Oliphant, Mary C. Simms | South Carolina Public Radio

 "O" is for Oliphant, Mary Chevillette Simms [1891-1988]. Historian. Born in Barnwell County, Mary C. Simms Oliphant was the granddaughter of novelist and historian William Gilmore Simms. In 1917 the state superintendent of education asked her to update her grandfather's history for use as a textbook. It was adopted and revised every five years until 1932 when Oliphant wrote her own school text, The Simms History of South Carolina—which went through nine editions and was used in the state's schools until 1985. In 1927 she wrote The South Carolina Reader to accompany her history. Later she and her daughter Mary Simms Oliphant Furman co-authored a third grade text entitled South Carolina from the Mountains to the Sea.  Among Mary Chevillette Simms Oliphant's many other publications was a six-volume edition of William Gilmore Simms's letters.