Mission: The mission of the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum is to recognize the achievements and preserve the cultural heritage of the industrial age in Mississippi and to provide a sense of awareness and pride in that heritage through programs of active public involvement. Specifically, the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum will collect, preserve, and display the artifacts, history, and folklore of the Soule'' Steam Feed Works and illustrate its fundamental link to the lumber industry. By providing entertaining and educational information for the public, the museum will positively promote enthusiasm for history, engineering, science, and the industrial arts.
When I came on the board to help preserve the historic Soule' Steam Feed Works site, I knew that we were starting a very special project. Our goal was to preserve this turn-of-the-20th-century site for future generations. We also wanted to create a place where history teaches and visitors learn about our American forefathers' hard work, ingenuity and desire for improving life. Soule' shows an important part of how industry progressed over time. It is a joy to see younger people learn how to operate the antique machines and demonstrate them for our visitors. To experience the sounds and smells of steam engines operating under real steam is worth a visit to the Soule' Live Steam Festival in November. There are few sites like Soule' remaining in the United States. We cannot afford to let America's early technology and manufacturing era pass into oblivion. Future generations need to have some knowledge of how America became great.
