MDAH offices, archives library, and the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians will be closed Monday, February 20, for President’s Day.
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. Learn more about researching at archives here.
Tune in with Suzanne Marrs, Eudora Welty's friend and biographer, for an online discussion of Welty's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Optimist's Daughter. For more information, visit welty.mdah.ms.gov/events, or call 601-353-7762.
Join the Eudora Welty House & Garden for a guided camellia walk and flash sale led by Paige Mizell of Mizell Camellia Nursery. Learn interesting facts about the varieties of camellias Welty grew during a walk-and-talk in the Welty Garden and shop for old-fashioned specialty camellias grown by Paige's family nursery until plants are sold. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Eudora Welty Foundation. For more information, call 601-353-7762, or email info@mdah.ms.gov.
Are you interested in beginning the journey of tracing your African American family tree? Join us for our Beginning African American Genealogy Workshop presented by Joyce Dixon-Lawson at 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 25, in the William F. Winter Archives & History Building. This workshop will guide participants on how to start genealogical research by using census, county, Bible, cemetery, and other public records available in MDAH archival collections. This program is free and open to the public.
Do you have artifacts that tell a family story or illuminate a piece of Mississippi history? Join us for Community Curation Day: Donating Family Artifacts and Papers at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 11, in the William F. Winter Archives & History Building. MDAH professional archivists and collections staff will explain the MDAH collection policy for donating documents, photographs, and/or 3D artifacts.
The following streets around the Two Mississippi Museums and the William F. Winter Building—Amite Street, Jefferson Street, Mississippi Street, and North Street—will be closed Saturday, February 11, for the Dixie National Rodeo Parade that begins at 10:30 a.m.
Visitors who arrive by 10 a.m. may access the parking garage by turning off of High Street south onto Jefferson Street. The streets will reopen once the parade ends around 11:30 a.m.
The documentary The Fearless 11 will be shown at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 12, at the Two Mississippi Museums. The hour-long documentary showcases the experiences of eleven Black teens who integrated Provine High School in 1965. After the screening, there will be a time for a Q&A from the audience. 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
At 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 20, the Mississippi Historic Preservation Professional Review Board will meet in the Charlotte Capers Building to consider nominations to the National Register of Historic Places. For more information, call 601-576-6850, or email info@mdah.ms.gov.