Gulf Coast Research Lab Librarian Releases Book
January 10, 2013
A friend of the Northern Gulf Institute, Joyce Shaw, has released a new book,
Images of America - Ocean Springs. Joyce is the head librarian at the Gunter Library at USM's
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and manages GCRL's popular
Science Cafe series.
Joyce's family ties to the area began with her grandfather Hobart Doane Shaw's arrival on the Mississippi Coast in the early 1900s. He is credited with designing the seawall that protects Harrison County. Joyce's father, Philip W. Shaw, Sr., is a former mayor of Gulfport. The book's coauthor, Betty Hancock-Shaw, is a native and lifelong resident of Gulfport. She became keenly interested in historic preservation after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Betty works in the library at the USM Gulf Coast campus in Long Beach.
Chapter 8 of the book is devoted exclusively to the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and includes 28 photographs. Joyce has been at GCRL for more than 17 years as head of the Gunter Library, which serves as the archive for the history of GCRL. Joyce also published a history of GCRL in "Gulf of Mexico Science" in 2010.
The publisher's description of the 128-page book reads: "Nestled at the heart of the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast, lined with white beaches, shaded by majestic live oak trees, and caressed by gentle sea breezes, Ocean Springs has grown over the last century from a small fishing and agricultural village into a lively arts community. With rich historical roots beginning with the establishment of a French beachhead in 1699, Ocean Springs was incorporated in 1892 with fewer than 600 residents and has grown to a population of 17,442 as of 2010. Ocean Springs is a modern cosmopolitan mix of creative arts, fine dining, light industry and seashore recreation. A visit to Ocean Springs is a pleasant mix of old and new, with quiet tree-lined streets, busy galleries and museums, restful parks and treasured memories of the past."
Copies of the book may be ordered
here. Autographed copies are available from Joyce at the Gunter Library.
