Mississippi History

Mississippi State University was founded in 1878 and opened its doors in 1880 as a land-grant school de-signed for teaching agriculture and mechanical arts. Building upon the work of John K. Bettersworth, Michael B. Ballard traces the evolution of this institution. From the beginning, first president Stephen D. Lee wanted to expand the university\'s vi-sion beyond agriculture and engineering. While admit-ting that these should be the focal points, the school gra-dually introduced studies in the humanities.

The university evolved around the expectation of being the \"People\'s Col-lege,\" drawing students from rural areas and poor back-grounds and giving them a chance to succeed in higher education. There remains a broad cross-section in the student body from many backgrounds, including a substantial number of African American and international students. This kind of mix, which extends to the faculty, has strengthened the research capabilities of the university and broadened the academic landscape in ways Lee never dreamed.

The author covers many other facets of MSU, such as how it has been affected by national events through the years, including the Great Depression, World Wars I and II, and the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Michael B. Ballard is the university archivist and coordinator of the Congressional and Political Research Center at Mississippi State University. He is the author of numerous books on the Civil War, including Pemberton: The General Who Lost Vicksburg and Civil War Mississippi: A Guide, both from University Press of Mississippi.

This collection of black-and-white images conveys the story of human impact on Mississippi's forests from the pioneer era to the present. Photographs gleaned from public and private archives tell a visual tale of the development of Mississippi's forest industries. Historic locomotives course through the woods, oxen drag big timber over rutted terrain, and lookouts perch atop Forest Service towers eyeing the horizon for telltale signs of fire. Photos of life in a portable logging camp reveal early hospitals, lumber company stores, mobile homes, and the advancing technology of logging machinery. The hatchet and torch give way to the cross-cut saw, the steam-driven loaders, the gas chain saws, and eventually the bulldozer and the Buschcombine. Portraits of the major players in the industry's investment and development provide a human face to the powerful history of Mississippi forestry.

The soft pulp lumber used to crate ammunition and to build many hastily constructed army barracks across the country during World War II finds documentation here. Mississippi pine housed the American war effort. After harvesting came inevitable difficulties in land management caused by over-cut terrain. This book documents how the forestry industry returned to renew its resources, replant its fields, and maintain an ecological balance for future generations.

Timber includes images by such noteworthy photographers as Clifford H. Poland of Memphis and John N. Teneussin of New Orleans. The Poland photographs alone, many previously misidentified and now on display as Poland's work for the first time, offer a level of artistic achievement that parallels the industrial might of their subjects.

Written in short, easy-to-read vignettes, these tales uncover some of the state’s most fascinating figures and legends from how the Choctaws and Chickasaws settled the land to a UFO encounter in Pascagoula. You’ll also read about famous Mississippians, the American Civil War, the 1960s Civil Rights movement, living in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, and other captivating tales that include:

· The U.S. president who stole another man’s wife, brought her to Mississippi, and married her before she was divorced
· The pirate who helped win the Battle of New Orleans and then retired to Bay St. Louis
· The national hero who killed a man in a knife fight in Natchez
· The blues singer who sold his soul to the devil in Clarksdale in return for his talent
· An interview with James Meredith

You will find photographs and early historical stories of the upper Mississippi river towns from St.Louis, Missouri, to Minneapolis, Minnesota.