Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Jackson lawyer has donated memorabilia on author Eudora Welty to Mississippi University for Women.

The Clarion-Ledger reported (http://on.thec-l.com/ZgHJQE ) that the donation by Ferrell Tadlock, a clerk with the state Court of Appeals, includes including books, photographs, magazines and monographs.

The collection, valued at more than $13,000, represents all of his first-edition Welty materials gathered over the last four decades.

"I have many signed first-editions," he said, "but the Welty ones are most special to me."

The announcement was made on Saturday during the university's homecoming convocation.

Tadlock presented the gift in honor of Jackson residents Barbara Austin and Lynda Wright, who this year became MUW Golden Girls, a milestone marking the 50th anniversary of their graduation from the university.

Tadlock, a Millsaps College graduate, said he met the women while volunteering for the New Stage Theater in Jackson. The friends later became neighbors in a Belhaven neighborhood not far from Welty's home.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author attended what was then known as Mississippi State College for Women from 1925-27.

University President Jim Borsig said the donation represents "a significant contribution to The W's literary archives and the place of Miss Welty in the history of our institution. We are very appreciative of this very special honor for two of our graduates."