NATCHEZ — After a quarter of a century serving the people of Adams County on the bench, Justice Court Judge Mary Toles sees another way to help move Natchez forward.

Toles is not running for reelection this year. So, come January, she will step down and step toward another of her passions — black heritage in Natchez.

At her 200 Bluebird Drive house, Toles sorted through antiques she said she might donate to the Natchez Association for the Preservation of Afro-American Culture Museum.

“Many of the things in the museum are mine,” she said. “There’s a chair in the schoolhouse scene and a bed.”

Toles hefted a large porcelain footbath — roughly 100 years old — onto a table and dug out a pair of her husband’s grandmother’s shoes.

“We always hang onto things,” Toles said, smiling.

The items passed down through her family are a concrete symbol of heritage, she said.

Toles’ mother passed along more valuables than just antiques.

“My mother was certainly aware of herself and her heritage,” Toles said.

Toles herself was the first black woman to serve as justice court judge in Adams County.

Although Toles wants to get more involved at the museum, she doesn’t want to stop there.

“I have this dream of seeing something happen on St. Catherine Street, especially the square,” she said. “I’d like to see it developed and maybe part of African-American heritage tourism.”

A while ago, Toles brought up the topic while talking with a curator at the University of Mississippi. The curator shared with Toles that she had found undeveloped rolls of film taken by the Farm Security Administration in 1935 and 1940.

The pictures were of Natchez, especially in the St. Catherine Street area. When the curator sent Toles copies of the negatives, she was thrilled.

“They’re all black and white photographs,” Toles said. “I want to get them developed and maybe give them to the museum.”