COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - This storage unit was probably a bust, Joseph Whiteside began to think.
He’d purchased the contents of the abandoned unit through an online auction - think of the “Storage Wars” TV show - hoping to salvage some furniture pieces he could refurbish and sell for profit. It’s something he’s taken up recently as a new side gig, hoping to one day open up his own store with his wife, Teidra.
As he began to wade through the contents of the 10-foot-by-15-foot unit at a northeast Columbia storage facility, Whiteside found boxes. Boxes of paperwork, permits, nothing special. Nothing valuable.
He continued wading, feeling he might have wasted his $170 bid.
But more boxes began to reveal something more precious: The life of a former South Carolina governor, state senator and U.S. congressman.
Whiteside had unwittingly purchased a storage unit that belonged to the late Gov. Carroll Campbell Jr., the Republican head of the Palmetto State from 1987-1995 who had stored years worth of memories in these boxes before his death in 2005.
“I’m still shocked. I’m still speechless, a little nervous, honestly,” Whiteside said, realizing whose possessions he now held and wondering how and why these treasures had been left in the storage unit. He wondered, too, what he would do with it all.
How Campbell’s possessions got there, turns out, was not such a terribly deep mystery.
Mike Campbell’s dad had tons of things.
“My mom always said he was a pack rat,” said the younger son of the former governor. “Through his career, he accumulated so many things. He had just every kind of award that you could imagine, and special stuff like that.
“And so many of the things he was given were memorable to him, and he wanted to kind of share those memories. He never wanted to throw things away because he felt honored if he was given something.”
His family knew he had multiple storage units scattered across South Carolina and assumed there might be some they didn’t know about. They became aware of this particular unit only recently - right around the time Whiteside purchased it. They’re not sure how it had slipped through the cracks of their parents’ estate.
After the death of Campbell’s wife, Iris, in 2017, the Campbell family closed out their parents’ estate, holding onto family keepsakes for themselves, donating some items to South Carolina museums and holding an estate sale for many of the couple’s other items.
“At the estate sale, people bought every kind of knick-knack you could imagine because it belonged to Carroll Campbell,” Mike Campbell said. His family was flattered “that people are still interested in Dad’s stuff.”
Mike Campbell said he assumed the family had already handled his parents’ most important possessions, so he was curious what was inside this newly unlocked storage unit.
What it held was a wide variety of artifacts Carroll Campbell had apparently collected over his years in politics:
A photo album documenting an official visit to China, and vases and artwork brought home from Asia; about a dozen golden, ceremonial keys to various cities across South Carolina, from Laurens to Marion; a rolled-up weather map of Hurricane Hugo, which hit South Carolina during Campbell’s administration; a framed embroidery of the Governor’s Mansion; a rolled-up print of a painting that depicted Campbell in a reunion of South Carolina governors; large framed paintings of wildlife scenes and South Carolina landmarks; a presidential coin from Ronald Reagan and a commemorative plate from the inauguration of Bill Clinton. And yes, a fair amount of furniture, as Whiteside originally hoped for.
Monetarily speaking, most of these items probably aren’t of great value, Whiteside said. But sentimentally speaking, they reflect the value of the life of the man who once owned them.
“I’m not looking to get rich, but I’m willing to sell these items to someone who takes pride in American culture, American history, politics. Someone who’s really interested in this and not going to let it go (back) to a storage unit. … Somebody’s who’s actually going to appreciate this more than I would,” Whiteside said.
Whiteside has taken some of the Campbell items to Bill Mishoe Estate Services on Fairfield Road, where they’re available for bidding through next Thursday, Sept. 3.
Through a reporter, Whiteside and Mike Campbell connected, and the governor’s sons plan to take a look at some of the more personal items Whiteside has kept from the storage unit, including some photographs and awards.
As originally planned, Whiteside plans to restore and resell some of the furniture pieces.
His $170 bid for the storage unit, he said, won’t have been wasted.
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