Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.—The Mississippi State University community is invited to three public events next week that will mark the opening of the new home of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and the Frank J. and Virginia Williams Collection of Linolniana.

The first event, taking place from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Nov. 29 in the atrium of MSU’s Old Main Academic Center, is a book signing featuring Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Grant” and “Alexander Hamilton.” The Nov. 29 book signing will also include former Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams; Harold Holzer, a leading authority on Abraham Lincoln; as well as MSU's John F. Marszalek, David Nolen and Louis Gallo, Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library historians and authors of "The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition." Works by all of these authors will be available for purchase at the signing.

At 10 a.m. on Nov. 30, Holzer, the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, will present the inaugural Frank and Virginia Williams Lecture on Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Studies. The lecture, titled “The General vs. the President: Lincoln, Grant and the Battle for Civil War Memory,” will take place in the Turner Wingo Auditorium of the Old Main Academic Center.

A 2 p.m. ceremony at the Grant Library on Thursday, Nov. 30, will officially open the $10 million expansion to MSU’s Mitchell Memorial Library. Invited guests include Archivist of the United States David Ferriero, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper.

All three events are free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the Old Main Academic Center Parking Garage and behind the Longest Student Health Center.

More information on the grand opening and related activities can be found at www.lib.msstate.edu/grantopening.

Mississippi State is one of six universities to house a presidential library. For more on the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, see www.usgrantlibrary.org.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.