Patty Carr Black began designing exhibits for the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson in 1970.  She recalls the decision to focus on Mississippi’s cultural heritage.

   In 1974, the Smithsonian Institute asked Mississippi to be the featured state for that year’s Folk Life Festival. Black explains how that experience brought positive national attention to the state and a new pair of friends for her.

   Black details some of the Folk Life exhibits and events that have been produced by the museum and why they are important to all of us.

As a college student in North Carolina, Ann Abadie grew to love the writings of William Faulkner.  She discusses her decision to move to Faulkner’s home town of Oxford.

Visitors to Oxford frequently requested tours of Faulkner’s home and other sites of interest.  Abadie explains how this led to the first William Faulkner Conference in 1974.

That first conference was planned as an intimate gathering of a few Faulkner faithful.  Abadie says that no one expected such a huge response or that it would become an annual event.