A Tupelo museum now has a collection of Sam Lumpkin’s time in office
TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)- Fresh off the campaign trail for the Governor’s mansion, Brandon Presley is keeping his love of politics and political history alive.
He hoped these papers and audio tapes will preserve the legacy of a former north Mississippi lawmaker.
“Sam Lumpkin was both at one time Speaker of the house, and Lieutenant governor and so he is one of only two people in state history that presided over both the house, and the senate. He is a name that has kind of been lost to history in the tupelo are, and I wanted to make sure that this collection got to the museum where it belongs because these kinds of documents belong to a museum, and I wanted to make sure it gets to them,” said Brandon Presley (Northern District PSC)
Throughout the 1940’s and early 50’s Lumpkin held some of the most powerful offices in the state of Mississippi, as his influence grew.
“One of the special documents is a letter that Mr. Lumpkin wrote his daughter on his first day serving as the active governor while the current governor was in Washington serving with Roosevelt. those type of personal letters are in there, along with letters from president Eisenhower, along with letters from Vice President Nixon and a condolence letter from attorney general Bobby Kennedy and so there is a great collection of items here,” said Presley
Presley knows Lumpkin’s name is not as well-known as other former politicians at the state Capitol, but these papers could change someone’s prospective.
“I think it just adds to and gives a little bit more context to characters from Tupelo’s history that may have been forgotten about,” said Presley
The outgoing Public Service Commissioner is from Nettleton and has been around politics most of his adult life.
It’s one reason he sees a need for other political figures to be remembered.
“Mr. lumpkin was from Tupelo, lived in Tupelo, passed away here, so this was an appropriate place for it to be,” said Presley
