Mildred Spurrier Topp was born on January 5, 1897, at Forrest City, Illinois, and moved to Greenwood, Mississippi, in 1904 when her mother established a photography studio in that town. Her childhood in Greenwood was chronicled in her autobiographical writings Smile Please (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1948) and In the Pink (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950). Mrs. Topp was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, 1932-1935, representing Leflore County. She worked as a newspaper-woman and taught creative writing at the University of Mississippi several years before her death in 1963.

This collection consists of the typescript of Smile Please with written corrections by the author. The manuscript was sent to the Department by Houghton Mifflin in 1950 and was bound by the Department.

Series:

1. Manuscripts, 1948, 2 inches.