Mississippi State University's Friends of the Libraries will help celebrate 1996 Homecoming with tours and exhibits featuring the newly renovated and expanded Mitchell Memorial Library.
Before and after the Nov. 2 Homecoming football game, displays will be set up throughout the facility. A public brunch reception with entertainment also is planned.
Gail Peyton, chairperson of the Friends' Homecoming Planning Committee, said the group sponsors activities such as these to "support efforts to increase the library's collections; to encourage gifts and bequests; to create interest in our work, needs and responsibilities; and to draw attention to the importance of the libraries to the future development of the university and the community."
Activities will begin with a free public brunch reception 10 a.m.-noon on the fourth floor. Music will be provided by Suzuki violin instructor Trudy Gildea and students Candace Gustine and Whitney Austin, along with Shirley Gustine, all of Columbus.
James M. DelPrince, floral management program instructor, will present a display on "Victorian Floral Design: A Presentation of Historical Research on Amateur and Professional Floral Arrangement." The display will be featured in the second-floor library main entrance.
Bessie D. Johnson of West Point, continuing education instructor and retired home economist, will demonstrate pine needle basket weaving techniques and feature examples of her work at a fourth-floor display.
Lucy A. Rhoades of Starkville, a 1980 Mississippi State graduate, is the featured artist in the Very Special Arts Mississippi exhibit on the third floor. Rhoades' work consists of several paintings in the series she has done on her alma mater, including one of the Chapel of Memories. Other VSA art work also will be displayed.
"In addition to these exhibits, we will have displays of related books and materials and offer library tours from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.," Peyton said. "We also will have a table set up on the first floor to join Friends of the Libraries."
For more information, contact Peyton at (601) 325-7671.