Z 2373.000 S
WELTY (EUDORA) “JACKSON, A NEIGHBORHOOD” MANUSCRIPT




Restrictions: Collection may be viewed: the photocopying restrictions for the Welty (Eudora) Collection (Z/0301.000/S) apply to items authored by Eudora Welty in this collection as well.

Biography/History:

Lois Smith Clover

Lois Smith Clover was born in Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, on March 6, 1925 to Floyd Rowan and Myrtle (Davis) Smith. She was the fourth of five children and had moved with her family to Alabama in 1940 where she completed her high school education. She attended Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana, where she had met her husband, Chandler Clover. They married in 1947, had two daughters, and moved to Jackson in 1955. She died at the age of 89 on November 10, 2014 in Jackson.

Clover had a long active interest in journalism, writing for and later advising student newspapers and in public relations. Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, hired her multiple times as Director of Public Relations. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History also employed her in 1974 as the Director of Public Information for the state’s participation in the Smithsonian Institution’s American Folklife Festival held annually on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

She and her husband were champions of the performing arts and were especially active with the Jackson Symphony League established to support the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. She inaugurated two major fundraising campaigns for the orchestra: the Symphony Ball in 1960 and the undertaking that became The Jackson Cookbook published in 1971. Researchers may be aware that Eudora Welty also wrote an introductory piece for this publication titled, “The Flavor of Jackson.”

Lois Smith Clover was also a sustaining member of Jackson’s Junior League and she served as an editor for the 1982 publication Jackson Landmarks published by the League. Welty composed the essay, “Jackson: A Neighborhood” for this publication. The essay was republished in Pearl McHaney’s book, Occasions: Selected Writings in 2009.

Scope and Content Note:

This manuscript is an eight-page typescript photocopy of what may be a final draft of the essay, “Jackson, A Neighborhood,” written by Eudora Welty around 1982. It contains original edits in what appears to be Welty’s handwriting. Copies of this manuscript are not in the Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301.000/S).

Series Identification:

  1. Series 1: Manuscript. n.d. [1981-1982].

    2. Eight-page typescript photocopy of “Jackson, A Neighborhood,” by Eudora Welty.

    Box 1, folder 1