Coastal Carolina University has received a $25,000 gift in support of the Sandy Island Project to help bring books to the community, preserve its rich oral Gullah history and aid in anthropological and archaeological work.

The Ocean View Memorial Foundation's gift will also help support Coastal's Celebration of Inquiry Conference, two days of cross-disciplinary, intellectual presentations held in the spring. Events are open to area residents as well as the university community.

The Sandy Island Project will be a continuation of a project started last spring at Coastal when faculty, staff and student volunteers carried books by boats, built library shelving and stocked the small library now housed in the old Sandy Island Schoolhouse.

Sandy Island, located between the Waccamaw and Great Pee Dee Rivers, is a tightly knit community whose residents are direct descendants of freed slaves and who treasure their Gullah culture. Within the Oral History Project, a small team of scholars has been assembled to record the history of Sandy Island as it has been transmitted to, remembered by, and experienced by the people of the island. Enhanced anthropological and archaeological studies of the island are also planned.

Coastal's Celebration of Inquiry Conference, which has been held annually for the past four years, aims to develop, enhance and sustain innovative, distinctive approaches of constructive dialogue across all academic disciplines. In this way the conference is intended to foster a wider appreciation for the interconnectivity of humanities, sciences, business and education. All conference events are free to the public.