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Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) has received $500,000 in federal funds from the National Park Service (NPS) as a result of Congressionally Directed Spending in the most recent federal appropriations process.  With these funds from the Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grant program, MDAH will be able to establish a Historic Preservation Field School at Historic Jefferson College (HJC) located in Washington, Mississippi. 

The field school is part of a larger MDAH initiative to establish the Natchez Center for American History at Jefferson College. In addition to the field school, its components will include community gathering spaces, a visitors center, and an interpretive center that will share the powerful stories of this region, with a focus on the rise and fall of a cotton kingdom that was built on slavery. 

“The Save America’s Treasure grant will support the restoration of historic Raymond Hall to house students who are earning college degrees while learning preservation trades that are in great demand in the marketplace, especially in this region,” said Katie Blount, director of MDAH. “We are grateful to Mississippi’s Congressional delegation for their strong support for this initiative.” 

MDAH is partnering with the National Park Service, Historic Natchez Foundation, Mississippi State University, Tulane University, and other area colleges to establish the field school. This consortium is developing training that will supplement traditional classroom instruction, with week-long workshops to meet the requirements of the universities for three credit hours. The field laboratory will include courses in woodworking, masonry, historic finishing, etc.

“This collaboration is vital as there is currently a lack of knowledge of historic building systems and practical experience among many of the students and professionals in the preservation and construction fields,” said Barry White, director of MDAH Historic Preservation Division. 

Established in 1802, Jefferson College was Mississippi’s first institution of higher learning and the birthplace of statehood, where delegates gathered in 1817 to write the state’s first constitution. Jefferson College operated for many years as a preparatory school and later as Jefferson Military College. It served briefly as a Freedmen’s Bureau after the Civil War. The campus is an 80-acre site with eight buildings with construction dates ranging from 1818 to 1937.   

The Save America’s Treasures grant program was established in 1998 to celebrate America’s premier cultural resources in the new millennium. After more than 20 years, this grant program has awarded more than 1,300 grants totaling more than $300 million to projects across the United States. This program is administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.  

By preserving Mississippi’s diverse historic resources and sharing them with people around the world, MDAH inspires discovery of stories that connect our lives and shape our future. For more information email info@mdah.ms.gov. 

For more information, call 601-576-6850, or email info@mdah.ms.gov.   

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) has announced the 2023 grantees for the Mississippi Historic Site Preservation Grant (MHSPG) program. 

In 2021, the Legislature authorized the creation of the MHSPG program to acquire sites related to Civil War battles, Native American archaeology, and civil rights history. These funds will allow endangered and significant properties to be preserved. 

Funds in the MHSPG program are used to defray costs for land acquisition to protect historic properties. A one-to-one match is required. For example, an organization receiving $50,000 from MDAH must provide $50,000 in matching funds or other eligible equivalent, which cannot be from other state sources. The fund will only provide up to fifty percent of the appraised value of the property. Colleges and universities, historical societies, state agencies, local governments, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply. 

“For over 20 years, the state legislature has offered generous support for Community Heritage Preservation Grant funding, which has aided in the rehabilitation of hundreds of Mississippi's historic courthouses, schools, and other landmark buildings,” said Barry White, director of the Historic Preservation Division at MDAH. “This new MHSPG program builds upon our role in preservation by assisting our partners with the acquisition of significant historic properties. These grants elevate Mississippi’s capability to preserve the historic integrity of these properties, tell their broader stories, and attract new visitors.” 

A receiving property may have significance in more than one area, such as a battlefield with a recorded archaeological site within its boundaries, which will be taken into consideration in scoring applications. In addition, the property must have been previously recognized as significant. It must be individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places, listed in the 1993 Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields, or identified as nationally significant in a National Park Service Special Resource Study. 

The grantee sites for this year are as follows: 

Howell Tract, Prentiss County, American Battlefield Trust - $375,000 

This tract is within the Core and Study Areas of the Brice's Crossroads battlefield.  

Pendleton Tract, Hinds County, American Battlefield Trust - $539,000 

This tract is within the Core Area of the Champion Hill battlefield. It consists of six continuous tracts, the loss of which could endanger the access to the proposed Champion Hill unit of Vicksburg National Military Park. 

Harmon Tract, Alcorn County, American Battlefield Trust - $110,000

This tract is within the Core and Study Areas of the Corinth battlefield. It is almost entirely unimproved and features extant Civil War earthworks. The property is within the legislative boundaries of Shiloh National Military Park, and the National Park Service is actively pursuing its acquisition. 

Buford Tract, Warren County, American Battlefield Trust - $50,000 

This tract is within the Core Area of the Chickasaw Bayou battlefield and is threatened by development in Vicksburg. The property will be subject to a day-of restoration and transferred to the Friends of Vicksburg. Chickasaw Bayou is currently one of the least protected of Mississippi’s battlefields. 

Jones Tract, Warren County, American Battlefield Trust - $30,000 

This tract is within the Core Area of the Chickasaw Bayou battlefield.  

Shiers Tract, Warren County, American Battlefield Trust - $67,500 

This tract is within the Core Area of the Chickasaw Bayou battlefield. The property is in danger of being sold to commercial interests for reuse. 

Wilson Tract, Warren County, American Battlefield Trust - $52,500

This tract is within the Core Area of the Chickasaw Bayou battlefield.  

For more information call 601-576-6940, or email info@mdah.ms.gov

Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is pleased to announce that The Eudora Welty Digital Archives is now available to the public on the MDAH website. This digitization project was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities with a matching contribution from the Eudora Welty Foundation. 

The Eudora Welty Digital Archives represents only a sample of Welty-related material housed at MDAH and features selections of correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and other media related to Eudora Welty (1909-2001), master of the short story and one of America's greatest authors. 

"MDAH is grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for their generous grant which allowed for the construction of the world's most extensive digital archive of Eudora Welty materials," said Katie Blount, director of MDAH. "We are excited to share this incredible resource with researchers and fans of Eudora Welty."

Eudora Welty had a long relationship with the MDAH, making her first donation of manuscripts, papers, and photographs in 1957, and continuing to donate throughout her life. In addition to documents, the collection includes the house where Welty lived most of her life and wrote her greatest works, her furniture, art, and books, and the garden in which she worked alongside her mother. The complete collection is accessible at the MDAH.

Eudora Welty was born on April 13, 1909, the daughter of Christian Webb Welty and Chestina Andrews Welty. In 1925 the family moved to 1119 Pinehurst Street in Jackson, where Welty would reside until her death. Welty graduated from Jackson's Central High School in 1925, attended Mississippi State College for Women, University of Wisconsin, and Columbia University in New York City.

She received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for her book, The Optimist's Daughter—originally published in The New Yorker in 1969. Welty was also an accomplished photographer.

From 1955 to 1970, Eudora Welty published two short stories dealing with the Civil Rights Movement, "Where Is the Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators," and worked on scenes for a novel while caring for her family.  

Eudora Welty died in Jackson on July 23, 2001. 

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this database do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.                              

For more information call 601-576-6850, or email info@mdah.ms.gov.   

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is accepting applications for the 2023 Eudora Welty Research Fellowship and the 2023 Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellowship. The competitive scholarships may be used for research at MDAH for a minimum of two weeks during the summer.   

Offered in partnership with the Eudora Welty Foundation, the annual Eudora Welty Research Fellowship awards a $5,000 stipend to one graduate student to conduct research using the Eudora Welty Collection at MDAH for at least two weeks during the summer. The deadline is March 3, 2023. 

The Eudora Welty Collection is the world’s finest collection of materials related to Welty and one of the most varied literary collections in the United States. The collection is divided over forty-five series and includes manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, drawings, essays, family papers, and audio and visual material that spans Welty’s entire life. 

The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellowship is in partnership with the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute and awards a $5,000 stipend to one graduate student or faculty member within the first five years of their academic career to conduct research using the Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers at MDAH for at least two weeks during the summer. The deadline is March 24, 2023. 

The Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers at MDAH include Evers and Beasley family papers dating from the early 1900s to around July 1964, when Myrlie Evers and her children moved to Claremont, California. The papers are divided into four subgroups: the papers of Medgar Evers as Mississippi field secretary of the NAACP; family papers of Medgar Evers; family papers of Myrlie Evers; and records relating to the case of the State of Mississippi v. Byron De La Beckwith. 

For more information about the fellowships visit https://www.mdah.ms.gov/careers-volunteering/fellowship-opportunities.  

For additional information and questions about the Eudora Welty Fellowship, email ecambonga@mdah.ms.gov. 

For additional information and questions about the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Fellowship, email lheller@mdah.ms.gov. 

At its regular meeting on January 20, the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) awarded more than $3 million on behalf of the Community Heritage Preservation Grant program to nineteen preservation and restoration projects from across the state. The Community Heritage Preservation Grant program, authorized and funded by the Mississippi Legislature, helps preserve and restore historic courthouses and schools across Mississippi, as well as other types of historic properties located in Certified Local Government communities.

"The Legislature has saved hundreds of significant Mississippi properties through this program," said MDAH director Katie Blount. "The Department of Archives and History is grateful for the Legislature's support and pleased to be able to help preserve these local treasures."

The grant awards are as follows:

Natchez Institute, Natchez, Adams County-­$300,000

Window restoration

Y&MV Depot (Natchez Depot), Natchez, Adams County—$143,750

Interior repairs and finishes; HVAC, plumbing and electrical upgrades

Sherman Line Rosenwald School, Gillsburg, Amite County—$40,000

Roof replacement and foundation repairs

Vaiden High School, Vaiden, Carroll County—$62,184

Roof repairs and historic structures report

Bennett Auditorium, Hattiesburg, Forrest County—$235,015

Interior repairs and window restoration

Forrest County Agricultural High School, Brooklyn, Forrest County—$73,367

Interior floor repairs

Hinds County Armory, Jackson, Hinds County—$324,368

Window restoration

Kemper County Courthouse, DeKalb, Kemper County—$218,001

Roof repairs and repainting

Lafayette County Courthouse, Oxford, Lafayette County—$213,562

Window restoration

Dentzel Carousel and Carousel House, Meridian, Lauderdale County—$239,840

Roof replacement; structural, exterior and window repairs

Merrehope, Meridian, Lauderdale County—$306,385

Roof replacement

Canton Rosenwald School, Canton, Madison County—$183,798

Rood repairs and structural stabilization

Trolio Hotel, Canton, Madison County—$184,000

Roof repairs

Byhalia High School, Byhalia, Marshall County—$200,039

Roof repairs

Carnegie Auditorium, Holly Springs, Marshall Count—$196,367

Structural and masonry repairs

M&O Railroad Depot, Aberdeen, Monroe County—$98,353

Interior and door repairs; and electrical upgrades

Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation-Academy Building, Vicksburg, Warren County—$136,180

Roof replacement

 Eupora School Complex-Administration Building, Eupora, Webster County—$78,235

Roof, interior and exterior repairs

Yazoo County Courthouse, Yazoo City, Yazoo County—$214,124

Interior and exterior repair; mechanical and electrical upgrades

Grant awards are paid on a reimbursable basis upon the successful completion of the entire project or at the time of the completion of pre-established phases of the project. Prior to application, all buildings must have been designated Mississippi Landmarks. A cash match of at least twenty percent is required. Only county or municipal governments, school districts, and nonprofit organizations granted Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service may submit applications.

To become a Certified Local Government, a community must adopt a preservation ordinance establishing a preservation commission in accordance with federal and state guidelines. Once the commission has been established, application for CLG status may be made to the National Park Service through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. MDAH works closely with local government officials and citizens to help them create and manage a workable local historic preservation program. To learn more about the CLG program, contact Meredith Massey in the Historic Preservation Division of MDAH at 601-576-6538.

 

Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Foundation for Mississippi History to help the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) support and promote programs, activities, and projects focused on the understanding and interpretation of the role of religion in Mississippi history and culture. 

Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative, a nationwide effort to help museums and other cultural institutions improve the public understanding of religion. 

Through the grant, the Two Mississippi Museums will begin offering free group tours this summer to faith-affiliated communities in Mississippi—groups who attend churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, house churches, and more. 

“We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for this major support,” said Katie Blount, MDAH director. “The foundation’s generosity will help more Mississippians experience these museums. Building an endowment to underwrite field trips for Mississippi students was paramount to our initial vision. With the recent passage of the five-year anniversary of the Two Museums, Lilly Endowment helps to build on that momentum and expand our educational outreach.”   

The Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum treat comprehensively the history of religion—from the spiritual beliefs of Native Americans to the conflicting religious convictions of slaveholders and enslaved people, to the leadership of people of faith during the Civil Rights Movement. 

Support from Lilly Endowment will enable MDAH to broaden its audiences and engage them in new and exciting ways. For example, MDAH will invest in capital improvements at Historic Jefferson College near Natchez and at the Huddleston Memorial Chapel at Natchez College, a historically Black college open from 1884 to 1989. In addition, the grant will make MDAH's archival collections related to religion more accessible to the public. 

“Museums and cultural institutions are trusted organizations and play an important role in teaching the American public about the world around them,” said Christopher Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These organizations will use the grants to help visitors understand and appreciate the significant impact religion has had and continues to have on society in the United States and around the globe. Our hope is that these efforts will promote greater knowledge about and respect for people of diverse religious traditions.” 

MDAH is one of sixteen organizations from across the United States receiving grants through the latest round of the initiative. The Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative began in 2019 with an initial group of eighteen grants. The group includes fine arts museums, historical societies and history museums, libraries, historic sites, museums dedicated to serving children and families and museums dedicated to particular geographic locations and cultures. 

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. Although the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. 

 For more info call 601-576-6934, or email info@mdah.ms.gov.

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History will offer three days of free admission thanks to the support of FedEx. The museums will be free to the public in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Saturday, January 14, through Monday, January 16. 

 The Two Mississippi Museums will host MLK Night of Culture at 6 p.m. on Monday, January 16, in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. This year’s theme, inspired by the Black Empowerment gallery in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, celebrates the unity and determination of Black Mississippians demanding their civil rights from 1965 to the mid-1970s, urged on by successes such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The evening will feature performances exploring how African Americans persevered through the turmoil of racial violence, and publicly demanded their rights as American citizens through boycotts, marches, and protests organized across Mississippi.   

 “FedEx is honored to celebrate the legacy and values of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through our continued support of the Two Mississippi Museums,” said Rose Flenorl, manager of Global Citizenship at FedEx Services. "We are proud to help visitors connect with Dr. King’s legacy, and leave inspired to drive positive changes of their own.” 

 “We are grateful to FedEx for their continued support of our Martin Luther King Jr. celebration,” said Katie Blount, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. “Welcoming the public into the museums as guests of FedEx is a wonderful way to honor this important holiday.” 

 The Two Mississippi Museums will also host a food drive throughout the free weekend to benefit Stewpot Community Services located in Jackson. 

 Dr. King’s involvement in Mississippi included visiting Greenwood in support of Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964, testifying in support of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) during the 1964 Democratic National Convention, and continuing James Meredith’s March Against Fear following the assassination attempt against Meredith in 1966.  

 For more information, call 601-576-6850 or email info@mdah.ms.gov.  

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) project to stabilize the Windsor Ruins site will continue through the spring of 2023. More than a century of destructive exposure to the elements has caused significant erosion to the 45-foot-tall Corinthian columns and fracturing of cast iron capitals on the columns.  

The stabilization project includes the repointing of masonry, infilling voids in the columns with new masonry, pinning and securing the failing stucco finish, and conservation treatments to the cast iron capitals. The masonry and stucco stabilization are 85 percent complete, with the capital conservation remaining to be completed. Temporary fencing has been erected to protect visitors at the site from falling debris, while repairs continue for the remaining twenty-three full columns and five partial columns. 

Windsor Plantation was constructed for planter Smith Coffee Daniell II from 1859 to 1861. One of the largest private residences in Mississippi before the Civil War, the mansion originally featured twenty-nine Corinthian columns. The mansion was designed in an eclectic mix of Greek, Italianate, and Gothic architectural styles by David Shroder and artisans from New England and Europe, and construction labor was primarily completed by enslaved people. It was believed that some of the missing columns and components were lost during the 1890 fire that destroyed the residence. A 2017 study of the site showed that four of the missing columns were still standing as late as 1910.  

“To our knowledge, a project to stabilize a ruin like this has not been attempted at this scale in the United States,” said MDAH chief of preservation Mingo Tingle. “MDAH staff, WFT Architects and architectural conservator, George Fore, have worked seamlessly with Cangelosi Ward General Contractors, and United Restoration & Preservation, Inc. to address the stabilization process and specific conservation needs of the Windsor Ruins.” 

Although this project has been developing for years, this is considered an emergency stabilization. There are larger initiatives that involve telling a much broader story of the region, including new interpretation at Windsor.  

“The site serves as a tangible and symbolic connection to the cultural, economic, and political environment of mid-to late-nineteenth century rural Mississippi,” said Barry White MDAH's director of historic preservation. “Once the stabilization project is completed MDAH plans to update interpretive signage to reflect to site’s broader significance in history regarding pre-contact, slavery, the Civil War, sharecropping, and the evolution of the preservation movement.” 

MDAH launched a social media campaign in 2019 seeking photographs of the Windsor Ruins site, taken between 1942 and 1971, to determine when the last missing column was lost. MDAH staff used the public’s photo submissions to help establish a timeline of past column collapses and predict when future collapses may occur. It was determined that the last column collapse occurred in the early to mid-1960s. MDAH commissioned architectural conservator George Fore also found evidence relating to the timeline of column integrity during the period of public outreach. 

Family photos submitted by Ruthie Drake Fahey, a native of Port Gibson, were especially helpful having been taken only a decade after the Windsor mansion fire. “Fahey’s family photos, which were likely taken circa 1900, contain what may be the oldest known photos of the site,” said Tingle. 

Built near the town of Bruinsburg, in Claiborne County, the Windsor Ruins site is located near the section of the Mississippi River where Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant directed soldiers to cross the river from Louisiana in their quest to capture Vicksburg. Windsor Ruins was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, acquired by MDAH in 1974, and designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1985. 

See Tingle discuss stage 1 stabilization work currently underway at Windsor Ruins in this MDAH video. 

Getting to Windsor Ruins: From U.S. Hwy 61 north of Lorman, take the Alcorn State University exit and proceed west on Hwy 552. Go past the Alcorn entrance and continue west and then north on 552. There are Windsor Ruins signs along the way. The entrance to Windsor Ruins is on the right about 3 miles past the Alcorn entrance. 

For more information, call 601-576-6850, or email info@mdah.ms.gov. 

MDAH offices and archives library will be closed Friday, December 23 to Monday, December 26. All museum sites will close at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 24, and reopen on Tuesday, December 27.

The archives library will be closed on Saturday, December 31, and all museums will close at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 31, and reopen on Tuesday, January 3. MDAH offices will also be closed on Monday, January 2.

Visit www.mdah.ms.gov/explore-mississippi for more information about our one-of-a-kind museums, historical sites and cultural attractions throughout the state. Explore our wide ranging Digital Archives herehttps://da.mdah.ms.gov/.

The Mississippi Museum store will host a Holiday Open House at 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 3, to celebrate the upcoming holiday season.  The event is free to the public. There will be a 10 percent discount on all merchandise during the open house, and museum members will receive a 20 percent discount on store items. 

“We’re excited to host this holiday open house because this will create a wonderful mix of food, conversation, and relationship building right in the heart of our two museums,” said Pamela D.C. Junior, director of the Two Mississippi Museums.

The event will feature a complimentary lunch prepared by Chef Nick Wallace and will include some familiar favorites from the Nissan Cafe by Nick Wallace such as Mississippi gumbo and shrimp and grits. Wallace will also prepare a selection of finger foods for visitors to sample from 2 to 4 p.m.

Other activities include food and beverage samplings from Mississippi vendors, artist and baker meet-and-greet opportunities, light music, and complimentary gift packaging.  

The Mississippi Museum Store offers one of the state’s finest collections of folk art, local handmade crafts, pottery, jewelry, and books by and about Mississippians. Find unique holiday gifts for everyone on your list this year at the Mississippi Museum Store.

Admission to the museums is not required. The Mississippi Museum Store at the Two Mississippi Museums is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museums are  free of charge on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. are located at 222 North Street in Jackson. For more information, email info@mdah.ms.gov or call 601-576-6850 for more information.