For years, the mud-spattered riding boots stood in William Faulkner’s bedroom. Many a visitor found them the most moving sight in his former home, evoking powerful images of a man at one with the land he had written about so truly.
Today the boots have come to symbolize a growing dilemma faced by current caretakers of the circa 1848 house Faulkner named Rowan Oak when he bought it in 1930. It’s not known exactly how many years the boots were on display, but the sunlight streaming in the bedroom window during that time dramatically aged them, leaving the areas that were exposed to the light mottled and flaking.
“People are really sentimental and emotional about his boots. They want to see them out. So we have to figure out, how can you show something people regard as a national treasure without destroying it?” said Cynthia Shearer, who is in her second year as curator at Rowan Oak.
For now, the boots have been put away in a box to protect them from further deterioration. They may be returned to public view at some time in a display case or a temporary exhibit, Shearer said.
Three decades after the death of the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose novels mostly focused on northern Mississippi, such issues of preservation versus access are becoming more crucial.
For many years, access to Rowan Oak remained remarkably unrestricted. Visitors as recently as the mid-’70s recall being able to leaf freely through Faulkner’s books and papers.
In the early ’80s, plastic dividers were placed in front of the various rooms in the house, limiting the curious to visual inspections from the hallways. However, the atmosphere remains relatively informal, despite growing numbers of visitors that reach 200-300 a day in the summer.
“We try hard to stay away from canned tours. Faulkner would have hated that. We let them come in, we say hello and let them know we are here,” said Shearer, 39. “But we let them look around and then tell us what they want to know.”
“We will see how that holds up. Every summer it gets harder. We have set a limit of 50 people in the house at one time. We’ve never had to turn away people at the door yet, but we do tell groups when they book ahead about the limit.”
Rowan Oak is Oxford’s greatest tourist attraction, drawing up to 15,000 visitors a year. The University of Mississippi bought it from Faulkner’s daughter in 1972. A restoration of the barn, kitchen, stable and caretaker’s cottage was completed recently, financed by the university and the city, with some fund-raising assistance from author John Grisham.
As Shearer works to balance the demands of visitors and preservation, she also keeps in mind that its famous former owner wouldn’t exactly have welcomed tourists with open arms.
“He wouldn’t like it at all. It’s like coming to work knowing you are violating his privacy. So we try not to dwell on the folklore about him, which is often inaccurate,” said Shearer, who taught English at Mississippi State and Ole Miss before taking the position at Rowan Oak, and is completing her first novel.
Faulkner’s nephew, 71-year-old Jimmy Faulkner of Oxford, said the author would make himself scarce had he lived to see the influx of tourists.
“He’d leave town. He didn’t want to be bothered. He just wanted a place to live and not be bothered,” he said.
However, the tourism element of Rowan Oak is kept to a minimum. There are no billboards, concession stands or restrooms and only a small, unpaved parking area. No postcards or souvenirs are sold and no admission is charged.
Still, keeping the house open to visitors provides many Faulkner readers with a vital link to the author. Large numbers of the visitors to Rowan Oak come from Europe and Japan.
“For a lot of people, it is extremely important. Faulkner is such a force to them. It’s not all tourism and looking at the furniture. People show up having waited a long time and traveled a long way to be here,” said Shearer.
Thus, the efforts continue to share the house and its contents without destroying it. Over time, sunlight and humidity are particularly damaging to fabrics, books, photographs and other furnishings, which are exhibited at Rowan Oak much as they were when Faulkner died in 1962.
The staff is studying ways to meet American Association of Museum standards of maintenance and operation, which are required in order to qualify for grants that would help meet financial needs at the house.
“We are not competitive now for most federal grants. We can’t compete with places like Mt. Vernon or Monticello (the former homes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson). The house doesn’t generate any revenue except for donations from visitors,” Shearer said.
