an interview with mrs. t. h. shields april 8, 1977

An In tervi ew Wi th

MRS. T. H. SHIELDS

April 8, 1977

Interviewed byAngie Hammond

MississippiDepartment of Archives and History

and theWashington County Library System

Oral History Project:Greenville and Vicinity

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OH 1979.1.132Interviewee:Interviewer:

Title:

Collection Title:

Scope Note:

Mary Clayton ShieldsAngie Hammond

An interview with Mary Clayton Shields, April 8, 1977 /interviewed by Angie Hammond

Washington County Oral History Project

The Washington County Library System, with assistancefrom the Mississippi Department of Archives andHistory, conducted oral history interviews with localcitizens. The project interviews took place between 1976and 1978. The interviewees included long-termresidents of the Greenville-Washington County area intheir late 50's and older.

Shields 1

~10ND: This interview is with Mrs. T. H. Shields:Education in Washington County, beginning with her educationin 1899. This interview is sponsored by the Washington CountyLibrary System and the Mississippi Department of Archives.

Mrs. Shields was born April 2, 1893, in EastCarroll Parish, Louisiana. She was Mary Clayton Barwick,born to Clayton Howard Barwick and R. J. E. Barwick. Herfamily then moved to Washington County during the Christmasholidays in 1898. The first few weeks were spent in GlenAllan during the severe freeze of 1899. Lake Washingtonwas completely frozen over. In early spring the familymoved to a plantation at the foot of Lake Washington. Herfather named the new Post Office "Alhambra". Mrs. Shieldswill be reading from her autobiography which she has justcompleted.

Mrs. Shields, whenever you would like to explainsomething, please stop.

SHIELDS: Yes. By the end of summer, my parentsdecided that we should have the benefits of education. Myaunt, Snodie Howard, was living with us, ~d it was proposedthat she should take over that task. She was willing. But,first, the school must be ·approved by the powers in Greenville,and a suitable place found for the school. There were onlytwo families involved, and a total of seven or eight children.

Approval was granted, and a suitable place for the

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school found, a deserted cabin about a mile from our home.Our fathers tore down the wall of one room to patch thewalls of the others. We also used the room where the wallhad been torn down for our playroom in bad weather. Theyalso supplied us with tables and chairs from home, slatesand books for each child, and wood for the fireplace. I donot remember much about the instruction, but somewhere alongthe way I learned to read. I was very fortunate that I hadaccess to one of the best libraries in this part of the state -the Bryan home on a nearby plantation. There my attentioncentered on the many books - Thackery, Dickens, Sir WalterScott - and the barrel of apples in the basement.

After a few years of going to school in the cabin,we progressed to a small building in Glen Allan. That wasso far, we had to go by surrey. Then we moved to town, andhad a succession of teachers. Aunt Snodie had gone elsewhere.I remember one teacher whose neck was always dirty. Also,Miss Inez Montgomery, from Greenville, and her Friday after-noon programs. For one of these, I memorized all of The Ladyof The Lake. She called on me last. I started off:

"The stag at eve had drunk his fillWhere danced the moon on N6m~nts rill •.•"

But after about thirty minutes of this, she stopped me andpresented me with the first prize I had even won.

There was also Mr. Mortimer, who was in love wi ththe widow across the road. He spent most of the days with

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her, and we spent them playing Hide and Seek. My childhoodwas really over when I left for Grenada College at the ageof thirteen. Not that I was ready for college, but I hadgone as far as I could in the little school in Glen Allan.In Grenada College, which was owned by the Methodist Church,the Bible was the principal subject taught. Everybody hadto take Bible. In my two years there, I completed the workon the Old Testament, and it is the hardest subject I everhad in my life.

HAMMOND: You just had the Old Testament?SHIELDS: That took two years. I just went two years.In Glen Allan, I had read everything available. Miss

Mary Spencer, Sunday School Teacher, Counselor, Guide, hadbrought to my attention all the books in their library. Ourfavorites were the poets, The Princess, Idyls of the King,Evangeline. All transported me to realms where I could dreamto my heart's content.

In September, 1909, I packed my trunk and set outfor Columb~f After the first home-sickness wore off, Ienjoyed four of the happiest years of my life. It was an old

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Industrial Institute and College. There were a few demerits •.In fact, Ninna Archer (who was head of the Welfare Departmentin Greenville) and I each received five in one mail. Thiswas supposed to be cause for you to be sent home, but theywere for such trivial matters that no one even thought ofsending us home. Another time I was called from the dinner

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table to report to the President's office, and the entireSenior Class followed me and waited outside the office untilMr. Whitfield opened the door, grinned and said, "It's allright, girls. You may go to your classes now."

The most embarrassing moment came on a visit toStarkville. My hostess and I had dates with a couple ofboys for the Football Banquet that night. We drove out tothe campus that afternoon and spent several pleasant hours.When we started back home to dress for the big occasion,the entire team followed us in a bus, attempted to go aroundus, frightened the horse, the buggy turned upside down, ex-posing legs, drawers, and what-have-you, but concealingmomentarily our red faces. We did go to the banquet, butthe cheerers kept our faces red all evening.

Today we could not possibly live under conditionswe had then. My room was on the third floor of the LibraryDormitory. To reach a bathroom, we must go from our Dorm,through Old Main, through Columbus, through Hastings - allof these were dormitories - and then down to the secondfloor. There were eight or ten tubs, and affixed to thedoor protecting each tub were several, sheets of paper, onwhich you had to register ·the day and hour for a bath. Ofcourse, each room had a basin, with running water, - sucha luxury.

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After graduating from the old I. I. & C., I taughtfirst one year in Durant, where I had geometry and history;then went to Aberdeen the next year and taught Latin andGerman. I returned to Aberdeen for a second year, but mymother wrote and insisted that I come back to WashingtonCounty, as she was ill. That year I obtained a one-teacherschool at Leota Landing.

HAMMOND: And this was in 19l5?SHIELDS: In 1915. I had about twenty pupils

in grades from primer to the twelfth grade •. Practically allwere Weathers and Worthingtons. Several are living inGreenville now, and you would know those if I would calltheir names.

HAMMOND: Mrs. Shields, when did you get married?SHIELDS: Colyer Richardson and I were married in

Greenville in the old Cowan Hotel by the Minister of theFirst Methodist Church, May 16, 1916.

HAMMOND: How many children did you have?SHIELDS: I didn't have any then. Mr. Richardson

was a Civil Engineer and during the next few years we moved.~

frequently - a few months here and a few months there. Ourfirst child, T. C., was born in Glen Allan; the second, John,was born in Vicksburg during the terrible flu epidemic of1918. When COlyer found that I was pregnant for the thirdtime, he decided that was enough, so he left for a new job

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in Atlanta. My daughter arrived in February while I was inKing's Daughters Hospital. I came toa hard decision. Iwould sue fo'r a divorce, and I would care for my children.I would owe nothing to any man. The first thing, therefore,was to find work that I could do. Glen Allan needed a teacher,but would not take a chance with a woman with three children.

HM,~OND: Why wouldn't they take a chance on awoman with three children?

SHIELDS: They said that a woman who had threechildren could not possibly teach and look after her children.So it was preferable to let them starve.

HAMMOND: What did you do then?SHIELDS: Anguilla would take a chance, but they

wanted a Home Science teacher. My major had been English,and I had scorned those who chose Home Economics, but I tookthe job. Annie Wingate had majored in Home Economics. Wehad gone to College together, and she lived in Greenville.I asked her for help. She did everything - gave me textbooks, lesson plans, advice. Thus, I started out. TheState of Mississippi proved to be as broke as I. Sometimesthey would issue a warrant; sometimes, the bank would dis-count t~at, but we managed. A number' of people tried toacopt my children, but always the answer was the same, "Ifwe starve, we would all starve together." We did not starve.

HAMMOND: You mean you didn't receive a salary; youwere given notes from the bank?

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SHIELDS: Yes, we had a salary - about a thousanda year, but they did not have the money, so they would sendus a warrant, which the bank might discount, and might not.And that was what we had to live on.

One afternoon when I came in from school, thechildren told me that a man had stopped that afternoon, hadplayed with them, given them candy. It worried me a little,but it happened again and again. Then, I just managed tocome a little earlier one afternoon, and there was the wonder-ful man. From that time on he came to see me as well as thechildren. Every evening he would arrive just as I ,was pre-paring the children for bed. After Clayton's bath, shewould go in, climb in his lap, and his stories would begin.John would join the group, and last would be my big boy T. C.The small ones would kneel for their prayers, and as soon asthey were in bed, Shields would leave. We did not want anygossip.

Unfortunately, John continued to be the sicklyone. Things were rather rough when he had measles, but healso had pneumonia, and the weather was bad - cold and rainy.We had run out of money and coal. The doctor in attendancesent in a big load of coal. and the neighbors sent in food.Weeks later, John doubled up in pain. The doctor said,"Appendicitis! Take him to Greenville for an operation."I stayed with him the two weeks he was in the hospital. Theday before he was to be discharged, Shields argued, "We have

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planned to be married shortly after Christmas. Now, I haveeverything ready for Santa Claus. Let's be married tomorrow."We were married the next day in Glen Allan, and the Ministerfrom Anguilla performed the ceremony. That minister wasAngie Hammond's Grandfather, Reverend Schultz.

HAMMOND: Mrs. Shields, all this that was happeningwith your son - were you still teaching during this period oftime?

SHIELDS: Oh, yes. Well, I stopped teaching inFebruary after we were married in December.

HAMMOND: What year was that?SHIELDS: That was - we were married in '23.HAMMOND: And you stopped teaching the next year.SHIELDS: The whole family moved to Greenville in

1924, joined the First Methodist Church, and settled downto an uneventful life. Shields was very active in the Church,and was remembered for his prayers and thoughts for many years;but he was never well, and was very ill from the first of 1926until his death. May 16, 1926, we carried him to the Cemeteryon Lake Washington, following the same road I had taken as ayoung bride exactly ten years before. Now I had three children.to care for, and again I started a teaching career. This timeat the old Court School in Greenville.

When the disastrous flood of 1927 came, I was teach-ing there. Let me tell you a little of that school and of the

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wonderful woman who was Principal, Miss Susie Trigg. Theschool was located in what was then one of t~e poorest sectionsof to\vn, and many of the students came from poverty homes.She had a kitchen - really a closet - where she prepared lunchesfor her flock, - breakfast, too, for those who had not had oneat home. No one ever knew which child paid and which one didnot. She also knew those who needed shoes or clothes. Shecalled on friends in town, and they provided whatever shesaid she needed. When the flood came, we went to Glen Allanand stayed until the worst was over. There the children weredeliriously happy, and enjoyed every minute of the flood, eventhe rough rides to town on top of the levee.

HAM11OND: Mrs. Shields, Mr. E. E. Bass was stillsuperintendent of the Greenville Public Schools when you cameto teach again in 1926 for the Court School on Poplar. Couldyou tell us a little about Mr. Bass?

SHIELDS: Yes, Mr. Bass was one of the most remark-able men I have ever known. He was one of the best Superin-tendents. I believe that he knew what was going on in everyclassroom in Greenville. One of the nicest things he eversaid to me was that Lizzie Coleman and I reminded him of eachother, and I think that was a very high complimen~ coming fromhim. He would come to his Faculty Meetings with soup andeverything else down the front of his coat, which would probablybe pinned together with a straight pin, but, when he got totalking, you forgot what he looked like.


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lmother remarkable person was Mr. Solomon. I don'tthink I have ever enjoyed working with a Principal more thanI did with Herman Solomon. He was not only one of the mostintelligent, but one of the most intellectual men I have everknown. You could ask him about anything, and he would know theanswer; and he was very considerate of his teachers, never ques-tioned what one was doing.

HAMMOND: Mrs. Shields, I want to get this straight:Now you began teaching in the Greenville Public Schools in1924. Is that correct?

SHIELDS: Yes, October of 1924, because the classesat old Central School had become too large, and they had tohave another teacher, so I started that late, a month late.

HAMMOND: Who was the Principal then?SHIELDS : Mattie Houston was Principal at that time.HAMMOND: \Vhat course did you teach?SHIELDS: I taught Seventh and Eighth Grade English.HAMMOND: At Central School?SHIELDS: At Central School. But the next year I did

not teach - the years 1925 and Spring of 1926 I did not teachbecause of my husband's illness.

HAMMOND: At Centl;'alSchool, do you remember anyof your students?

SHIELDS: Yes. Dr. Lyne Gamble was one I remembervery distinctly, because he didn't pay any attention the firstday.

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HAMMOND: Any others?S}ITELDS: Louise Lancaster - Louise Gill at that

time - was one. Then, after my husband's death in 1926, Iwent back to the Greenville School System and taught at CourtSchool, as I have mentioned. In 1927, I went back to CentralSchool, and taught there until the opening of Junior High in1930.

HMilMOND: Now, this is Mr. Bass - E. E. Bass School?SHIELDS: Mr. Bass was Superintendent. Mr. Solomon

was the Principal, who came back from Florida, where he hadbeen a shoe salesman, to teach - to be Principal of the newJunior High School, and he asked if anybody in the Facultyover at Central that was to be transferred to Junior Highhad ever taught Economics, and I had to admit that I had; so,again I taught Home Economics.

RM\[MOND: Was it called "Home Economics" then?SHIELDS: Home Economics.HM.~IOND: Did you teach any other courses along

with Home Economics?SHIELDS: Yes, I taught Junior Business Methods and

Agriculture.HAMMOND: Agriculture?SHIELDS: Agriculture. We made it principally a

study of flowers, especially wild flowers, and also I taughtone class of Eighth Grade English. Then the Home ScienceTeacher from High School was dropped, and I was given the

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entire department; and I had to go to Summer School everysummer to stay ahead of my students.

My. children were now growing up. In 1933, T. C.went to College down at Louisiana State. Two years later,John started at the same place. And, in 1937, Claytongraduated from High School and went to Mississippi StateCollege for Women, which is now MUW, and when I went to schoolthere it was Industrial Institute & College.

War clouds were gathering, and "this I hate - notmen, nor flag, nor race, but only War, with its wild, grinningface." John was first to enlist. At two A. M., one morning,when I had just returned from Jackson with the Band, my phonerang. John said he had been accepted by the Air Force. T. C.was automatically called because of his ROTC training. Thencame the months of waiting - months my boys were in Camp - onthe field, in the air; and Clayton was working in New YorkCity. One night at High School a man I had only met said tome, "I heard on my radio before I left my room that Lt. JohnShields was killed in a plane accident in Ohio." You haveheard the expression, ~1y heart stood still." A call to Johnwhere he was stationed relieved my anxiety. Then T. C. wastransferred to England.

HAMMOND: Mrs. Shields, since your sons were involvedin the War, and the War was devastating in many ways, how did itaffect the Public Schools at that time?

SHIELDS: We tried to keep it as far from the students

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as we possibly could, particularly the students in Junior andSenior High, because they were more directly .affected. We didhave boys leaving High School, especially Junior and Seniorboys who were enlisting and leaving to go; and Greenvillelost a great many of the finest boys it had. I could namesome of those, - Billy Hunt, Pat Scully, and others.

fuU/1MOND: There is a list up on a nlaque in theHigh School of those who lost their lives.

SHIELDS: Yes. D-Day came too soon. I was herewhen it was announced that the awaited invasion had started,but I left the next morning and 'went to New York to be withmy daughter. For the next few weeks there was probably othernews on the radio, but I didn't hear it. On July 3rd, a callcame from Mrs. Wells in Greenville. Without any preliminaries,she said, '"That you, Mary?" And then the rest of it. ·CaptainT. C. Shields •••" Stunned, unbelieving, rebellious"I left the'phone. Sis and I walked the streets of New York until daylight.

HA!viMOND: Mrs. Shields, what happened in the yearsfollowing the Vlar? Did you go back to teaching?

SHIELDS: Yes. The next few years were busy ones.I was teaching Senior English, and two classes in Journalism;was Sponsor for the Senior Class, had 'charge of the PICA andthe newly-started ANNUAL. With Mary Keady's assistance, Iorganized the National Honor Society, and re-organized I:tUILLAND SCROLL. A full schedule? Yes, but there was a sense ofrebellion in the air following the War, and we were trying to

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change the students' ways of thinking. Mr. Solomon assignedme the one very difficult task: to persuade the Seniors thatTHEY wanted to go from their expensive graduation formals tosimple caps and gowns. We succeeded. Then, in order to payfor the PICA and the ANNUAL, we turned to Show Business. Per-formances - singing, dancing, arranging. I was Directo~ andI could not dance, and did not know one thing about arranging.

HA1'lMOND: All this you were doing while you wereteaching how many classes of English or Home-Ec in the HighSchool?

SHIELDS: At this time, I was teaching three classesof Senior English - that included the entire Senior Class of105 students - two classes of Journalism, and all these extra-curricular activities.

~OND: Now, you mentioned that you were theSponsor for the PICA, the High School Newspaper?

SHIELDS: Yes.IDU-.IINlOND:Is this the first year they had had the

PICA?SHIELDS: Oh, no. The PICA started 'way back in

the early Twenties, I think. I believe that was when itstarted.

HAMMOND: And it continued?SHIELDS: I was put in charge of it in 1945.HA1~OND: You did mention, also, that you started

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SHIELDS: Yes. There had been one edition of theAm{uAL in 1919. That's what I have been told. I have neverseen a copy of it. But we had to start. The students didn'tknow how to start it, and I didn't know how to start it, butwe did the best we could, and we put out a very simple littleM{NUAL the first year, but it did improve.

HAM1..1:0ND:How did you raise money for the ANNUAL?SHIELDS: How did I raise money for the ANNUAL?

Just what I said - those performances, and also the concessionstands. We operated concession stands for all ball games.

HAMMOND: Your PI CA staff or the ANNUAL staff?SHIELDS: The PICA and the ANNUAL staffs. Usually

students from both groups. Both of them came usually fromthose Journalism Classes.

IDUv'lMOND:And what was the QUILL and SCROLL?SHIELDS: That is the Honorary Fraternity for

students who are taking Journalism or attempting to do thework on the Paper. They didn't have to take Journalism, butthey had to do the work on the Paper then, and had to rangein the B-Plus Group.

,:"";

HMvIM01.TD:And Miss Keady started QUILL and SCROLLwith you?

SHIELDS: No. She didn't have anything to do withQUILL and SCROLL.

IDUvllJOND:Was this the first year that they hadQUILL. and SCROLL?


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SHIELDS: No. They had QUILL and SCROLL earlier,but it had been dropped completely, and has been now, I amtold. They do not have QUILL and SCROLL. The Honor Society,but not QUILL and SCROLL.

The summers, I spent in New York, settling downafter such a long time to attempt to get my Master's Degree.

HAMMOND: What year was this, Mrs. Shields?SHIELDS: It was 1945, 1946 - I got my Master's in

1947. I loved my months at Columbia - the students, theFaculty, the Clubs. Most of all, though, I was one of thefirst students to work my way through College by means ofQuiz Shows. The first one for me was "Break the Bank." And,after my success on that, I had so many telegrams from Green-

,ville that the blase New York operator called us and asked,"Why all the excitement?" It was wonderful. I could makemore in a few minutes than I could teaching nine months. Atthat time, I was making $1,140.00 teaching in Greenville. Italmost caused me to be fired, too. One show was directed tothose with low incomes, and when they asked, "Why do you wantto get on?", my reply was, "I'm a Mississippi School Teacher."I was greeted with a loud and cheerful, "Come on up!"

HAMMOND: Mrs. Shields, after you finished yourMaster's -- what did you get your Master's in, by the way?

SHIELDS: In the teaching of English, at Teachers'College, Columbia University.

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HAMMOND: Did you come back to Greenville toteach, and for how many years, and where?

SHIELDS: Yes, I came back here and taught inJunior High School, sometimes Seventh, sometimes Eighth,sometimes Ninth Grade English. Always English, though, afterI came back.

flAM1iIOND:And that was 1947, 1948 and 1949?SHIELDS: Yes. And in July, 1950, I had a coronary,

and was in the hospital seven weeks that summer. Then I couldnot teach the next year. I was out of school the year of1950-1951. I went to New York and stayed. Then I came backand taught here, 1951 and 1952, and again I taught English,and it was one of the p1easantest teaching years that I ever had.

HAMMOND: I want to ask this, if I might. With aMaster's Degree, what did that do to your salary?

SHIELDS: My salary was a IittIe more than doub led.I received a little bit more than $3000.00 that year -- thoseyears that I taught.

HAlv~v10ND:And then you retired in what year?SHIELDS: I retired June 1, 1952.HA1Th10ND: So, from 1952 you were 'making a little

more than $3000.00 a year as a teacher', and I began teachingin 1970, almost thirty years later, and I was only making$5400.00. That's terrible.


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law (Title 17 U.S. Code),

Mrs. Shields, what were some of the influences atschool on your life?

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SHIELDS: Since teaching was practically my wholelife, it was very influential. In fact, all the time that Iwas teaching in Greenville, I had very little time for any-thing except my home, my children, and teaching. And theywere in school, and we worked together.

~WOND: And how do people regard you today?SHIELDS: Today, Greenville is full of my former

students, and they regard me as "Teacher".HAMMOND: Mrs. Shields, can you give us your opinion

on yesterday's school and today's school?SHIELDS: I'm sure my opinion is biased. Go from

there. In those days, we had not too much difficulty indiscipline, so I'll admit that during the War and immediatelyfollowing there was that spirit of rebellion that I mentionedbefore, and it was not too difficult to handle. The studentswere activated. They had to -- at least, the greatest criti-cism that I heard from anyone who was investigating the Green-ville Schools was that the average student could not graduatefrom High School. Students had to have an IQ of 115, at least,a little above average, in order to graduate, and the investi-gating group thought that the average student should be able.to graduate. But our students who attended College always didwell, and we had some outstanding students who have since be-come outstanding. For instance, Walker Percy graduated duringour time.

HAMMOND: The author of "Lancelot", his newest novel.


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SHIELDS: The author of "Lancelot". I believe thatwas his newest; and Charles Bell, who wrote ~The Married Land";and Shelby Foote, who VITote three volumes of Southern History.And others who have achieved and done well; and Hodding Carter, III,is another one we are proud of.

H.M.:MOND: Anyone else?SHIELDS: Kenneth Haxton was another student who has

done well. Kenneth never had a music lesson in his life untilhe went to College, and he has certainly shown a great deal ofability in that direction. And, if I could stop to think, Icould name a number of others.

HAJ'JThilOND:I am sure you could, Mrs. Shields. That'smarvelous. And how many credits did one have to have to graduate?

SHIELDS: Students had to have sixteen credits to gradu-ate, and that included shorthand, typing, art, music, and band.

HAMMOND: Were these - art, music, band, shorthand -half or whole credits?

SHIELDS: Whole credits. The student had to have fouryears of English, two years of Mathematics, at least two yearsof a foreign language, and two years, I believe, of Science.

HAMMOND: Social Studies?SHIELDS: Oh, Social Studies' - three years.HAMMOND: And then Journalism and the courses that

you began were half or whole credits?SHIELDS: Those were whole credits. If you spent an

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HAJ:'1AOND:Did your students receive any credits forbeing members of the PICA staff? Or for the ANNUAL staff?

SHIELDS: No. No credit for that. But if you were inclass, you did. When I had charge of it, they didn't get onthe PICA staff unless they were taking Journalism.

liA1'l'MOND:In that way you didn't make any inducementfor them. They had to.

SHIELDS: That's the way we got it all done.HAlv!MOND: Well, Mrs. Shields, do you think then that

there is quite a bit of difference, a number of differences,today?

SHIELDS: From what I understand, the schools rodayare not as rigid in their requirements as they were in thosedays.

HAJ!iTh10ND:What about discipline?SHI ELDS : I don't mow.HAMMOND: Mrs. Shields, I certainly have appreciated

this interview. Thank you, Ma'am. Is there anything else youwould like to say?

SHIELDS: I would like to say that living in Greenville,teaching in Greenville - knowing Greenville people - has meantmore to me than any t.ht ng I can mention. I still enjoy seeingthe students that I had the pleasure of teaching in the Seventhand Eighth Grades. And Greenville will always be home to me.

HAMMOND: Greenville loves you too, Mrs. Shields.SHIELDS: Thank you.

(End of Interview)(Transcribed by Alice C. Nagel)

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INDEX

OF MRS. T. H. SHIELDS

BY SHERILYN D. ALLEN

Aberdeen, mentioned, 5Air Force, mentioned, 12

"Alhambra", post office, 1

Anguilla (Miss.), mentioned, 6, 8ANNUAL, the, 13-15, 20

Archer, Ninna, head, Welfare Department, 3

Atlanta, mentioned, 6Barwick, Clayton Howard, father, 1

Barwick, R. J. E., mother, 1

Bass, E. E., superintendent, Greenville Public Schools, 9

Bell, Charles, author, ~ Married Land, 19Bible, the, 3"Break the Bank", quiz show, 16

Bryan home, library, 2

Carroll Parish, Louisiana, mentioned, 1

Carter, Hodding, III, 19Central School, 10, 11

Christmas, mentioned, 1, 8

Civil Engineer, 5

Coleman, Lizzie, 9Columbus (Miss.), mentioned, 3Columbus (Dormitory), 4Court School, 8, 9, 11


I~.

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Cowan Hotel, mentioned, 5

Credits, high school, 19D-Day, 13Dickens, mentioned, 2Durant, mentioned, 5E. E. Bass School, 11Education in Washington County, Mrs. T. H. Shields' auto-

biography, 1England, mentioned, 12"Evangeline", poem, 3

First Methodist Church, 8

Flood of 1927, 8, 9Football Banquet, 4

Foote, Shelby, writer, 19Freeze of 1899, 1Gamble, Lyne (Dr.), 10 - -,Glen Allan (Miss.), mentioned, 1-3, 5,'6, 8,9Grenada College, 3

Greenville Public Schools, 9, 10Hammond, Angie, 8Hastings (Dormitory), 4

Haxton, Kenneth, 19Houston, Mattie, Principal, Central School, 10Howard, Snodie, aunt, 1, 2Hunt, Billy, 13

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MISSISSIPPJ DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORYThis material may be

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Shields 2

Shields 3

"Idyls of the King", poem, 3

Industrial Institute and College (I. I. and C.), 3, 5, 12

Jackson (l1iss.), mentioned, 12

King's Daughters Hospital, mentioned, 6

Lake Washington, 1, 8

Lancaster, Louise Gill, 11

Lancelot, mentioned, 18, 19Leota Landing, mentioned, 5

Louisiana State (College), mentioned, 12

Methodist Church, 3Mississippi State College for Women (MUW), mentioned, II

Montgomery, Inez, teacher, 2

Mortimer, __________ , teacher, 3

National Honor Society, 13, 16New York City, mentioned, 12, 13, 17Old Main (dormitory), 4Old Testament, the, 3Percy, Walker, author, Lancelot, 18PICA (High School newspaper), 13-15, 20Poplar (Street), mentioned, 9Quill and Scroll (Honerary Fraternity), 13, 15, 16Richardson, Colyers, first husband, 5ROTC, mentioned, 12

Santa Claus, mentioned, 8

Schultz, ____ (Rev.), 8


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~lIW(T"I" I1U.~' '-:()n"l,

Shields 4

Scott, Sir Walter, mentioned, 2Scully, Pat, 13Shields, Clayton, daughter, 7, 12Shields, John, son, 5, 7, 12Shields, T. C., son, 5, 7, 12, 13Shields, (T. H.), husband, 7Shields, T. H. (Mary Clayton Barwick)~ born, East Carroll

Parish, Louisiana, 1; move to Mississippi, 1; schooling,1, 2; Grenada College, 3; Industrial Institute and College,3-5; Master's, Teachers' College, Columbia University, 16;teacher in Durant and Aberdeen, 5t:t'eacher,LeotaLanding, 5; marriage to Colyer Richardson, 5; children,5-7, 12; Home Science teacher, Anguilla, 6; marriageto T. H. Shields, 8; member, First Methodist Church, 8;husband's death, 8, 11; teacher, Court School, 8, 11;life during theL927 flood, 8, 9; teacher, CentralSchool, 10, 11; students, 10, 11; teacher, E. E. Bass,11; effects of the War, 12, 13, 18; sponsor, SeniorClass, 13; charge of the PICA and ANNUAL, 13-15;co-organizer, National Honor Society, 13; reorgani-zation, Quill and Scroll, 13, 15, 16; participation,Quiz Shows, 16; .hospitalization, 17; retirement, 17;teacher's salary, 16, 17; views on yesterday's schooland today's school, 18-20

Solomon, Herman, Principal, E. E. Bass School, 10, 11


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I

Shields 5

Spencer, Mary, Sunday School teacher, counselor, guide,·3

Starkville, mentioned, 4

Surrey, 2

Teachers' College, Columbia University, 16

Thackery, mentioned, 2

"The Lady of the Lake", 2

"The Princess", mentioned, 3

Trigg, Susie, Principal, Court School, 9Vicksburg (Miss.), mentioned, 5Washington County, mentioned, 1

Weathers, the , 5

Welfare Department, mentioned, 3

Wells, (Mrs.), 13-----Whi tfield, , 4-----Wingate, Annie, 6


This material may oe



an interview with mrs. t. h. shields april 8, 1977

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