University of Southern Mississippi. (1995-2017). Historical Timelines. Retrieved from https://www.usm.edu/about/historical-timeline March 27th, 2018.
I arrived at the Mississippi Baptist Historical Commission at 8:00 a.m. Since Thursday will be my last day, Mrs. Moore will take a look at the directions I made for digitizing oral histories and let me know if something is not clear or needs revision. On Thursday, I will have reached 150 hours of practicum work.
I resumed digitizing oral histories and worked on the oral history of Dr. R.A. McLemore whose recordings you may recall me mentioning at the beginning of my Practicum. In addition to being one of the many distinguished Presidents of Mississippi College, Dr. McLemore was once the Acting President of the University of Southern Mississippi as well as the Director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. His entire oral history encompassed three cassettes. It was interesting learning about his early life. Evidently, Forrest County was in its infancy as a municipality at the time. Therefore, McLemore and his family were one of the first citizens of the county when they moved there in 1908 (MBHC, 1972). After college, McLemore found his true passion teaching and even became a Superintendent of a local high school before moving his work to Jones County Agricultural High School. According to McLemore, "Community Colleges were just being built in the State of Mississippi"(MBHC, 1972). McLemore would become the head of Jones County Junior College but resigned in 1933 to obtain a Doctorate in History from Vanderbilt (MBHC, 1972). After receiving his Doctorate, McLemore returned to Jones County Community College as a Professor of History. Dr. McLemore interviewed with Dr. Walker at Mississippi Southern College, now known as the University of Southern Mississippi (MBHC, 1972).
Although my Practicum work is through Mississippi College, I both learned new things and reinforced my previous knowledge about the Academic Institution in which I am currently enrolled for a Graduate Certificate in Archives and Special Collections.
Before completing Masters Online through the University of Southern Mississippi, I physically attended the institution for my Undergraduate Degree. Therefore, it was interesting hearing the names of prior College Presidents whom buildings have been named after on campus. The Walker Science Building is obviously named after the aforementioned Dr. Walker. Of course, McLemore Hall is named after Dr. McLemore himself (USM, 1995-2017). At Mississippi Southern College, McLemore became Dean of Students . The majority of his time spent in this position was under the tenure of President Joseph Cook, whom the Cook Library is named after (USM, 1995-2017). After Cook resigned, McLemore briefly served as Acting President before Dr. William David McCain took over the reigns of the institution. The McCain Library and Archives is named after Dr. William McCain (USM, 1995-2017).
I took a break for lunch a little later in the day today at 2:15 p.m. and returned at 2:30 p.m.
It is worth noting that Dr. McLemore had much praise for Dr. Joseph Cook. Cook became President of the college when it was known as Mississippi Normal College before being changed to State Teacher's College in 1924 (USM, 1995-2017).
Retrieved from https://www.usm.edu/president/joseph-anderson-joe-cook-1911-1928 March 27th, 2018)
Within his oral history, Dr. McLemore states that by the time of Dr. Cook's departure, "Mississippi Southern had been organized to the point where it was inevitable that it would become a University" (MBHC, 1972).
In addition to college professors, it was interesting hearing the names of past Mississippi Governors whom played a role in the evolution of the University of Southern Mississippi. Governor Paul B. Johnson was mentioned a lot. Under Governor Johnson's administration, the name of the institution was changed from State Teacher's College to Mississippi Southern College (USM, 1995-2017). (On a side note, the Paul B. Johnson State Park in Hattiesburg was named after the Governor). Under Governor Ross Barnett's administration, the name of the institution was changed from Mississippi Southern College to the current name, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM, 1995-2017).
My father, the late Frank Barber, was an alumnus of Mississippi Southern College, and became a Mississippi State Senator representing Forrest County, the county of Hattiesburg which is the home of the University of Southern Mississippi and where my father was from. I had a 'much older'
father as I was the last of his children. It is worth noting that he was instrumental in helping pass the legislation that changed the name of the institution from Mississippi Southern College to the University of Southern Mississippi. Here is Founder's Day with Governor Ross Barnett. My father is located in the back, Second to Far Right, with the Dark Black Hair.
(Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/usm1910/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/287104544968595464/
March 27th, 2018
I finished the McLemore tapes and decided to begin checking the metadata of all my digitized items since Thursday is my last day. I left the Mississippi Baptist Historical Commission at 4:30 p.m.
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