Southern Miss Libraries Receive $2.4 Million

While students and faculty were enjoying their holiday break, The University of Southern Mississippi libraries receive a gift that will keep on giving for years to come. 

In March 2002, Mary and Joseph “Chip” Tatum Jr. of Hattiesburg donated real estate in Woolmarket, Mississippi to The University of Southern Mississippi Foundation.  Nearly 6 years later, the property sold for more than $2.4 million – all of which will benefit Southern Miss libraries. 

“We are tickled to death with the outcome of this sale,” said donor Chip Tatum, who also established a library endowment at Southern Miss in 2002.  “Libraries change so quickly.  It’s not just books anymore.  They (Southern Miss libraries) do a lot of restorations and preserving of documents and there’s a huge amount of labor involved.  When this idea was started, we wanted to free up dedicated money so the library could focus on projects like restoration and student programming.”

Mary Sutherland Tatum, a 1974 Southern Miss graduate, has long held an interest in the libraries in her community.  In addition to her support of Southern Miss libraries, she has served on the Hattiesburg Public Library Board of Directors.

“My wife has been a large supporter of libraries,” said Tatum.  “When the donation was solicited by Bill Pace, former Executive Director of the Southern Miss Foundation, it was her idea to designate the gift to the library.”

“This is the biggest gift we’ve ever received and we’re very excited about it,” said Sherry Laughlin, Associate University Librarian.  “This donation will be used to meet the libraries greatest needs as it relates to students.  What’s so great about this gift is that it’s entirely flexible - the donors set it up that way.  It can be used for books, computers, furniture – anything that will benefit the students.”

“When it (the endowment) was initially set up, the donors also gave cash gifts in addition to the Woolmarket property,” said Laughlin.  “Those gifts helped strengthen our student employee program.  It paid wages for student workers so that we could hire more students and essentially, keep the library open.  One thing we would like to do is to remodel the first floor of the library and expand our technologies and student space.  This gift can help jumpstart that.”