[EDUCATION]. Rust University. Holly Springs, Mississippi: 17 August 1894. Broadside emphasizing the necessity of an education, signed in type by C.E. Libby, President.

5 3/8 x 6 in. printed broadside (toning, creasing at folds, adhesive and pencil notations on verso).

Small broadside from school President Charles E. Libby notifying community members that the school is preparing to open "with better facilities than ever," and further asking readers "Will you please make a special effort to notify your people of this, and urge upon them the necessity of an education?" The broadside continues describing a program whereby "worthy poor" students can secure "school privileges."

The educational institution today known as Rust College is a historically Black college which was established in 1866 by the Freedman’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Its founders were Northern missionaries who opened a school in Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, accepting adults of all ages, as well as children, for instruction in elementary subjects. A year later the first building on the present campus was erected. The Reverend Charles E. Libby served as the school president from 1885-1897, and it was during his tenure that the name of the school was changed to Rust University, a tribute to Richard S. Rust of Cincinnati, Ohio, Secretary of the Freedman’s Aid Society. As students progressed, high school and college courses were added to the curriculum, and in 1878 two students were graduated from the college department. Among the notable students and alumni of Rust College is Ida B. Wells, who was born and raised in Holly Springs. Today, Rust College is one of ten HBCUs founded before 1868 that is still in operation.

RARE. OCLC locates no other copies of this broadside. A scarce piece of African American ephemera from a small Mississippi community.

Property from a 35-Year Collection from the Southern United States