Nipper takes a look around at the Charles H. Templeton, Sr., Music Museum,, which houses 22,000 sheets, 15,000 recordings and 200 music playing machines and instruments. The Museum is located at Mississippi State University, Starkville, Miss.

The Templeton Ragtime Music Festival

Text by David Reffkin
Photos by Jim Tomlinson

The campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville provided a beautiful setting for the second annual Templeton Ragtime Music Festival, March 28-30. The extraordinary Mitchell Memorial Library houses a permanent collection of vintage sheet music, recordings, and cylinder, disc and roll playing machines that were donated by Charles H. Templeton, Sr.

In small and large venues, there were concerts and talks, tours of the collection and onstage interviews. The performing cast included Mimi Blais (who also gave presentations to school groups), Brian Holland, Virginia Tichenor, Marty Eggers, Frederick Hodges and Bob Seeley. I interviewed each of the performers and the musical advisor for the festival, David Jasen, who led the tours.

The Templeton collection is truly amazing, and Mississippi State has done an outstanding job in archiving and presenting it. Much of the credit for organizing the collection and producing the festival goes to Dean of Libraries Frances Coleman and her staff, particularly Stephen Cunetto and Lyle Tate, and to Templeton's son, Charles, Jr. (aka "Chip").

The third annual festival is planned for March 2009. More festival pictures are posted at http://flickr.com/photos/12785883@N03/. You can see photos of the collection online at library.msstate.edu/templeton.

Administrator of Systems Stephen Cunetto shows off the insides of a beautifully maintained player piano.

Musical advisor David Jasen led tours around the Templeton collection.  The display of sheet music is a highlight of the archive.

June 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.