Mary Brunson Heard Collection - Accession 1612 - M792 (849)

This collections consists of material collected by 1911 Winthrop Alumae, Mary S. Brunson Heard (1891-1975). The collection consists of the November 1907 and January 1911 Winthrop Journal, a letter regarding an invitation to the Senior Dance by a Mr. Baker written on Winthrop Litrary Society letterhead, a Senior English composition paper titled, “Henry Griswold’s Old Home,” Senior Astronomy list, and, of particular interest are the three typescript copies of poet Anna Peyre Shackelford Dinnies reminiscence or diary of her trip from New Orleans, LA to Charleston, SC in 1851. The reminiscence would be of interest to anyone interested in researching pre-Civil War South. Anna Peyre Shackelford Dinnies (1805-1886) was a South Carolina native (Georgetown, SC) and was the daughter of Judge William Frederick Shackelford. Anna was poet and writer who often used the pen name Moina. She received her education at the Female Seminary of the Miss Ramsays (daughters of author and historian Dr. David Ramsay) in Charleston, SC. She married Dr. John Clifford Dinnies (1806-1884) in 1830 and the couple later relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana. After twenty years away she took a trip to visit her family in Charleston in 1851. She detailed her experiences on her trip with her daughter Grace Louise Dinnies Smith (1835-1854) in her essay titled, “Notes of My Trip to South Carolina in 1851.” Mary Brunson Heard transcribed the diary which was in the possession of Mrs. Boykin. The author discusses in detail her experiences traveling through Georgia and South Carolina while describing the people and places she came across and her impressions of each. She did not have a high opinion on the Georgians she met and described them as “rude and uncultivated in manner, coarse in appearance, and rowdy in habits,” but she was thoroughly impressed by Stone Mountain describing it as “striking,” a “wonder”, and “stands alone upon the Earth.”https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/manuscriptcollection_findingaids/2747/thumbnail.jp