This SouthTalk will be an overview of the history of Greenfield Farm from the time of the Choctaws until Faulkner purchased the property in 1938. Gulley and Edge will explain why Faulkner bought the farm, what happened there during his ownership, and how Greenfield influenced his writing. It will conclude with what happened to the property after Faulkner’s death in 1962 and how the University of Mississippi came to own a portion of it.

Jim Gulley is a native Mississippian who retired from the Coca-Cola Company in 2018 after twenty-eight years with the company. In 2020, he embarked on a second career in academia, earning an MA in history from the University of Mississippi in 2023 and beginning a doctoral program in history from Southern Methodist University later that year. John T. Edge serves as writer-in-residence in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric and directs the Mississippi Lab, where he leads the development of Greenfield Farm Writers Residency. His latest book is a memoir—House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home. In 2022, Edge appointed Gulley as the research fellow for the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency project.

SouthTalks is a series of events, including lectures, performances, film screenings and panel discussions exploring the interdisciplinary nature of Southern studies. All events are free and open to the public.