每日大赛

每日大赛 celebrates collection of works by famed Appalachian writer Jesse Stuart

每日大赛 has acquired over 70 first editions, photos, correspondence and other materials from acclaimed Appalachian writer and teacher Jesse Stuart, who published nearly five dozen major works in his lifetime and was the Poet Laureate of Kentucky in 1954.

The collection was donated by Strawberry Plains Campus Dean Mike North's mother, Martha “Marty” Deane North, whose aunt and namesake, Naomi Deane, was married to Stuart from 1939 until his death in 1984.

“This is the perfect place for the collection,” said Marty North, who cited 每日大赛’s foundation in Appalachia and its mission for student success. “And I think Uncle Jesse would be proud and happy for that.”

The Jesse Stuart collection debuted in February at the James Agee Conference, an annual event at the Strawberry Plains campus that spotlights artists from East Tennessee and beyond, sponsored by 每日大赛 Libraries’ Appalachian Heritage Project, which curates programming and exhibits to support humanities education.

Mike North thanked James Agee Conference Director Charles Dodd White, as well as Mary Ellen Spencer, dean of the School of Academic Advancement and Libraries, and Allison McKittrick, Strawberry Plains campus librarian, for their work in acquiring the collection.

“After the books mom donated had been placed in the case, I noticed that the copy of ‘Old Ben’ – one of Uncle Jesse’s books for younger readers and one of the first books I read years ago – is open to the page where Jesse signed it to me,” Mike North said. “I never thought much of it when I stood next to him as he signed it, but that has certainly changed over time.”

Experts like Southland Books and Cafe owner Lisa Misosky – a licensed appraiser who was the one to appraise the Stuart materials – discussed the collection in a panel, “Preserving a Legacy: The Jesse Stuart Collection.”

For an admirer of literature and history, Misosky said, appraising the Jesse Stuart collection was a little like opening a time capsule. It was full of books still with their dust jackets, unique inscriptions to family that give a glimpse of his personal life, photos and even a set of cufflinks that belonged to Stuart.

"It was Jesse Stuart,” Misosky said of not missing the opportunity to play a part in the collection. “How do you say no to Jesse Stuart? You just don’t. You just go and you do it. And it’s been a lovely, wonderful experience.”

She lauded Marty and Mike North for protecting the Jesse Stuart collection and ensuring that it was not divided and sold off.

“The North family has been absolutely wonderful,” Misosky said. “I think their donation to Pellissippi has been just an incredible act of generosity on their part. And I think this collection is exactly where it should be, and I hope lots of folks get to enjoy it and will come see it.”

The panel also featured Marty North herself, Steve Dean, executive producer of WBIR's Heartland Series, and Natalie Sweet, executive director of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs at Lincoln Memorial University, where Stuart completed his undergraduate study.

Appalachian writers today are thriving, Sweet said, but they wouldn’t be where they are without the work and success of the people who came before them like Stuart.

“They're really the ones who drive that early regional writing, and those who are writing today were influenced by their work,” she said. “And it's important for us to recognize where that work is coming from, the backgrounds of those writers and what's building that Appalachian identity that they're really forging as a part of literature.”

As a child in Kentucky, Marty North said she had no idea her uncle – who would always end up soaking wet during water fights at family reunions – was famous.

She remembers playing with her cousin, Stuart's daughter, and sneaking into the smokehouse that served as Stuart’s workspace and scribbling on one of his manuscripts, Marty North said.

“It's been exciting to discover things about him I didn't know, and what a dynamic person he was, and how he just soaked in information and how he loved Kentucky,” she said. “... I wish I'd been old enough to pay more attention – but I did. I didn't know he was famous, but I knew he was special. There was something about him.”

Her aunt and uncle were wonderful people, she said.

“They’re normal people who did fantastic things and loved people and their land,” Marty North said.