The Bamberg Herald Archive

For nearly a century, the weekly Bamberg Herald (1891-1972) served to chronicle the aspirations of the residents of Bamberg County, located in southwestern South Carolina. Like many rural southern communities, Bamberg's economy depended heavily on railroads and cash crops, most notably cotton. Significant events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries included: the establishment of Bamberg Cotton Mill and Carlisle Fitting School (a preparatory school affiliated with the South Carolina Methodist Conference) in 1892; the construction of the county courthouse and jail in 1897; and the infestation of cotton crops by boll weevils starting in 1918.

Henry Simms Hartzog established the Bamberg Herald in 1891. As only a few early issues exist, much of what is known about the Herald's fledgling years has been extrapolated from other newspapers. Generally speaking, the Herald favored temperance over prohibition, supported Edgefield, South Carolina, planter and populist politician Benjamin Ryan Tillman for governor, and showcased a biting sense of humor. On April 6, 1892, the Yorkville Enquirer reprinted this facetious "guest editorial," supposedly submitted to the Herald by "I.R. Hungry" : "I think the best way to keep things quiet is to drown 200 politicians in the Congaree River and turn the state house into a cotton factory."

In 1899, Aquilla Wilkes Knight bought the Bamberg Herald; he would remain involved with the newspaper for over 30 years. Under his guidance, the Herald prospered, expanding from a four- to an eight-page paper in 1906 and reaching a circulation of 1,500 subscribers in 1921. Decades later, Bamberg native and local historian David Graham Copeland would declare the Herald "one of the brightest, cleverest, cleanest, and best edited of the many thousands of county weeklies in the English language."

A number of men affiliated with the Bamberg Herald went on to other noteworthy endeavors. Founder Henry Hartzog later served as president of the Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina (now Clemson University). Arthur Buist Jordan went on to edit and publish the Dillon Herald. Henry Calhoun Folk served as director and vice president of Bamberg Cotton Mills, founder of Peoples Bank of Bamberg, South Carolina representative (1890-93), and South Carolina senator (1933-36). Aquilla Knight served on the town's public works commission and was credited with introducing the long-distance telephone to the community.

In 1972, the Herald merged with the Bamberg Advertizer, established in 1967 by former employee Carl Kilgus, and became the Bamberg Advertizer-Herald. The Advertizer-Herald continues to this day, having been published by Betty and Carl Kilgus for much of its existence.