The 93rd Miss Mississippi pageant begins this weekend in Vicksburg, with the winner crowned on June 13. Dig deeper into the pageant’s history with a visit to the Two Mississippi Museums, where the special, temporary Mississippi Made exhibit highlights how Miss Mississippi has catapulted contestants to the national stage of Miss America.
Miss Mississippi is a scholarship pageant and a preliminary competition of Miss America. Since 1934, the pageant has been a platform for young women across the state to promote community and service, and the winner represents the state in the Miss America competition. Many Miss Mississippi contestants have gone on to have successful careers as businesswomen, actresses, and educators.
Mississippi has had four Miss Mississippi contestants to win the national crown. In 1959, Mary Ann Mobley of Brandon was the first Miss Mississippi to be crowned Miss America. Mobley later starred in films alongside Elvis Presley and sitcoms such as Diff’rent Strokes.
Several pieces of Miss Mississippi history are showcased in the Forging Ahead gallery of the Museum of Mississippi History and in the Mississippi Made exhibit, which is presented in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The exhibit features 250 artifacts that reflect Mississippi's contributions to the American story and celebrates innovators, entrepreneurs, and performers who made –and make – Mississippi.
Among the artifacts on display are the sash Mobley wore when she was crowned and the gown she wore the night she crowned her successor, Lynda Lee Mead of Natchez. Mead was crowned Miss Mississippi in 1959, and Miss America in 1960.
The artifacts offer a glimpse of Mississippi’s connection to Miss America. The women who have participated in the pageants have brought national recognition to their state through their service.
Mississippi Made will be on exhibit through Nov. 6, 2026. It is open Tuesday through Sunday at the Two Mississippi Museums.
The Two Mississippi Museums will host a Juneteenth celebration with free admission, from June 19-21, sponsored by Ingalls Shipbuilding, the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi.
The three-day celebration also includes Juneteenth Jubilee, a free, family-friendly event celebrating community and culture. The Jubilee is Friday, June 19, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The activities include specialized flash tours at 5 p.m. at the Museum of Mississippi History, and 6 p.m. at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. The focus will be on themes of emancipation and liberation in Mississippi.
Local food trucks will be on-site as visitors enjoy line-dancing workshops, games, crafts, and facepainting. There will be an adults-only lounge and a kids’ zone.
The Jubilee celebration will feature spoken-word performances by JT the Poet and Sadie, at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively. Live music will be performed throughout the event. There will also be a live art raffle, offering a painting by Tony Davenport or a wood-burned piece by Kira Cummings.
“Ingalls is proud to once again support the Two Mississippi Museums’ Juneteenth celebration,” said Lisa Bradley, Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporate Stewardship and Community Relations Manager. “This annual event brings families and communities together to learn more about Mississippi’s history. We are honored to help provide free admission and support the museums’ enduring legacy of education and innovation.”
Ingalls Shipbuilding has sponsored this event for five years.
“This annual event draws hundreds of people to the museums each year. It’s a chance to celebrate history and family,” said Two Mississippi Museums Director Michael Morris. “Ingalls has been a great corporate partner to the museums. Their sponsorship is the reason we’re able to offer free admission during this holiday weekend.”
Signed into law on June 17, 2021, Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, or Juneteenth, is a federal holiday to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States at the end of the Civil War.
Celebration of Juneteenth began on June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with some 2,000 troops, and decreed the Emancipation Proclamation freed all enslaved people, officially enforcing emancipation in the Confederate-controlled state.
For more information, call 601-576-6850, or email info@mdah.ms.gov.
The Eudora Welty House & Garden (EWHG) will host its annual Storytime on the Side Porch each Thursday in June beginning June 4.
This summer’s theme is “Small Wonders, Big World.” Families will gather for picture book readings, hands-on activities, crafts and special guests.
The tradition of gathering on the side porch to share stories began with Eudora Welty herself. For years, EWHG has honored this tradition by using the space to foster community.
Storytime on the Side Porch is a time-trusted program that brings fun and learning together in the heart of the Belhaven neighborhood.
EWHG education specialist Shalynn Turner leads this program.
“This summer, our Storytime series is all about celebrating the small wonders we can find all around us! Children and their caregivers can come out to the Welty side porch, and through reading, play, and arts and crafts, learn to find inspiration in the ordinary and get creative, just as Welty did,” Turner said.
“This is a fun and engaging program for kids to enjoy during summer break!”
Each week will cover a new “small wonder”:
June 4: Katie Tupy, Education Coordinator at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, will bring a few critters and discuss “Backyard Treasures.”
June 11: Local artist Christi Doucet will lead a hands-on paper bird craft and foster creativity with the topic, “Art All Around Us.”
June 18: Brian Lamb of Bubba’s Bees will share his knowledge of “Nature’s Tiny Helpers” by bringing an observation beehive, beekeeping gear and honey sticks.
June 25: Museum educator from the Two Mississippi Museums, Emma Ellard, will bring puppets and discuss how stories bring people together with “Stories We Share.”
No registration is required for these free events. To find a full schedule for this summer’s Storytime on the Side Porch, visit EWHG’s website.
An antique cameo and porcelain fruit bowl connected to the Windsor Mansion in Claiborne County are now part of the Historic Object Collection at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Sarah Daniell Coleman-Craig donated the latest artifacts among MDAH’s Windsor acquisitions. Coleman-Craig’s ancestors owned the Windsor Mansion, once the heart of an extensive slave plantation of 2,500 acres, with a workforce of over 300 enslaved people. Destroyed by fire in 1890, what now remains of the mansion is known as Windsor Ruins, a site donated to MDAH by the Magruder family in 1974.
Coleman-Craig, grandniece of the Magruder brothers who transferred the property, said the artifacts were passed down from her grandmother. She said her donation is an expression of appreciation.
“It is a way of showing my gratitude for the important work MDAH is doing telling the full history of Mississippi, in addition to the recent improvements at Windsor,” she said.
In 2025, MDAH completed a preservation and stabilization project at Windsor Ruins, where 23 Corinthian columns and capitals are all that remain of the mansion. The improvement project included a walking trail and new signs that tell the stories of the plantation owners and the people who were enslaved there.
“Windsor is representative of an economic era that was fully unsustainable, precarious and immoral,” Coleman-Craig said. “I would like to think the ruins are a reminder of this reality that provides an opportunity to reflect on ways to reimagine what progress can look like.”
Coleman-Craig said she’s inspired by the work MDAH is doing to tell “the full story and the possibilities that might hold.” She is now renovating an older home in Claiborne County with the intention of transitioning there full-time in the future.
Nan Prince, director of collections at MDAH, said much of the Historic Object Collection comes from public donations. Prince said the agency also holds in its collection a demitasse cup that was found in the ruins of Windsor and a family Bible donated by Samuel B. Magruder and Linden Langberg.
“We are grateful for these items,” Prince said. “These kinds of gifts allow us to enrich the department’s holdings for researchers and enthusiasts as we fulfill our mission to preserve Mississippi’s history for future generations.”
Windsor Ruins, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is a Mississippi Landmark that annually draws visitors from across the nation.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has made available to the public a recently acquired inventory of 1960s-era Ku Klux Klan materials.
The inventory, which included a suitcase filled with Klan charters, a spiral notebook with meeting minutes and other documents, had been discovered by staff at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety as they prepared to move into new headquarters. DPS transferred the material to MDAH.
Material can be accessed via the MDAH website and in-person at the MDAH research library. The material is available at the following links:
The Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum are part of the 2026 Blue Star Museums program
The Two Mississippi Museums – the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum – are part of the 2026 Blue Star Museums, a program that provides free admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families during the summer. The 2026 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 16, 2026, and end on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. Learn more and find the list of participating museums at arts.gov/BlueStarMuseums.
Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and participating museums across America.
“Museums help military families stay connected – to each other, to their communities, and to the nation they serve,” said Mary Anne Carter, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “As our country approaches 250 years of independence, Blue Star Museums provides service members and their loved ones with meaningful opportunities to explore history and spark curiosity. For military families – who often face frequent moves and time apart – these shared museum experiences offer a sense of stability, belonging, and connection. By opening doors nationwide, this program ensures they can engage with the arts and history that reflect their sacrifices and strengthen the bonds that hold them together.”
“Blue Star Museums has opened doors for military families to explore, connect, and feel at home,” said Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families. “As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, we’re proud to continue this partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and museums nationwide—welcoming military families into the heart of our nation’s story and celebrating them every step of the way.”
Archive photo: Mississippi Adjutant General Bobby Ginn addresses service members who were honored in November 2024 at the annual Veterans Day Ceremony at the Two Mississippi Museums.
The Two Mississippi Museums have previously participated in the program. This year, the museums have a temporary exhibit on display titled Mississippi Made. This exhibit features artifacts that reflect Mississippi’s contributions to the American story, in celebration of America 250. Through these objects, we celebrate the entrepreneurs, innovators, performers, and craftspeople who made – and make – Mississippi.
“We are once again pleased to welcome military families to experience our museums at no cost,” said Two Mississippi Museums Director Michael Morris. “Military service is engraved in Mississippi’s history, and we are proud to play a part in telling these stories through our exhibits.”
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opened in tandem with the Museum of Mississippi History on Dec. 9, 2017, in celebration of the state's bicentennial and is administered by MDAH. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum explores the period from 1945 to 1976 when Mississippi was ground zero for the Civil Rights Movement nationally. The Museum of Mississippi History explores the entire sweep of Mississippi’s territorial and state history and the inhabitants of its land.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. To learn more, visit arts.gov or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube.
About Blue Star Families
Blue Star Families (BSF) is the nation’s largest military and veteran family support organization. Its research-driven approach builds strong communities with a focus on human-centered design and innovative solutions. A “blue star family” is the family of a currently serving military member, including active duty, National Guard, reserve forces, and those transitioning out of service. Since its founding in 2009, BSF has delivered more than $336 million in benefits and impacts more than 1.5 million people annually through an expansive network of chapters and outposts. For more information, click here.
In a glass display inside the William F. Winter Archives and History Building is a collection of archival records related to Mississippi’s state symbols.
Yellowing sheet music, faded photographs and postcards from the early 20th century highlight Mississippi’s state song, state beverage, state toy and state dance. The display, located in the building’s lobby, just outside the research library, is one of the numerous ways the Mississippi Department of Archives and History is observing America250 and Mississippi’s place in our nation’s story.
“This was put together by the MDAH Archives & Record Services Division. The archival material includes information about when each symbol was officially declared,” said Laura Heller, acquisitions and collections coordinator. “This offers a rich, historical visual for visitors to the archives.”
Did you know Mississippi’s state toy is the Teddy Bear? It was designated in recognition of the Mississippi connection to the origin of the Teddy Bear: On November 14, 1902, during a hunting expedition led by Mississippian Holt Collier of Smede, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a small, exhausted black bear. The photograph in the display case shows two young children holding Teddy Bears in 1908.
Other archives include a preliminary illustration by Vicksburg artist Andrew Bucci for the 1967 Magnolia stamp in honor of the state flower, and sheet music for the state song. In 1917, MDAH adopted as the state song Eron Rowland’s poem “Mississippi,” set to music by Clara Mallory LeBaron. That changed when the legislature passed Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 36 in 1948, adopting “Way Down South in Mississippi” by Verne Barnes and Josie Gautier as the state song.
Visitors are encouraged to come to the William F. Winter Building in downtown Jackson and learn more about the state symbols, including the official state dance – the square dance.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s annual Historic Preservation Boot Camp drew more than 40 participants from across the state. The event, held April 22-23 at the Charlotte Capers Building, is one of the ways the Historic Preservation Division serves the state’s communities.
Led by professionals in history, archaeology, architectural history, and technical preservation, the event covered a range of topics, including architectural styles, the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation and Local Historic Preservation Commission Procedures. This kind of information better equips local officials with their community-level efforts. Bootcamp participants included Main Street coordinators, local government officials, interior designers, architects, and local historians.
This year’s highlights included Lolly Rash of the Mississippi Heritage Trust as the guest speaker, a presentation by Kate Kenwright, preservation planner for the City of Oxford, who spoke to the audience on Certificate of Appropriateness Case Studies, and an architectural walking tour of downtown Jackson led by MDAH staffers Jack Gillespie, Al Willis, and James Bridgforth.
“These kinds of trainings emphasize the importance of historic preservation in our communities by teaching citizens to read and protect their built environment,” said Bridgforth, who coordinates the Certified Local Government program.
In honor of National Volunteer Appreciation Week, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History hosted a Volunteer Appreciation Lunch on Monday, April 20.
Active volunteers who have worked 20 or more hours in the last year were invited to gather in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Two Mississippi Museums.
The crowd was addressed by outgoing MDAH Director Katie Blount, who said: “We truly depend on and deeply appreciate the contributions of each volunteer.”
Barry White, who will take Blount’s place officially after her retirement, introduced himself to the volunteers. He noted that volunteers dedicated over 5,000 hours to MDAH this year.
Human Resources Programs Manager Meredith Kent concluded the luncheon by presenting awards. Twenty-four volunteers received the 2026 Governor’s Award of Merit, which designates volunteers who have achieved at least 100 hours of volunteer service for the year.
Three volunteers—Vertie Martin, Alison Steiner, and Carolyn Clements—received the Lifetime Achievement Award for dedicating over 1,000 hours of volunteer service.
Finally, the Elbert R. Hillard Spirit of Service Award was presented to longtime volunteer Beverly Fatherree. Nominated by the Eudora Welty House & Garden, where she has volunteered since it opened to the public in 2006, Fatherree was praised for her enthusiasm and flexibility.
“I adopted volunteering at Welty as a sort of mission work,” Fatheree said. She noted her decades of teaching Welty and love for spreading Welty’s work as being the driving force for her volunteerism. She said the information MDAH provides volunteers makes it easy for everyone.
Anna Traylor, special projects coordinator at the Welty House, notes that volunteers such as Fatheree “not only help with the day-to-day museum operations, but also bring their own experiences and wealth of knowledge that visitors and staff learn from.”
Christina J. Thomas, PhD, will conduct research to support her upcoming digital project, “Digitizing Freedom Summer”
Christina J. Thomas, a post doctorate fellow at the Center for Civil Rights History and Research at the University of South Carolina, is the recipient of the inaugural Robert “Bob” Moses Civil Rights Research Fellowship, offered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Thomas will conduct research in the MDAH archives this summer to support her forthcoming “Digitizing Freedom Summer” project, featuring an interactive map that locates and documents the stories of volunteers of Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964.
This new fellowship is named for Moses, who is widely credited as the architect of Freedom Summer 1964, when hundreds of college students from around the country came to Mississippi to register Black people to vote and establish school classrooms for Black children. Thomas’s project focuses on the volunteers, including the local people who opened their homes to the activists.
“I am honored to receive this fellowship and to continue sharing Moses’ legacy and that of those who carried the Mississippi movement forward,” Thomas said.
The project’s interactive map, which is in development alongside a database, will showcase the stories of Freedom Summer through biographical profiles of volunteers. When available, the profiles will also include the volunteers’ Freedom Summer applications and links to primary sources, such as oral histories or newspaper articles.
“Through this fellowship, I aim to finalize the database, which serves as the foundation of the map,” Thomas said. “The first prototype will be sent to Civil Rights Movement scholars and veterans for critical feedback in late fall 2026 before its public launch next year.”
Moses was an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s. The fellowship that bears his name seeks to nurture scholars at the beginning of their academic careers to increase their lifelong interest in history and promote continued academic and public appreciation of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, and the struggle for human rights, said Laura Heller, MDAH acquisitions and collections coordinator.
“The MDAH archives hold some of the country’s richest primary sources related to the Civil Rights Movement,” Heller said. “We welcome the opportunity to host a fellow whose ongoing work can be bolstered by our archival materials.”
Thomas will use the $5,000 fellowship to cover travel, housing, and other expenses incurred while conducting research at the archives.
In addition to her work at the Center for Civil Rights History and Research, Thomas previously was an Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Scholar at the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University. Thomas also was a historian for the History Department of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute.
Thomas received a doctoral degree in History from Johns Hopkins University and Master of Art in History from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She received her Bachelor of Art in History from Messiah University.
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