Oral history with Dr. Estus Smith

              Oral history with Dr. Estus Smith
F341.5 . M57 vol. 695, pt. 2
Funding for this project provided by The Mississippi State Legislature, The Mississippi Humanities Council, The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.
This transcription of an oral history by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage of The University of Southern Mississippi may not be reproduced or published in any form except that quotation of short excerpts of unrestricted transcripts and the associated tape recordings is permissible providing written consent is obtained from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. When literary rights have been retained by the interviewee, written permission to use the material must be obtained from both the interviewee and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Transcript
This is an interview for the Mississippi Oral History Program of The University of Southern Mississippi. The interview is with Dr. Estus Smith and is taking place by telephone on August 14, 1997. The interviewer is Tom Ward.
Ward: All right. It is August 14, 1997. We're with Dr. Estus Smith. Good afternoon, Dr. Smith.
Smith: Good afternoon, Tom.
Ward: I'd like you to begin by giving a background of yourself: where you're from, your education, your career, and so forth.
Smith: Well, I grew up in Mississippi and I attended Jackson State University- was Jackson College at the time- and I went to Indiana University and to Eastland School of Music at the University of Iowa, getting my doctorate from the University of Iowa. And came, worked at Jackson State for a number of years. Prior to that I worked in McComb, Mississippi. And I've worked in a high school in Dade City, Florida, and I worked at Jackson State for some twenty- two years I believe.
Ward: OK. And what are you doing now?
Smith: I serve as vice president and chief operating officer for the Charles F. Kettering Foundation in Dayton. The principal office is in Dayton, Ohio. We have two other offices; one in Washington and then an office in New York.
Ward: OK. How did you first get involved with the Mississippi Humanities Council?
Smith: I was sent by Dr. John Arthur Peoples. He was selected to go to Washington as a group of the original five people to go and, I guess, to make a determination whether or not the Humanities Council was an idea that could be promulgated in the state of Mississippi. There was Porter Fortune from the
mus- coh. smithe. doc Page 1 of 11