Dr. Ed Meek as a journalism student, waits to take photos of Faulkner with his horse. (Courtesy: Ed Meek)
Alumnus and namesake of the Meek School of Journalism Ed Meek will show and discuss historic pictures he took of William Faulkner, his horse and nature around Rowan Oak to introduce a new exhibit in the J.D Williams Library.
The event is open to the public and will be from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday in the Faulkner Room, located in the Department of Archives and Special Collections in the library.
Dr. Meek takes photos of Faulkner and his horse trotting and jumping over beams. (Courtesy: Ed Meek)
Meek took the photographs as a young reporter and donated them to the library in 2014. The Department of Archives and Special Collections recently opened a new exhibition in the Faulkner Room entitled “Hot Off the Press: New and Newly Available Archive Collections.”
“The exhibition highlights new acquisitions to the department, as well as collections which are newly available for research use,” Head of Special Collections Jennifer Ford said. “It features selections from our literary, historical, university, blues and political holdings.”
Despite being told not to take any other photos of Faulkner except with his horse, Dr. Meek snaps a quick photo of Faulkner’s back after crossing over a barbed wire fence. (Courtesy: Ed Meek)
Meek’s photo collection will be shown, along with manuscript materials related to Meek’s book “Riot” as part of the selections featured in the new exhibit.
Some of the photographs include Faulkner practicing hedge jumps with his horse, Stonewall Jackson. Meek said his photos are the last ones taken of Faulkner with his horse before Faulkner died in 1962.
“I am excited for this event so that I can tell people about Mr. Faulkner and the experience I had with him,” Meek said. “When I was in school, we were told never to talk or get close to Mr. Faulkner, but my experience showed he was a real gentleman.”
The event title, “A Day with Mr. Faulkner and His Horse,” was decided by Ford after hearing Meek’s story of him taking photos of Faulkner and Stonewall.
“I felt such a title would immediately spark interest in those who want to hear more about this side of Faulkner and what it was like for Meek to have spent this time with him,” Ford said.
