Mississippi Roads; Lauren Rogers Museum; Laurel

It's. A strong living need to show you this week. Meet. THE MAN. And you know what to say. Well. Camp there's no saying anything. Oh hi welcome back to Mississippi roads. I mean host lot Reisen where in the heart of the piney woods. We're coming to you this week from the second named county seat of Jones County. Welcome to Laurel. Laurel began as a hamlet in the 1880s. And it was named for the abundance of wow Laurel plants that grew among the pines but they soon had to be exterminated because they proved to

be poisonous to cattle. And then around the turn of the century Laurel began to flourish because of the railroad in the lumber industry by the early 1900s floral milled and shipped more yellow pine than anywhere else in the world. During this prosperous period many fine homes were built in the area now known as the historic district. In 1940 to a new industry began with the discovery of oil in Laurel. And today there are more than 150 companies providing regional service for oil and gas drillers. I could say this is the birthplace Laurel and towns like it the old lumber towns of South Mississippi the railroad because if it weren't for the railroad these towns would never have become what they have become today. And the building back behind me here this is the 1913 depot in downtown lower and recently the city refurbished the old depot here just to remind folks of where the town came from. On this edition of This Is It the

roads. It's the city's oldest and possibly finest art museum. And writing is not the only talent. Eudora Welty and the rubber hits the asphalt as we meet a laurel race car driver. This is with stereo. It's in the historic district of Laurel the house was built back in 1900 in the Colonial Revival style. And one time it had a big wrap around porch all the way around the house with with rounded corners. But the porch rotted down and it was replaced with the foliage that we see here today. So the House has undergone a lot of changes over the years. And then our first story we're going to step diagonally right across the street over here to another historic building. That has also seen lots of changes over time. People want to know what art is in Mississippi and Mississippi is is a unique state. Now we're really well known for our music our musical heritage

literary figures. We can't name them all in terms of what they've done for our state. But like most Southern states the visual arts really have to have or took a back seat. For a good period of our history. And when you talk to Mississippians about artist most of them again their frame of reference begins with the movement and they start they name off the water Anderson on my revolver call Wolf and people like that. And the exposure to the visual arts hasn't always been there. You know we've been very fortunate to add museums around the state that focus on the visual arts and that's been terrific to give people an opportunity to see that. Lauren Rogers grew up here in Laurel. He was the son of the largest timber family here in this area. And Lauren was going to take over the family business. He was the only child and graduated from Princeton where he had met his wife. They were building their home here on the side of the museum when he died of complications from an appendectomy.

He died in 1901 at the age of 23. His wife had been married nine months when that happened. And so kind of in a Victorian context of making something good out of a tragedy they decided to build a memorial to him and they wanted to build an art museum at the time the town of laurel a small did not have a library. And so we were built as an art museum and library and opened our doors May 1st of 1923. We have a pretty interesting diverse collection we have mostly American Art thanks to the 20th century. We have a small European collection mostly French 19th century. We have Georgian silver which is English 18th century silver. We have Japanese woodcut friends called a prince which are images of the floating world their sort of images of Kabuki and that kind of thing. And we have a really stunning Native American basket collection of about 500 Native American baskets from almost all of the basket making tribes in North America.

Baskets are really her baby and they're they're pretty significant part of our collection people come from miles around to see the baskets. If you are a basket weaver you know about the Lauren Rogers collection. The museum routinely provides educational tours workshops and lectures for elementary school children from seven different counties in the Laurel area. Visitors can see unique works of glass by artist Dale Chihuly. And paintings by artists from Winslow Homer to Thomas Moran the Norman Rockwell exhibit alone contains 50 lithographs by the artist enough to take up the entire first floor and were you there. Make sure you step outside to see the newly restored North patio. There's a bronze torso out there by Auguste Rodin on loan from the Smithsonian. We are the only accredited art museum in the state of Mississippi. For our size. I think that we rank pretty high. There are certainly big museums that do is because they've got million dollar budgets multimillion dollar budget places like the high end Noma. But

I think were I know that we're well respected in the museum in the art community and in the southeast and even as people grow to know us across the nation we had curators in here in the National Gallery in D.C. to look at our works by Bearden and they were blown away. They loved it. So it's really a matter of getting the word out. People come here and say wow this is a great place. Didn't know about it. One thing that I think a separate county in this region is that appreciations been there for quite a while. Now we're going to three four generations that have grown up with a world class art museum in their backyard. There's no admission charge which surprises a lot of people when they get here. But their original mission is very simple. There's a beautiful Tiffany bronze plaque over our front doors and it says Lauren Rogers for the Advancement of Learning. And that really sums up not only the educational mission of the museum but what the families intent they really felt that had decided

to raise a family here. Then a businessman here and another one or two generations really contributed a lot to this area. And so they wanted to make sure that what they built here and what they started was something that would carry. And they wanted to be educational So we are very fortunate to now from 79 years later to be able to to be the keepers of that. Well here's a facility that the folks in Laurel can rightly be proud of. This is their one hundred forty five acre Sportsplex soccer fields baseball fields softball fields tennis courts. All of them lighted Plus a 50 meter indoor pool. You know life can get awfully animated in a softball game like going on back behind me right now. And a lady who was expert at capturing the

essence of life not only in her writing but in her photography. Is the subject of our next story. It's. The human face and human body or else making new sounds. And standing in the way WAY. And a snapshot is a moment's glimpse into what never stopped. You're about to 1971. Time was a very important. For wealthy as a photographer and as a writer. She sets. The. Hour of time. Movement of time. The urgency that time brings to our lives she calls. It's more visible. And so it's been. Photographed to

capture. It. The exhibition is here from early April through the end of June and it was really remarkable to see the outpouring of response from the local community as well as from tourists who came to the exhibition because people knew and loved Miss Welty as a person and as a writer and they knew she took photographs as well. They did not realize. That she was really an integral part of an artistic community a visual artistic community here in Jackson. Most of the photographs in the exhibition are from 1930 fourth grade 1930. When we are in the 30s or some that are our little later. Christian web well-to Eudora's father.

Was an ardent photographer in. Fact help some young man establish the first camera store in Jackson. And he took lots of photographs of his family. And so Dora grew up with the toddler feet and developed a passion for photography herself. He truly see the development. Of her as an artist. Through these photographs that you write or say. Fiction. Because she says that. If it was a person it was a story what looked back at her was the story of a life. Before she took these photographs. She had spent. A good bit of time in. York and she went to. Work regularly throughout. The 80s once or twice a. Year at least. She responded to the cultural opportunities in. One. Place in museums and she loved me more. But she also loves. The Holy Father is a strong tie. Early in the thirties she began the saying The pharmacy is the right approach in my. Book publishers really prove not to be interested in the photographs.

I think New York hoping that something will be answered in the photograph they might be flown or persuaded to look at my storage which I was trying to say. So eventually the stories were published but the photographs weren't published for a good many years. Her face to me is full of meaning more truthful and more terrible and I think more noble than any generalization about people could have prepared me for. I learned from my pictures one by one and had to fight in Korea the breakers of our own hearts. Eudora Welty 1971. What did you learn about Mississippi even though that you didn't know before. Point to everything. Again I said well not only in Jackson and my family did not come from land you know. So it was all new to me. Maybe that's why so it looked like she was employed by the Works Progress Administration to travel in Mississippi. Now these photographs are not necessarily the photographs she took them for

herself while she was doing publicity work for the works with the ministration Ramsay I was life take a job out my Uber. I never would have thought I could. I had no experience and Juno published. That meant that I was a girl. It was a fight officer would travel all over the fight looking at people working on projects and writing them up and I would request to try to get new stories about me. You can imagine what it was like the levels of poverty. But even as people struggled. I was aware of the deep level of the richness of life going on all around me. I felt something about this time so strongly. That the images stayed with me always. Eudora Welty 1971. I ask you Dora about the relationship of photography and fiction and she told me that she considered them parallel to what the photographer saw through the camera's viewfinder.

The rider stored in memory so specific images from the photographs turned up in section but they may turn up 30 years later in a work written 30 years after the photograph was taken. But it was a very well-traveled she was very well educated and she had had the opportunity to be with an artist all over the country especially. So. She was warm where. The Sixth Sense of the word. It's an. Aggressive. Lesson ideas about social grants. Rights. And other. Rights. And. Yet. I think the driving force for it was this interest in understanding the individual and the determination to do it. Regardless of boundaries that society put up. To try to keep her. From having those relationships. And that kind of understanding. She went into neighborhoods and the communities into which most young white women would not have gone during were.

Clearly wealthy said she realized the dollar for was interested in them. Was sympathetic to them. Was treating them with respect and I responded to that. And so there is that sense of communication. A. War. In. Many many of the photographs she had this habit of finding the moment of joy the moment of hope Mona poetry in any situation. When you look at the people in her photographs. You don't see poverty and hard work. You see strength you see dignity. You see survival. See compassion. Sure well these photographs are political in some sense because they show the poverty that afflicted both black and white Mississippian and they show the racism that was so much a part of the political climate here. They show that the people of Mississippi were facing their conditions with a courage and a resilience that was remarkable. There are wonderful historical resource in addition to being powerful works of art.

A. Well if your model train enthusiasts this is the place for you. If this is the hobby corner and Laurel they stock all gauges of model trains plus parts and accessories. Their motto is railroading is our only business. The next story we meet a laurel native who has taken his one time hobby to the ultimate extreme. I'm Robert Burrows. From Laurel Mississippi. And. The race car. Park is our automobile racing Club of America which brought about

1953 so it's been around a while. It's a support series. Like NASCAR they have different divisions they Remax division is their elite top of the top of the pole like Winston Cup is for NASCAR. About 15 16 years old was a do stick around track star. I'm here for a fairground so young I had to get a minority released to be able to dissipate. But really I could never get that side of Talladega and Daytona out of my mind. I always dreamed of. Having an opportunity to race in a track like that. Look through the fence and watch Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker and all those guys race Richard Petty all the guys that were my idols growing up. So I took the bold move you know ordered a car and

in 1998 participated in 1999 at Talladega. I was able to par Walter Giles Walters from Australia. He's an engineer and he's a crew chief. To come in and run our race operation here. We're going to be able to get a guy with Walker's qualifications more particularly the people that Walter could bring with him. We've got Jeff Williams a top mechanic in fabricator. We've got some pretty impressive people running the operation pretty much done everything there is to do with this topic. Built and driven and won 78 the sheaves had a pretty successful career as a draw either. The thing about working with Robert he's very much a hands on draw and and he's very knowledgeable with the set up on the cars and the mechanics of

what's going on underneath. And that that might is very attractive to me would be in addition to racing. Robert also has his pilot's license. We do everything right here in this one compact. Our cars are maintained and put together and set up right here in Laurel Mississippi and all of our engines are research and development is done in airplane Mississippi so we're proud to say that we are a total Mississippi effort. I think the most exciting part is getting prepared and getting to the racetrack and get ready for the command. Gentlemen start your engines. Go. With everything loaded up it was time to make the short trip to Nashville for this week's argot series race.

When the pits opened Thursday morning we had a chance to talk to Roberts engine builder Jay Dickens. What we got here. Mom bought Chevrolet. Grill someone for a NASCAR engine. That asked me to point to. Engine and now. It's almost it's when fit there to wait for for a Bush high motor and those engines course naturally depending on the track I mean like Daytona will run up upward towards that you know hundred ninety five 200 mile an hour mark. But like here in Nashville like the speeds are probably somewhere in the hundred. Fifty range here. After several practices it was qualifying time for Robert. Gardner with honor it. Wound up nerd in. Happy hour. At 8 p.m. The drivers were introduced

and it was time to Rice. On the very first line. Robert moved up to third place. There are. More now. Than. Ever. Rather. Than. Roll. Over a.k.a.. The rapping Manowar gravity. You look at our stuff Robert. Nice job of playing a really good friend for a day. And OK well. Thank you for your time on. After forty three laps. It was time to head for the pits.

Doubling my. Ranking when you. Nice. Job. I get here on the back now get your back and I have been proud of it. I mean like a wild man. Oh I probably. Can't. Go up. There. Where. Would you rather go out of Europe. I want to help out. I know they know. With the number 77 car now Robert moved back in the third place. With just a few laps remaining the number 10 car suddenly crashed into the turn to wall

putting Robert in second place. White black. White black. Writer Robert Parker but no bring it back. Rob. Ford. I want to point out. Well we had a good car. We was a factor and I have been forgiven Frank there Dan with one going to ladle out. If I had a little bit to work frank and in a culture not going to want to write something like that. You know we'll take second. I can't say enough about our engineering Walter jobs. He came here and picked our car up to the level that we always thought it was could do and you know I

drove my guts out all night. You didn't think up front when you still want but short but you got to be proud of that. You know I just. Want to tell everybody back home in Mississippi that I mean I appreciate you guys calling me and I hope the people that don't know much about our sport get to learn something. New. I was surrounded by mature live oak trees this is Laurel's central historic district. This neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and here you'll find Mississippi's largest finest and most complete

ensemble of early 20th century styles of architecture putting bungalow style from colonial revivals queen a classic. All sorts of things. That we thought is a good place for us to part company with. So you look around the neighborhood as I remind you I walk ways. And I'll be seeing you on this if you vote.