Nannie Herndon Rice
{{short description|American librarian}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Nannie Herndon Rice
| image = NannieHerndonRice1905.png
| alt = A young white woman with straight hair parted center
| caption = Nannie Herndon Rice, from the 1905 yearbook of the Mississippi Industrial Institute & College
| other_names =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = November 30, 1886
| birth_place = Starkville, Mississippi
| death_date = March 6, 1963 (aged 76)
| death_place = Starkville, Mississippi
| occupation = Suffragist, writer, librarian
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives = Arthur F. Hopkins (great-grandfather)
}}
Nannie Herndon Rice (November 30, 1886 – March 6, 1963) was an American suffragist, writer, and college librarian, based in Mississippi. She worked at the Mississippi State University library from 1916 to 1957, and was president of the Mississippi Library Association.
Early life and education
Rice was born in Starkville, Mississippi, the daughter of Arthur Hopkins Rice and Frances Mary Smith Rice. Her father was a physician. Her great-grandfather Arthur F. Hopkins was a railroad president and state Supreme Court justice in Alabama.{{Cite news |date=1966-07-03 |title=Ex-Librarian's Valuable Papers Presented to MSU |pages=10 |work=Clarion-Ledger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-ex-librarians-valuable-p/125896939/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from the Mississippi Industrial Institute & College in 1905,{{Cite news |date=1905-05-30 |title=Many Young Women Receive Diplomas |pages=9 |work=The Birmingham News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news-many-young-women-rec/125898359/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} and held further degrees from Columbia University (1911) and the University of Illinois (1932, in library science).{{Cite web |last=Simmons |first=Nancy Alexander |title=Biographical Sketch of Nannie Herndon Rice, Woman Suffrage Activist and Prominent Librarian |url=https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1010596263 |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Alexander Street Documents: Part III, Mainstream Suffragists, National American Woman Suffrage Association}}
Career
Rice was an assistant at the Industrial Institute & College after she graduated. She taught English at St. Mary's College in Dallas, Texas. She spent most of her career as a librarian at the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Mississippi State University), from 1916 until her retirement in 1957.
Rice wrote poetry, book reviews, and essays. She was president of the Mississippi Library Association in the 1930s.{{Cite news |date=1939-02-17 |title=Reprints Given Oxford Library |pages=15 |work=Clarion-Ledger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-reprints-given-oxford-lib/125911725/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was a speaker at the MIssissippi Library Association's general meeting in 1938.{{Cite news |date=1938-10-25 |title=State Library Convention in Biloxi Nov. 3-5 |pages=3 |work=Sun Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sun-herald-state-library-convention-in-b/125910125/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}
After H. L. Mencken wrote a series of articles describing the American South as a cultural desert, Rice wrote an essay in defense of Mississippi, which Mencken published in The American Mercury, in January 1926. She also wrote book reviews and poetry, published under the names "Anne Coke"{{Cite news |date=1966-03-30 |title=Paul Flowers' Greenhouse |pages=6 |work=The Commercial Appeal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-appeal-paul-flowers-gree/125898277/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} and "Ann Cook".{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Frank |date=1986-09-28 |title=Nannie Herndon Rice defended Mississippi in 'Northern' press |pages=79 |work=Clarion-Ledger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-nannie-herndon-rice-defen/125897739/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} After her death, an anthology of her writings was published by her nephew, Frederic F. Mellen.{{Cite news |date=1966-05-08 |title=Nannie Rice Anthology |pages=71 |work=Clarion-Ledger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-nannie-rice-anthology/125898452/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Rice was elected recording secretary and corresponding secretary of the Mississippi Woman Suffrage Association;{{Cite news |date=1916-04-06 |title=Suffragists Name Officers, Adjourn |pages=5 |work=Jackson Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/jackson-daily-news-suffragists-name-offi/125909764/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} her former professor Pauline Van de Graaf Orr was the association's president.{{Cite news |date=1916-04-13 |title=Miss Orr Re-Elected |pages=1 |work=Simpson County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/simpson-county-news-miss-orr-re-elected/125909848/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1917-04-08 |title=Suffrage Notes; Edited by Columbus Equal Suffrage League |pages=4 |work=The Commercial Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-commercial-dispatch-suffrage-notes/125858959/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was also active in the Mississippi Association for the Preservation of Wild Life, the American Library Association, and the American Association of University Women.
Personal life and legacy
Rice lived most of her life in Meadow Woods, her family's historic plantation home in Oktibbeha County.{{Cite journal |last=Sink |first=Mattie |date=2015-07-21 |title=Meadow Woods Plantation, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, and the Nannie Herndon Rice Papers at Mississippi State University Libraries |url=http://aquila.usm.edu/theprimarysource/vol25/iss1/1 |journal=The Primary Source |volume=25 |doi=10.18785/ps.2501.01 |issn=1941-8434|doi-access=free }} She died there in 1963, at the age of 76. Her family donated a large collection of her papers to Mississippi State University.{{Cite web |title=Nannie Herndon Rice Family Papers {{!}} Manuscripts Division |url=https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/mss-rice-papers/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Mississippi State University Libraries}} An oil portrait of Rice was displayed at Mississippi State University's Mitchell Memorial Library.{{Cite news |date=1967-11-26 |title=Nannie Herndon Rice |pages=70 |work=Clarion-Ledger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-nannie-herndon-rice/125898914/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}} A residence hall at Mississippi State is named Rice Hall in her memory.{{Cite web |last=Nisbet |first=Emma |date=2022-02-22 |title=What's in a name? MSU historians tell the stories behind the names of buildings on campus |url=http://www.reflector-online.com/news/article_32a7981a-92ca-11ec-9d21-83eeb1e93bc3.html |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=The Reflector |language=en}}
References
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Category:People from Starkville, Mississippi
Category:Mississippi University for Women alumni
Category:Mississippi State University people
Category:Librarians from Mississippi
Category:American women writers
Category:Suffragists from Mississippi