CHARM was formed early in 2002 with a core collection of important documents and artifacts such as:
- Photographs, reports, and other records of the MSU Extension Service
- Diaries of farmers and plantation owners
- Business ledgers, daybooks, deeds, correspondence, and other records of timber, agricultural, and other firms
- Correspondence of agricultural and rural families
- Exhibition catalogs from fairs
- Records of the cotton trade
- Plans for agricultural buildings
Please note that digitization of CHARM materials is a work in progress. Collections with digital content will be shown with a link to a page which will allow you to browse or search the digitized materials.
Manuscript Collections - Photograph Collections - Faculty & Staff Papers - Howard Langfitt "Farm Family of the Week" Collection - University Record Groups - Maps - Mississippiana & Rare Books Collections
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The Manuscripts Division contains more than 640 collections of individuals, families and organizations. Included are diaries, letters, broadsides, speeches, plantation records, business and organizational records, unpublished reports, oral histories, architectural records and other materials documenting agriculture and rural life in Mississippi during the 19th and 20th century. Included also in the collection are materials of a broader, national significance which were created and collected by individuals who were born in Mississippi or who are alumni of Mississippi State University. For additional assistance with manuscript collections, contact Special Collections at sp_coll@library.msstate.edu, (662) 325-7679.
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Photographic images, including prints, film negatives, glass negatives and slides are an important historical resource documenting agriculture and rural life in Mississippi. The image collections of Mississippi State University Library are physically located within the individual collections found in the Manuscript and University Archives divisions of the Special Collections Department. Images found in collections generally provide visual evidence of the activities, interests and collecting activities of the collection creators, thus augmenting and enhancing the textual content of the collections. The number and variety of images in each collection ranges from a single image to thousands of images in many formats. vBoth the Manuscript and University Archives divisions have General Photograph Collections containing images collected from a variety of sources. The University Archives General Photographs Collection is a significant source of visual information on activities of Mississippi State University, an important historical documentation component of the CHARM project. In addition, University Archives houses large collections of Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Extension Station (MAFES) and Cooperative Extensive Services photographs.
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Faculty and staff papers that document the activities and history of Mississippi State University are collected by the University Archives Division of the Special Collections Department. Included are materials in a variety of formats that provide evidence of the role of the University and its faculty and staff in shaping agricultural and rural life in Mississippi through education, research, and promotional and extension activities. Of special interest and significance are the papers of individuals affiliated with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Forest Resources, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES)and the Mississippi State University Extension Service.
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From 1954-1961, WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi sponsored a program which was the creative product of Howard Langfitt (1919-1997), Farm Services Director. "RFD Televisit", an agricultural news and educational program, aired from 12:25-1:00 P.M. Monday through Friday and was sponsored by Hercules Powder Company, Monsanto, various rural electrification systems, and other companies that had an interest in the rural television market. Each program included farm news, agricultural weather and some type of demonstration of an approved farming or homemaking project. Langfitt relied heavily on county agricultural extension agents for projects and suggestions that went into producing the show.
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The University Archives Division of the Special Collections Department is the official repository for University files, publications, photographs, audiovisual materials and memorabilia. Materials are collected and maintained in administrative record groups according to the office of creation. Among the record groups that contain extensive agricultural and rural life materials are records of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Forest Resources, the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station Records, and the Cooperative Extension Service Records, but other record groups such as the Presidents Papers also provide materials documenting the activities and influence of Mississippi State University as a land-grant institution. Augmenting the official record groups are articles, faculty and staff publications and other collected ephemeral materials contained in the MSU vertical files, an extensive group of files on MSU subjects and individuals connected to the University.
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The Special Collections Department contains an extensive collection of maps, atlases, charts, plats, birds-eye-views, aerial photographs and surveys documenting agriculture and rural life subjects such as the division of Mississippi lands, the development and growth of Mississippi towns, cities and counties, and topics such as agriculture, soils, railroads, waterways, politics and literature. The largest collection of maps is the flat map collection maintained by the Rare Books and Mississippiana Division. Access to the flat map collection is enhanced by indexes found in the Special Collections Department which provide access by cartographer and publisher, locality, format and subject. Some maps, the Mississippi soil surveys and many of the atlases found in the collection, have been cataloged and may be found in the Library’s SIRSI online catalog. Other maps and surveys, in particular surveys of individual plantations and properties and special interest maps and charts are found in individual manuscript and archival collections. For example, an extensive set of surveys of plantation and farm land in Sunflower County, Mississippi is found in the Horace Stansel Papers. Some maps from collections have been digitized and may be found in the Digital collection.
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The Library’s collection of Mississippiana, published materials by and about Mississippi and Mississippians, contains materials that can be used for researching agriculture and rural life during all periods of Mississippi history. Monographic histories, reminiscences, published diaries, genealogies, state and local documents and periodicals are a rich resource of Mississippi information. Some books have been designated as rare due to scarcity, fragility or special features. All published materials can be found in the Library’s SIRSI online catalog. In addition, the Division houses subject files of clippings, articles and ephemeral materials on Mississippi topics. An index to the subject files is available in Special Collections.
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