An exhibit featuring thousands of photos and manuscripts from Mississippi’s 1950s farm families opened in the library today.
“The overall project is intended to preserve the rich agricultural history of our state,” said Frances Coleman, dean of the general library.
In 1954 television station in Jackson began sponsoring a program called “Farm Family of the Week” that explored the lives of rural families. Langfitt, the mastermind of the program, selected one family a week to feature.
The program ran for six years before finally coming to a close in 1961. Langfitt retained roughly 17,000 photographic negatives and close to 300 handwritten manuscripts. These items of memorabilia are the main focus of the exhibit.
“This is actual documentation of more than just cattle. It’s a focal point about the families of that time and their agricultural life in Mississippi,” said Mattie Sink, manuscripts coordinator for MSU libraries.
The exhibit, sponsored by the Consortium for the History of Agricultural and Rural Mississippi, will be displayed until the end of the year.
A ceremony at 3 p.m. will kickoff the three-month-long event. It will honor the late Joe Caldwell, formerly of the dairy science department; Howard Langfitt, an active 4H member; as well as the state’s oldest agricultural families.
Coleman, along with Joe McGilberry and Vance Watson, vice president of agriculture, Forestry and vet medicine make up the trio of project coordinators of CHARM.
“Our vision is that our neighboring states might start similar projects within their own borders in order that we as a region might link up together to preserve the South’s agricultural history,” Coleman said.
Sink is also on the steering committee for CHARM. She said that it was one of the best bodies of documentation of farm life in the state.
CHARM has sent out invitations to all the original families and their lineage to attend today’s ceremony.
Watson said that agricultural technology has rapidly changed since 1996 and the introduction of the flavor-saver tomato.
“History doesn’t dictate the future yet it serves as a benchmark that shouldn’t be forgotten or overlooked,” said Watson.
More information can be gained at the library or by visiting CHARM’s Web site at http://charm.msstate.edu.