Friday August 30, 2002

Jackson-area attorney Minor Buchanan researched the origin of the teddy bear as a bedtime story for his daughter. His research ultimately led him to uncover the life story of Mississippi folk legend Holt Collier, which he details in his new book HOLT COLLIER: His Life, His Roosevelt Hunts and the Origin of the Teddy Bear (Centennial Press, 30.00). Collier, a slave in the Mississippi Delta who took up arms against the North as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, led a fascinating life. From soldier to cowboy to expert huntsman (he killed over 3,000 bears), he may have been best known as the guide who captured a black bear during the famed 1902 Delta hunt organized for President Theodore Roosevelt -- a hunt which resulted in the birth of the teddy bear. Buchanan, a Holly Springs native and Ole Miss graduate, has gathered the many stories on this intriguing Mississippian and put them in his biography, which has won raves from Shelby Foote, former governer William Winter, and University of Mississippi history professor David Sansing.

There will be a signing and reception at Off Square Books on Friday, August 30, at 5 p.m., with a reading at 5:30.

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