CCU’s Athenaeum Press to release latest book

A release celebration will be held for “The Wealth of Nothing: Rural Southern Life through the Lens of William Van Auken Greene,” the latest release from Coastal Carolina University’s The Athenaeum Press. The event will be Friday March 27 from 3-5 p.m. at the Horry County Museum, 805 Main St., Conway.

The new book features the photographs, poetry and portraits created by Greene, a one-armed, itinerant photographer who lived and worked in Aynor and western Horry County in the 1930s and 1940s. Greene, who was born in 1866 in Minnesota, traveled to West Virginia but settled in Aynor. His photographs of school classes, family gatherings, tobacco harvesting and other local events offer a record of the life of a rural community in a specific place and time. Thirty years after Greene’s death in 1952, more than 2,000 of his negatives were rescued and donated to the Horry County Museum.

The release event will feature a brief talk on the history of Greene and the Aynor community by CCU history professor Eldred “Wink” Prince Jr., who wrote the book’s introduction. Museum Director Walter Hill will speak about the importance of the Greene collection to the museum. CCU students who researched, designed, photographed and edited the project also will speak about their experiences with this publishing process.

The Athenaeum Press is a university publishing lab, now in its third year. Students from history, digital media, English, photography and design developed and produced the project in collaboration with faculty from CCU and the staff of the museum. The book is the second in a chapbook series on little-known regional stories.

Copies of the project will be available for purchase on site, with members of the project team available for book signing.

For more information, contact The Athenaeum Press at 349-5099.

This story was originally published March 23, 2015 at 11:45 AM with the headline "CCU’s Athenaeum Press to release latest book."