At USC, an intimate look at Pat Conroy’s work

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Pat Conroy — 1945-2016

Beaufort's prince, Pat Conroy, rests at home ☙ State of Surprise: Pat Conroy’s love letter to South Carolina ☙ Cartoonist Robert Ariail's tribute to Conroy ☙ Pat Conroy mourned by dignitaries, cadets and friends with ‘personal grief’ ☙ Lauderdale: I could hear an ‘amen’ at Pat Conroy’s funeral ☙ Why graduates of The Citadel, class of 2001, united to attend Conroy funeral ☙ Hundreds pay respects to Pat Conroy, family in Beaufort ☙ How 10 minutes with Pat Conroy changed my life ☙ Lauderdale: Pat Conroy expects all the shrimp in Beaufort to be pickled for his funeral (+recipe!) ☙ Op-ed: 'Let something legendary' come from Pat Conroy ☙ Keyserling: Pat Conroy bonded with other 'orphans' who landed in Beaufort ☙ Real people inspired characters in Conroy's books ☙ Lowcountry remembers Pat Conroy ☙ How Pat Conroy made Beaufort a destination ☙ Pat Conroy on the silver screen ☙ Model for 'Prince of Tides' tiger lived in Columbia ☙ Photos: Pat Conroy and Beaufort ☙ Books written by Pat Conroy ☙ Quotes from Pat Conroy's works

Stories from Conroy's friends and admirers: Conroy's closest friends: Grateful now for last year's celebration of author's life ☙ Close encounters with Pat Conroy ☙ Lowcountry remembers Pat Conroy ☙ Sallie Ann Robinson recalls press tour with Pat Conroy ☙ Great Santini tells principal 'my son (Pat Conroy) will not be a secretary' ☙ Retired book seller: Decades after Daufuskie, Pat Conroy 'knew every (student's) name' ☙ Conroy book buffs: When you read his books, 'you are there'

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Pat Conroy’s writings and bigger-than-life personality have been in the headlines this week, as many remembered one of the state’s most iconic authors.

Conroy, who sold 20 million copies of his works, died last week at age 70 following a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

If you’re a fan, head to the University of South Carolina before the end of the month to catch an intimate exhibit that showcases his legacy.

“Pat Conroy: A Retrospective” is an exhibit of the author’s papers, which came to the University Libraries in May 2014. The exhibit is in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Gallery in the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library at USC.

“This is just a snapshot of what we have from the Pat Conroy Collection,” said Jessica Crouch, the archivist who curated the exhibit.

The exhibit runs through March 31. After that, the part of the collection on display returns to its permanent home in the archives with the rest of Conroy’s papers, where it remains available for researchers and students. It will be rotated as an exhibit in the future with other collections.

The exhibit includes items pertaining to Conroy’s 11 books, photographs taken on the sets of movies made from his books, letters, book art, and other items that delve deeper than the author’s life.

The materials give a peek into family psychology, the Civil War, Southern literature and the relationship between Southern authors, military history, and South Carolina history.

So while Conroy fans will be enthralled to relive scenes from “The Great Santini” or “The Prince of Tides,” even those who haven’t read one of his books can enjoy the exhibit.

“You may not think you are a Pat Conroy fan, but when you get to the exhibit you’ll realize you are,” Crouch said. “You see he lived the Southern experience, you know the history he’s talking about.”

Here, five things not to miss at “Pat Conroy: A Retrospective”:

Manuscripts

All 11 handwritten manuscripts are displayed. Conroy hand wrote each word because he didn’t know how to type.

“His dad wouldn’t let him learn,” Crouch said. “He said it was woman’s work.”

Scrapbooks

Conroy’s father, Donald, took it upon himself to become his son’s first archivist.

Without Pat Conroy’s knowledge, he would intercept fan mail and correspondence and pilfer items for the scrapbooks.

“Pat told the story that he once got a letter from (President) Jimmy Carter,” Crouch said. “He didn’t know he had received it until he looked at the scrapbooks after his father died.”

Photographs of Conroy teaching at Daufuskie Island

Billy Keyserling, the mayor of Beaufort, took the photos as a class project.

Conroy wrote about his experience on Daufuskie in “The Water is Wide.”

Journals

Conroy was a dedicated journal writer and had no qualms sharing those with the rest of his papers.

“Pat had the attitude, ‘I put it all in my books anyway,’” Crouch said.

Family letters and photographs

So many of his books were based on his life and family. Among the letters are those he wrote home during his years at The Citadel, which inspired “The Lords of Discipline.”

“You don’t have to have read all his books to enjoy this exhibit,” Crouch said. “You can see why he resonates with so many people with insights to his family, personal life and history.

“There is something for everyone.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 7:57 PM with the headline "At USC, an intimate look at Pat Conroy’s work."