When he was thirteen he became friends with another Greenville boy, Walker Percy, and the two remained friends until the end of Percy's life, 60 years later. They shared a love of books, and encouraged each others' literary ambitions.
After being inventoried and boxed at Shelby Foote's home on East Parkway in Memphis, the materials went into temporary off-campus storage while a processing site was readied in Harris Lodge on the Rhodes campus.
Foote visited Shiloh National Park in April 1990. His fictional re-creation of the battle of Shiloh in April 1862, "Shiloh; a novel" was published in 1952. Foote uses the first-person perspective of several Union and Confederate soldiers to depict the battle.
Foote was editor of the award winning newspaper at his high school in Greenville, Mississippi. He is standing in front center of these students from Greenville High School.
During the filming of "Memphis", Foote visited the set and met with Cybil Shepard who was acting in the movie. "Memphis" was based on Foote's novel, "September, September" and was filmed on Sheridan Street in Memphis in 1990.
Foote kept a list of classical composers and their birth and death dates tacked to his bulletin board. When he noted his daily activities in his diary, he would not which musical work he listened to on his long walk.
This bulletin board hung on the wall at the back of the desk where Foote did most of his writing. He structured his day to include a walk, watch one soap opera and write at least 500 words for his current project .