Every Saturday for two years, William “Brother” Rogers hopped in the car, often with one or both of his sons, and set out across Mississippi, searching for history cast in metal.
By 2016, Rogers had photographed every historic marker he knew of in all of Mississippi’s 82 counties.
“I always know that I’m missing something,” Rogers said Friday. “Sometimes people will be out at a cemetery or a church or a neighborhood, and they will order their own marker for their own place … I would never know about it. So there are other markers out there, so I never feel like I’ve got all of them, but I’ve got most of them.”
Rogers, a historian with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, delved into local history Friday at a Columbus Lowndes Friends of the Library program. Rogers showed attendees photos of historical markers that he has catalogued over the years, exploring the history behind each one.
Rogers said the project began after he photographed the Mississippi State College for Women marker, posted in 1950.
“It just looked so nice, the way it had been refurbished and the fresh paint, so I took a picture of it,” Rogers said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to take a picture of every marker in Columbus,’ and then I thought, ‘Well, I live in Starkville. I’m going to take a picture of every historic marker in Starkville.’”
Rogers has catalogued more than 1,300 historical markers into a digital archive, which has become an essential resource for researchers and community members.
“It’s a real one-stop shop in order to understand what markers exist and what’s out there, the history of our state,” said Mona Vance-Ali, archivist for the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System. “It’s a rich resource for researchers. … He hasn’t been sponsored by anybody. He hasn’t been asked to do this by anybody. He just took it upon himself, and that has been super helpful for others in the field to be able to access this information in one location.”
Each year, roughly 50 new markers are added to the landscape, and Rogers continues to track them down. His favorite part of the hunt isn’t always the drive or the photo, oftentimes it’s meeting the people behind the markers.
“What’s great is all markers are now privately sponsored,” Rogers said. “All of the markers are grassroots efforts bubbling up from people who say, ‘Hey, my church is historic, my town is historic, something historic happened in this rural area.’ It’s because the local people there want to remember that history.”
“When I go to a marker dedication and see how the people who have sponsored the marker are glad to preserve their local history, that’s what I like,” Rogers added.
Stories from the road
Rogers’ interest in Mississippi history started early. His mother, a Mississippi history teacher, often took him and his brother on road trips to historic sites across the state.
“We went to Vicksburg, went to Natchez, went to the Gulf Coast, all the historic sites,” Rogers recalled. “So, yeah, I can blame her. I can credit her. You know, when you grow up with that you get interested in it.”
Later, Rogers found that his own marker hunts became a way to connect with his two sons.
“We’re so busy,” Rogers said. “If we’re together, we’re going to sit and watch TV. Then we’re not going to talk to each other, but if we’re shut up in the car together, now we gotta talk. I find it to be a good way to visit family, just going to look for a marker in the car together.”
Rogers said one trip in particular stands out in his memory, the long, dusty trek for the B.B. King birthplace marker in Berclair.
“It’s one of, I’m afraid to say, numerous markers I was willing to give up,” Rogers said. “It’s really out of Berclair. We went down a dirt road and took a fork, and then another fork and a turn, and finally I said to my son, ‘Andrew, this mark is not out here.’ He said, ‘You always give up too soon, Dad. There it is, right there.’”
Rogers said that while his sons once complained about being dragged on hunts through Mississippi, they’ve now developed their own appreciation for the stories behind the signs.
“A marker is boring, but a story – a story is good,” Rogers said. “If something happened in Mississippi, it’s interesting. If it happened in the colonial times, it’s interesting. If it happened recently, it’s interesting. It’s just that Mississippi has such a strong sense of place, and people from here feel so connected.”
Nearing retirement, Rogers plans to pass on the duty of upkeeping the archive to someone else.
“Somebody else will probably pick it up,” Rogers said. “For me, it was a labor of love … It will be hard to give it up, so we’ll see. But it is fun, and you know, good stories, good people, that’s hard to turn down.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
