included is varied, though almost always related to a public project or information under the control of a certain official. Some of the communications also contain legislative resolutions as an outgrowth of  the information they impart.

INDEX/FINDING AID: Indexed to the item level in the repository's On- line Index to Legislative Papers, 1782-1866, and in the fifteen-reel computer output microfilm (COM) Index to Legislative Papers produced by the repository in 1991. The numeric code 0010 017 was used to designate this series in the computer output microfilm index.

These indexes include personal names, geographic locations, and subject terms.

ADDITIONAL FORM: Entire series also available in digital form on the repository's website.  The images on the website are linked to index hits on the repository's On-line Records Index.  Some of the communications taking the form of reports are printed or abstracted in the printed Reports and Resolutions.

ASSOCIATED MATERIAL: Other communications with receipts for payment added to them are filed with the records of the Treasurer's Office or the Comptroller General. Twenty-three communications filed in the Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution are included in the on-line and computer output microfilm indexes to legislative papers.

Other communications to the General Assembly have been filed as separate series and are not included in the legislative papers indexes. These include Free School Reports, Annual Reports and Private Reports of the Bank of the State of South Carolina, Annual Reports of the Commissioners of the New State House, and Annual Reports of the Regents of the Lunatic Asylum. The separately filed Annual Reports of the Comptroller General, which are also not indexed, include subseries for the Fines and Forfeitures of the Clerks of Court and of the Attorney General and Solicitors, Returns of the Commissioners of the Poor, Returns of the Commissioners of the Roads, Reports of the Commissioner of Columbia, Reports of the Charleston Transient Poor Funds, Reports of the Beaufort and Georgetown Transient Poor Funds, Reports of the South Carolina College, and Reports of the Charleston Commissioners of the Tobacco Inspection.

HIERARCHICAL NOTE: Forms part of the records of the General Assembly.