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"R" is for the R. L. Bryan Company

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"R" is for the R. L. Bryan Company. The publishing firm of R.L. Bryan Company is Columbia's oldest industry. In 1844 Richard Lathan Bryan of Charleston opened a newsstand and stationery shop on what is now Main Street. After the Civil War the company added a printing department and in 1898 began printing the bills and journals of the General Assembly. In the early 20th century, R.L. Bryan became the state's textbook distributor—a function it still manages—and also entered the office furniture and supply market. In 1969 on its 125th anniversary, the company moved all operations to its new Greystone Complex. For many years the firm was a closely held private corporation. In 1985, it established an employee stock ownership plan and by 1991, the R. L. Bryan Company was 100 percent employee-owned.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.