Alexander Salley. Image from Archives and Records Management Division Picture file
(1871-1961) Salley was born in Orangeburg, SC. He graduated from the Citadel and developed a fascination for local historical records. He published abstracts of historic documents and also wrote pieces advocating for a state archive after his discovery of long-lost revolutionary war records. The General Assembly created funding and a full-time secretary for the State Historical Commission and for the next 45 years he served as secretary of the commission. Salley organized, filed, and wrote about the state's documentary heritage that would evolve into the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
His activism was crucial to the preservation of historic government records in South Carolina.
