STARKVILLE — Downtown Starkville will soon have some new artifacts on display.
The Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau, a division of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, received a grant Tuesday to develop an exhibit space in the Partnership lobby to house items from the Mississippi State Mitchell Memorial Library’s four museums. This $20,000 grant is funded by the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area, an alliance geared toward promoting heritage and tourism in Northeast Mississippi.
GSDP Director of Tourism Paige Hunt said the purpose of this project is to drive visitation and traffic to these museums, while also creating a further partnership between Downtown Starkville and MSU.
“The goal of having the display here is to help tell the story of the wonderful artifacts that can be found on campus,” Hunt said. “Oftentimes folks that are downtown might not go to campus and vice versa. We want to raise awareness about the museum.”
When Hunt assumed her role at the beginning of 2021, she said one of the first connections she made was with the library staff and knew this grant was a perfect fit to bring its artifacts to the Partnership.
Artifacts from the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, the John Grisham Room and the Charles H. Templeton, Sr. Music Museum will be showcased. Hunt said information of each item will also be displayed to tell the history of each artifact.
“When you go to a museum, you don’t just see a painting,” Hunt said. “You see a card beside it with information that says, ‘This painting was painted by whoever.’ It has the significance of what it is, so it won’t just be things on display. You’ll know what it is and why they’re there.”
MSU Associate Dean for Access, Systems and Discovery Stephen Cunetto said the library has not determined which particular items will be shown, and he and the library staff are still in the planning stages of curating the best artifacts for this project.
“We know that all of the museums will be represented,” Cunetto said. “We just don’t know what we will have on display at the Partnership just yet.”
MHNHA outlined different focuses and criteria for grant applicants, Hunt said, consisting of interpretation and education, cultural and heritage tourism, heritage resource conservation enhancement and partnership development.
“When we were discussing this project, we felt it met all of these criteria,” Hunt said.
“It’s enhancing our partnership with Mississippi State University. It’s helping tell Starkville’s cultural and heritage story. It’s developing a resource by providing information about those artifacts, so we just felt it was a wonderful project all around.”
Executive Director for the MHNHA Mary Cates Williams said this is the type of project that the alliance likes to fund.
“This is an outstanding project that will lure additional visitors both to Downtown Starkville and the incredible museums housed at the MSU Library,” Williams said in a press release Tuesday. “… It highlights our region’s rich cultural heritage while also creating a positive economic impact.”
Downtown currently houses other elements of MSU, including the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach Idea Shop and the newly renovated MSU Research and Technology Corporation Downtown Innovation HUB. Hunt said this is just one more aspect that will create synergy between the city and university.
“The town and gown relationship is such a positive relationship,” Hunt said. “We continually look for ways to make Starkville a better place for our visitors, our residents and our students.”
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