Southern Miss Special Collections

Collects and provides access to materials about children's literature, Mississippi history and culture, Southern Miss and more.

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We’re starting National Poetry Month with our first 'Sonnet' Sunday featuring the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe, and one of our favorite poems, Annabel Lee.

This is the 1857 Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe and Richard H. Dana.

This book is part of our Rare Book Collection here in the Southern Miss Archives!

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Vintage Postcards!

Our second most voted-on topic in our poll was vintage postcards! These postcards range from 1908-1999 and are in our Postcard Collection (M36). The first four are from Mississippi and the last two are from Ireland and Cuba!

Each postcard has had the transcribing done on all of the cursive handwriting (to the best of our abilities).

Next week we will post our Civil Rights campaign posters from Mississippi!

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We are celebrating Women Authors of Mississippi for Women’s History Month!

These are just a few of the titles by women that we house here for viewing in Special Collections:

Them Bones by Carolyn Haines The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells by Ida B. Wells The Secret History by Donna Tartt Where I Must Go by Angela Jackson

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Here is the promised funeral cookbook! Food to Die For: A Book of Funeral Food, Tips, and Tales compiled by Jessica Bemis Ward (2004) is a combination of history, culture, and helpful advice on funerals and recipes. The first five images are from Food to Die For with recipes!

There is only one cookbook in our collection dedicated to funerals, but there are others with funeral home ads with these two being from 1947 and 1977 which I've added in as a bonus! Both are cookbooks written by local towns in Mississippi and are available in our digital collections.

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Help us pick!

What should we post next?

Funeral Cookbooks

Civil Rights Campaign Posters

Fore-edge Painted Books

1940s-1960s Playbills

Vintage Postcards

Voting ended onMar 16, 2023

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Today is International Women's Day! The pictured items are a part our Edna Bishop collection (M403) available for viewing at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Mrs. Edna Bishop served as a Women's Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) in WWII. The WASPs were officially organized in 1942 as test pilots for the aircrafts that would be used in the war. Their other jobs included flying the aircraft from their factories, towing targets used in anti-aircraft training, and helped train male combat pilots. These pilots would receive equal if not better flight training than their male counterparts, but were paid the same $1,200 a year.

The WASPs were deactivated in 1944, but it was not until 1977 when the U.S. Congress recognized the WASPs military contributions to WWII and gave them veteran status and benefits.

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The cover of El Erizo Fiel, which translates to The Faithful Hedgehog. I guess sometimes having a faithful pet can be an unsettling experience for some.

This book is part of the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi. If you’d like to read or browse this book, check out The University Libraries Digital Collection

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Special Collections open house for a Progressive Brunch. Had a blast showing off aspects of our collections!

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Fun (and funky) illustration from La Historia de Formigueira by Edith Nesbit. Published by Saturnino Calleja, 1919.

This book is held at The de Grummond Collection in McCain Library at The University of Southern Mississippi.

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There are so many questions to be asked about this illustration...

Found in Cent et une fables by Joseph Poisle Desgranges. Published in 1854 by P.C. Lehuby.  Browse through this book and many others on the de Grummond Digital Collections page.

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These adorable illustrations are found in the end papers of De Bonnes Histories by George Ernest Studdy, published in 1924. You can read the complete book on the de Grummond Digital Collections page.

The de Grummond Collection is one of the world’s largest children’s literature collections; boasting a collection of manuscripts from over 1,300 authors and illustrators, as we as over 180,000 books dating from 1530 to the present. The collection can be found in McCain Library at The University of Southern Mississippi.

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A couple of images from Hansel and Grethel with an alternative title of Snow White and Rose Red; Grimm’s fairy tales: Hansel and Grethel. Published by Reilly and Britton Co., in 1908. The borders on these illustrations are a little unusual for the time period.  Also, in this version of the story, the bird leads them to the witch’s house.

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A sample of the beautiful images found in Aunt Louisa’s Zoological Gardens. Published by Frederick Warne and Company in 1874. This book is part of The de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi. Read this book and many others in our digital collection. 

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Sometimes we find the coolest stuff! This is a hand colored, incomplete set of fortune telling cards dated around 1825. My favorites include “cheerfulness” and “misfortune”. From the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

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From the Robert C. Waller Photographs. Photograph of a Camp School Dental Class in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

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Photograph of the State Teachers College girls' band at M.E.A. in Jackson, MS on May 9, 1924.

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From the McLoughlin Brothers Papers. Pen and ink illustration for pages 2, 7, and 11 (on one sheet) of Puppy Tales color illustrations by Philip B Parsons (Springfield: McLoughlin Bros., 1940) Little color classics #829, from the books series of the McLoughlin Brother Papers. The McLoughlin Brothers Papers contain manuscripts, typescripts, galleys, correspondence, photographs, dummies, illustrations, color separations, proofs, and production material dating from 1854 to the early 1950's.