» Unveiling the Legacy of Avery: Dr. Otis W. Pickett
This is a part of an ongoing series featuring the reflections of past Avery Research Center employees, interns, and undergraduate and graduate students.
I was a graduate assistant at the Avery Research Center from 2006-2008. I worked in the archives and in the reading room and gave tours to visitors. Also, the Zion Presbyterian Church collection became very important to my research for my MA at CofC, my PhD at the University of Mississippi, and my forthcoming book Southern Shepherds, Savage Wolves: Presbyterian Domestic Missionaries and Race in South Carolina, 1802-1874 with USC Press.
While at CofC, I served as a founding member of the Graduate Student Association, helped write the constitution for the GSA, and was the first President of the Graduate Student Body. I also wrote an article in the Avery Messenger newsletter about all the books scholars had written using Avery’s archival collections as a source.
I have since served as an Associate Professor of History at Mississippi College, and now I am the University Historian at Clemson University. My time at Avery sharpened me in many ways, but most importantly, it helped me see my research and the history of my hometown (Charleston, SC) from a different lens. It helped me more robustly understand the African American experience, and that experience has helped shape the entire trajectory of my life, research, and career. I am indebted to the Avery Center for changing my life that way.