About this Collection

South Carolina Artifact Documentation Project

Drew Ruddy, Steve Howard (RIP)

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The South Carolina Artifact Documentation Project, also known as “Divers Dedicated to Historic Preservation” provides an incredible peek inside South Carolina’s submerged cultural resources and her history through information and artifacts.

For over 15 years, the collective of avocational archaeological divers/collectors has been scouring the beaches, oceans and waterways of South Carolina to collect, document and preserve artifacts that highlight South Carolina’s storied past.

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History:

In the 1990’s Howard and Ruddy instituted their own volunteer effort to document and save information regarding artifacts in private collections which may otherwise be lost to posterity.

They called it the South Carolina Artifact Documentation Project. With the gracious cooperation of many private collectors, they have photographed and recorded thousands of prehistoric and historic artifacts of South Carolina heritage. In addition, many of the collectors documented their stories in video oral history interviews.

The Collection:

The project’s contributions to the professional archaeological community include the discovery and documentation of shipwrecks, early man sites, fossil beds,and Colonial to early 20th century sites which would have other wise gone unnoticed..

Contributed by Drew Ruddy and Steve Howard, the collection encompasses a wide range of historic submerge artifacts and information including: glass, medicine and dispensary bottles, fossils, stone tools, ceramics, pottery, metal objects wooden objects, shipwreck artifacts, clay pipes, coins/tokens, bone tools and teeth.

These artifacts were recovered from the coastal waters of South Carolina for educational and research purposes by a collective of amateur divers and archeaologists

The current website, which has been preserved by the Trust includes images of artifacts with details and descriptions, oral history interviews tied to specific projects or artifacts in the collection and fascinating dive site reports and records.

About The Donors:

John Andrew Ruddy, Jr. (Drew)

  • Avocational archaeological diver in South Carolina diving on Civil War blockade runners and other historic sunken vessels and sites in the Lowcountry.
  • U. S, Navy diver serving on the USS Puget Sound (AD 38) and USS Ortolan (ASR 22).
  • Worked in commercial diving in the offshore oil industry. Did jobs which included saturation diving equipment technician, life support technician, tender, diver, and saturation diving supervisor. Was an operator for Oceaneering International
  • Atmospheric Diving Systems (ADS) JIM and WASP; Diving to depths exceeding 1800 feet.
  • Participated on the archaeological dive crew of the H. L. Hunley Recovery Project.
  • Served as a commercial diving instructor at The Divers Institute of Technology (Seattle, WA.)
  • Currently serving on the ART (Archaeological Review Trust) Board for the state of South Carolina.

 

Stephen Henry Howard

  • Steve Howard operated various size vessels during his career and held a 500-ton captain certificate.
  • He worked as an archaeological technician diver on multiple underwater projects with the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology.
  • Howard served for over 20 years as a survey vessel operator, commercial diver, side scan sonar operator, and sometimes survey crew chief.
  • Howard did much marine survey work with the firm Diversified Wilbanks, Inc. working for the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) sponsored by author Clive Cussler.
  • The team worked for 8 seasons searching for the BonHomme Richard (John Paul Jones’ shipwreck) in the North Sea. This project surveyed over 1900 sq. nautical miles and located over 60 shipwrecks
  • Howard was a member of the search team for the H L Hunley and was crew boat captain on the Hunley Recovery Project.
  • The team surveyed over 500 sq. nautical miles in Lake Michigan and located 10 shipwrecks.
  • In Texas the team assisted in locating and identifying 18 shipwrecks.
  • Steve Howard passed away in September 2023.