The collection of the Historic Houses Office is organized into five subseries: I) Departmental Administration, II) Correspondence, III) Engagement, IV) Documentation and Research, and V) Restoration, Conservation, and Maintenance.

The Departmental Administration files contain records pertaining to the office’s finance (including yearly budgets as well as development and grant opportunities), staff records, meetings (both with internal organizations and committees at Clemson University as well as with external organizations), and reports from its inception to 2019. These reports are differentiated from presentations in Series III) Engagement and reports in Series IV) Documentation and Research by their utility as a function of the administrative needs of the department rather than engagement or documentation and research.

The Correspondence files include the department’s official incoming and outgoing communication via memos, handwritten letters, typed letters, and emails from its directors, divided chronologically by year. Most of the files include memos, emails, and letters to and from Susan Cline-Cordonier (1990-1993), Debbie DuBose, and Will Hiott (1993-present). Several files further include Dr. Gary Ransdell’s correspondence in 1993, extensive communiqué concerning his decision to dissolve the department under his supervision as Vice President of Institutional Advancement, records not held in the Office of Institutional Advancement Records (Series 320). Communication concerning specific works and projects, such as the Fort Hill Restoration Project, are arranged in their respective folders.

The Engagement files encompass a broad assortment of activities, events, and publications involving the Historic Houses Office. They largely represent collaborative initiatives and knowledge-exchange opportunities since 1993 undertaken by Hiott with the university and private donors as well as local and state communities. These include conferences, events held at one or more historic properties on Clemson’s campus, house tours and exhibit displays at the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion, Hanover House, and Hopewell Plantation, articles for publication, educational didactics for visitors, internships at the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion, and Creative Inquiry collaboration projects concerning Clemson University’s historic properties.

The Documentation and Research files detail research conducted by the department on the history and development of Clemson University, broadly conceived. This subseries is divided into four sub-subseries. The Artifact sub-subseries consists of inventories of artworks and material artifacts held by the Historic Houses Office and private donations of such objects to the university. The other sub-subseries, Buildings and Places, and People, consist of documents, reports, and analyses of places and persons relevant to the history of Clemson University and its land holdings in the Upper Piedmont and Lowcountry regions of South Carolina. These sources range from the early Cherokee settlement of Esseneca, through the Revolutionary War and Antebellum periods when the present campus property was divided among estates and plantations such as Clergy Hall, Hopewell Plantation, Keowee Plantation, and the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion, and the early founding of Clemson College. Key resources include biographical information on Andrew Pickens, John C. Calhoun, Thomas Green Clemson, Floride Calhoun, Anna Clemson, and preliminary research on individuals within the local African American community, especially enslaved persons and post-Emancipation convict laborers. These items were gathered by Will Hiott from multiple sources, primarily from Clemson University Libraries and Special Archives, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and online sources, or generated by employees and affiliates of the Office of Historic Houses.

The last subseries of this collection, Restoration, Conservation, and Maintenance, outlines all matters pertaining to the physical maintenance, commemoration, and safeguarding of historic properties and artifacts at Clemson University. This includes plans, budgets, purchases, bids, contracts, and contractors’ reports. The primary components of this series concern the Fort Hill Restoration Project, which involved extensive restoration works conducted on the interior and exterior of the Fort Hill (Calhoun) Mansion between 1999 and 2003. Further details on the relocation of the Hanover House, plans for restorations at Hopewell Plantation as well as other historic structures on campus, and campus preservation plans are also included. Beyond historic properties, the series also contains information concerning the conservation of artifacts held by the Office of Historic Houses.