SC Highway Patrol commemorates 85th Anniversary

Flanked by several member of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, Colonel Mike Oliver visited the South Carolina Department of Archives and History Tuesday to commemorate the unit’s 85th anniversary. Archives Director W. Eric Emerson read aloud the original act establishing the Patrol in April 1930, a document that is one of the 80 million government records stored within the vaults of the department. “We welcome the opportunity to celebrate this milestone with the S.C. Highway Patrol,” said Emerson. “Like the Patrol, we also celebrate an important milestone, recently commemorating 110 years as a state agency in South Carolina. The act establishing the Highway Patrol is one of many significant state records housed and preserved within our agency.” When Emerson finished reading the act, Colonel Oliver spoke to reporters about the history of the SCHP and the important role it plays in protecting the citizens of South Carolina. After the press conference, Oliver and other members of the Patrol were given a tour of the vaults and shown some of the priceless documents contain therein. All the records at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History are stored in special temperature-and humidity-controlled vaults that reduce further damage caused by various factors throughout their early years of existence.