“William Faulkner’s Books: A Bibliographic Exhibit” is available for viewing at the J.D. Williams Library Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Photo: Clara Turnage, The Daily Mississippian.
The J.D. Williams Library is currently home to “William Faulkner’s Books: A Bibliographic Exhibit” in the Faulkner Room on the third floor. Located within the Special Collections division of the main library, the Faulkner Room now holds all of the first editions of the famous writer’s work.
Before this exhibit, the Faulkner pieces had only been featured in smaller exhibits.
“We haven’t had a full Faulkner exhibit since 1997, which was done to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth,” said Jennifer Ford, head of Special Collections. “We felt it was time to do a full-room exhibit.”
The exhibit fills the entire Faulkner Room. According to the Ole Miss Event Calendar, it features 20 cases of books and artifacts. Books such as “Soldier’s Pay,” “As I Lay Dying,” “The Sound and the Fury” and “Absalom, Absalom!” are featured among other works, including Faulkner’s 1921 play “The Marionettes,” hand-bound and illustrated. Poetry manuscripts, original short stories published in periodicals, photographs and numerous other items are all on display as well.
Ford said it took two months to complete the exhibit and have it ready for the public.
“All the curators worked together a great deal to put this exhibit together,” Ford said.
Various university courses have hosted class meetings in the Faulkner Room, and the exhibit also sees community and on-campus groups come through.
Junior biology major Amber Moore is one such student who visited the exhibit with her literature class.
“We talked about the history and works of William Faulkner and it actually helped me understand ‘As I Lay Dying,’ the book that we are reading right now,” she said.
Senior education major Ciera Burnett also visited the exhibit with her literature class.
“The exhibit was way more interesting than I thought it would be,” Burnett affirmed. “While l am an education major, I have a concentration in literature and hope to teach elementary and high school English.”
Both students expressed that they enjoyed seeing the works in their original form and how it was noteworthy that Ole Miss exhibited such collections for the benefit of the students.
Because the exhibit took months of hard work to set up, Ford said she and the other curators want to keep it for a long time. The exhibit will be in the J.D. Williams library from now until Dec. 12 and is open to the public Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
— Samantha Abernathy
slaberna@go.olemiss.edu
