Contact: Maridith Geuder
Since he was 5 years old, Starkville resident Bill Parrish has loved post cards. Over more than 60 years, he picked them up at dime stores, general stores-and much later-in exchanges with collectors.
Now, Parrish's collection of more than 5,000 post cards of county courthouses will help architecture students and scholars have a better understanding about one of the hallmarks of county life. The vast visual images recently were donated by the history professor emeritus and former Mississippi State department head to the university's School of Architecture.
The collection, which represents about 95 percent of all the county courthouses in the nation, are part of Parrish's larger 45,000-card collection that also includes churches, universities and other landmarks.
"There are 3,133 courthouses in the United States and this collection represents 2,971 of them," he said. He even has multiple cards of some courthouses that were destroyed and replaced with newer buildings.
The product of a small town, Parrish said he always has had an interest in historical architecture. "The courthouse, in particular, is a vanishing breed," he observed. "Today, as the old ones are replaced, you find newer buildings are more utilitarian."
When he began collecting as a child, post cards were more readily available.
"It was a matter of local pride," Parrish said. "Photographers would take photos of the community's landmarks, and about one-quarter to one-third of my collection are 'real-photo' cards." Today, "real-photo" post cards are very scarce, he added.
The collection is all the more special to Parrish because he and his wife HelenSue [cq] made the effort to visit most of the buildings. "As we've traveled, we've stopped at many out-of-the-way places," he said. "For some, I've taken photos myself and made them into post cards."
The collection, which Parrish believes may be the most complete of its type, will be an asset to the School of Architecture and, especially, to its Small Town Center, said school Dean John McRae.
"A collection such as Bill's impacts our Small Town Center in terms of scholarly work," McRae said. "Our center is one of the few of its type in the country with a focus on outreach into rural communities.
"Bill's collection will add to the center's base of knowledge and enhance the research capability about some of our most significant county structures."
A 17-year MSU faculty veteran, Parrish is former president of the Mississippi Historical Society. He holds a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia and is a former Harry S. Truman Professor of History and dean of Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.