Jackson Jambalaya

After a long and courageous battle with cancer, Fred Smith—who concluded his remarkable life and career at Mississippi State University's Mitchell Memorial Library as the Rare Books Coordinator in the Special Collections division—died at his home in Starkville on Feb. 28.

Fred was a genuinely kind man and a great friend to writers and researchers. Like “Red” in The Shawshank Redemption, Fred was a man who knew how to get things, rare and wonderful items. I believe he enjoyed the search more than the final discovery.

However, this is not meant as an obituary for Fred; I only want to remind his friends of the Smith family’s unique story.

If a Mississippian loved old and rare books—and had a particular fondness for Mississippi literature, history, or culture—they had no better friends than the Smith family at Jackson’s historic Choctaw Books, located at 926 North Street. The store specialized in Mississippi history, Southern history, the Civil War, and Mississippi literature.

Sadly, Choctaw Books closed in 2013. The owner cited the rise of online rare book sites, general sales platforms like eBay and Craigslist, Amazon's entry into the used book market, and technological shifts like print-on-demand as reasons for declining foot traffic over the past six years.

Starting in Ridgeland’s Old Town Square on Feb. 1, 1982, as the private library of former Mississippi U.S. Rep. Frank Ellis Smith, it grew over three decades into a bookstore with over 110,000 mostly hardcover volumes, along with maps, historical documents, and ephemera—items meant for one-time or short-term use. The Smiths moved the store to Manship Street in Jackson in 1984, and later to its current location at 926 North Street.

Frank Smith was a fascinating man—a World War II U.S. Army field artillery officer, a former newspaper editor, a state legislator, aide to U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis, and a five-term Mississippi congressman—whose moderate views on race eventually cost him his seat in Congress. President John F. Kennedy later appointed him as a director of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Along with his son Fred, the Smiths built a used and rare bookstore that drew a remarkably diverse clientele interested in literature, government, and politics. Walking through the crowded, dusty aisles, one might encounter a current congressman, a Jackson TV anchor, doctors, lawyers, professors, journalists, ministers, political operatives, and historians.

Choctaw Books helped build many quality home libraries and served as a refuge for writers and researchers seeking hard-to-find or out-of-print books. If you needed a book, Fred could usually find it.

Shopping there never felt like shopping—it felt like visiting. Fred Smith became the "go-to" expert in the state for appraisals of rare books, maps, documents, and ephemera—programs, matchbooks, menus, political signs, buttons, you name it. His work formed the basis of insurance policies and income tax valuations. Along the way, Fred met many Mississippi literary icons, including writers like Eudora Welty and Willie Morris. “I'm closing the store, but I’ll still be around the book world,” Fred said.

“I'm proud to be a bookman. I’ll sell books online. I just won’t enjoy it as much. I’ll still do appraisals and find rare Mississippi materials for special collections.”

After 31 years of being open six days a week, Fred looks forward to spending more time with his family. Yet, in many ways, Fred cherished his final weeks at Choctaw Books. “I’m looking forward to seeing folks who I think have a connection to the place make their last visits," he said. “It will be a little like going to your own funeral, I suppose.”

Taking a cue from the great old Robert Earl Keen song, which held that “the road goes on forever and the party never ends,” Fred's great skills took an encore at Mississippi State. He made our library better, and he made the people he interacted with – colleagues, students, visiting writers, and donors – better by the sheer weight of his knowledge of and enthusiasm for books.

So, a final toast to Fred, to Frank, and let’s pause one last time to feel the Mississippi history and talent that pervaded the cozy oasis that Frank and Fred Smith created at Choctaw Books.

Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.