John M. Rivers Communications Museum

A portion of the collection is on permanent display on the first floor of Addlestone Library. LIGHTNING SPEED: The Transformative History of Communications Technology is now open!

Previously headquartered at 58 George St. in the historic Elliot House (1803) on the campus of the College of Charleston, the John M. Rivers Communications Collection contains antique radios, televisions, phonographs, telephones, magic lanterns, motion picture projectors, and other items related to the entertaining history of the communications and broadcasting fields. The permanent exhibition LIGHTNING SPEED opened in 2024 and showcases over 100 objects that document the history of communications technology through stories of their impact on society at the local, national, and global levels. Visitors are invited to view these artifacts through the lens of the popular culture they documented and influenced over time.

History of the John Rivers Communications Museum

The John River’s Communications Museum collection was first housed in the WCSC Broadcast Museum at 80 Alexander Street and was an extension of WCSC, Inc. The museum was originally conceived in 1975 by John M. Rivers, Sr. and John M. Rivers, Jr. as an educational repository for original broadcast equipment formerly used by WCSC. It also included objects from the Seigling Music House on King Street and later incorporated the Ken Hanson Collection. The WCSC Broadcast Museum, which was operated by curator Patsy Hicken, closed in 1981 after Ms. Hicken’s death. The broadcast museum later reopened by appointment only through Gloria Wilson, Vice President and General Manager of WCSC.

In 1988, College of Charleston President Harry M. Lightsey, Jr. accepted an endowment from the Rivers family to establish the John Rivers Communications Museum at 58 George Street on the college campus. The museum operated under the direction of Cathy Evans and Rick Zender until it was closed in 2015 due to structural issues with the building. The objects are now under the care of the College Libraries’ Special Collections.

Ken Hanson (1912-1999), of Clearwater, Florida, collected the majority of the impressive items in the collection. Mr. Hanson began collecting in 1930 while operating a chain of motion picture theaters in central Florida using portable equipment and the new “sound-on-film” movies. John Rivers, Sr. (1903-1988), after whom the museum and collection are named, spent his life in Charleston, SC, where he enjoyed a distinguished career in broadcasting. From 1938 to 1973, he was president of WCSC, Inc. (“Wonderful Charleston, South Carolina”). WCSC, which began on May 14, 193,0 as an AM radio station, is the oldest broadcast station in Charleston. Since June 19, 1953, it has been the state’s oldest television station in continuous operation.