Born in Lumberton, Mississippi in 1903, James Street grew up in Laurel. As a journalist, Street worked for newspapers across the south until William Randolph Hearst hired him for the New York American in 1933 to write feature stories.

The first short story Street ever published became the basis for the 1937 Technicolor comedy Nothing Sacred starring Carole Lombard, the theatrical musical "Hazel Flagg," and a 1954 film featuring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Janet Leigh entitled Living It Up. The money he received for the film rights permitted Street to quit his day job and concentrate on writing.

"The Biscuit Eater," a short story about a boy and his hunting dog, provided the narrative for a movie by the same name in 1940. Street then published an expanded version of the tale as a book in 1941 which was eventually translated into twenty-seven languages. Disney shot a remake in 1972.

Street also wrote a series of four bestselling novels that followed one Mississippi family over the span of a century. In the second volume, Tap Roots, the author incorporated a true episode from Mississippi's Civil War history -- Jones County's attempted secession from the Confederacy as the "Free State of Jones." Starring Van Heflin, Susan Hayward, and Boris Karloff, the 1948 film Tap Roots premiered in Laurel, Street's hometown and the seat of Jones County.

On display is a revised screenplay for the 1956 movie Good-bye, My Lady, which appeared on cinematic screens two years after the book's publication and the author's death. Yet another story about a boy and his hunting dog, the film's director was William A. Wellman and its cast includes Walter Brennan and Sidney Poitier.