MDAH News

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) Board of Trustees awarded $753,150 in Mississippi Historic Site Preservation Grant (MHSPG) funding to American Battlefield Trust and Gulf Coast Housing Partnership for preservation projects during a regular meeting of the board on January 19. 

American Battlefield Trust was awarded grant funding for preservation work at 15 tracts of land inside Civil War battlefields that include: 

Chickasaw Bayou Battlefield, Warren County, $359,650;  

There are 12 tracts of land inside the Chickasaw Bayou battlefield: DeFrance Tract, M. Sanderford Tract, D. Sanderford Tract, Uzzle Tract, Hill Tract, Hedrick Tract, J. Nevels Tract, Kitchens Tract, M. Uzzle Tract, Barnes Tract, Pace Tract, and Whiting Tract. 

Chickasaw Bayou is heavily threatened by development and has an extremely low percentage of preserved land within its core area. The majority of the land has been built over and will be subject to day-of restoration, ultimately being stewarded by the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign. 

Iuka Battlefield, Tishomingo County, $42,500;  

The Lomenick tract is within the Iuka battlefield. The property is unimproved and sits within the Iuka city limits.  

Champion Hill Battlefield, Hinds County, $207,500;  

Preservation work will begin when the Ratliff tract is transferred to the National Park Service.  

Corinth Battlefield, Alcorn County, $11,435;  

The Emmons tract is within the Corinth battlefield. It is entirely unimproved and is likely to be developed in the next five years if not preserved. The property is just outside the borders of the Corinth Unit of Shiloh National Military Park. 

Gulf Coast Housing Partnership was awarded $125,000 in grant funding for preservation work at Leonard Court in the city of Jackson of Hinds County. The historic location on North Mill Street comprises 60 houses and one corner store. The area lies within the Farish Street National Register Historic District. The district was an important center of culture, Black economic empowerment, as well an incubator for community organizing during the Civil Rights Movement.  

The Mississippi Legislature created the MHSPG program in 2021 to fund acquisition of sites related to Civil War battles, Native American archaeology, and civil rights history. These funds will allow endangered and significant properties to be preserved.  

“This program builds upon our role in preservation by assisting our partners with the acquisition of significant historic properties,”  said Barry White, MDAH historic preservation director.  “These grants elevate Mississippi’s capability to preserve the historic integrity of these properties, tell their broader stories, and attract new visitors.” 

Funds in the MHSPG program are used to defray costs for land acquisition to protect historic properties. A one-to-one match is required. 

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. 

For more information about the MHSPG program, contact 601-576-6850 or email hsmith@mdah.ms.gov.

Reverend Reginald Buckley of Jackson has been elected to the board of trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). The action took place at a meeting of the board on Tuesday, December 19. Buckley’s nomination will be submitted to the Mississippi State Senate for confirmation. 

“Reverend Buckley has a wealth of pastoral and leadership experience,” said MDAH board president Spence Flatgard. “I am thrilled he agreed to join our Board. MDAH will benefit greatly from his insight and enthusiasm.” 

At a meeting of religious leaders convened by MDAH in 2022 through a Lilly Endowment Inc. grant, Buckley outlined plans of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi, Inc. (GMBSC) to make capital improvements to Huddleston Memorial Chapel at historic Natchez College—a historically Black college open from 1884 to 1989. This preservation project is now supported, in part, by the Lilly Endowment grant.  

Lilly Endowment awarded the grant to the Foundation for Mississippi History through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative, a nationwide effort to help museums and other cultural institutions improve the public’s understanding of the role of religion in the U.S. and the beliefs and practices of diverse religious communities. 

Buckley has served as a pastor at Cade Chapel Missionary Baptist Church since 2007 and became senior pastor in January 2015. He is president of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi and has served as chairman of the board of trustees for the Mississippi Baptist Seminary.  

Buckley has served on the board of directors for the Hinds County Economic Development Authority, was a W.K. Kellogg Fellow, and was a member of the inaugural class of the Mississippi Black Leadership Institute. He is married to Lecretia A. Buckley, and they are the parents of two children, Jonathan and Anna.  

Members of the MDAH Board of Trustees serve six-year terms and must be confirmed by the state senate. Other current members of the board of trustees are Spence Flatgard of Jackson, president; Hilda Cope Povall of Cleveland, vice president; Carter Burns of Natchez; Nancy Carpenter of Columbus; Betsey Hamilton of New Albany; Mark Keenum of Starkville; and TJ Taylor of Madison.  

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is the second-oldest state department of archives and history in the United States. The department collects, preserves, and provides access to the archival resources of the state, administers various museums and historic sites, and oversees statewide programs for historic preservation, state and local government records management, and publications. 

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

On Friday, December 1, the Possum Ridge model train exhibit will open at the Two Mississippi Museums. There is no charge to view the exhibit, which is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays from 11 to 5 p.m. The Possum Ridge exhibit will be closed on December 25 and will end on December 31. 

For more than forty years, the model trains and town of Possum Ridge have been a holiday tradition delighting both children and adults. The site depicts a typical Mississippi railroad town of the 1940s. In its first year, it consisted of a single block of an electrified Main Street with ten buildings, including a bank, dry goods store, newspaper office, and restaurant. 

Today the trains circle a town that has grown to include a depot, church, bakery, barbershop, icehouse, sawmill, cotton gin, train yard, and much more. There are also houses located off Main Street, farmsteads, a small airport, and even a river baptism scene. 

For more information, call 601-576-6800 or email info@mdah.ms.gov. 

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is accepting applications for the 2024 Eudora Welty Research Fellowship, 2024 Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellowship, and inaugural Religion in Mississippi History Fellowship. The competitive scholarships may be used for research at MDAH for a minimum of two weeks during the summer of 2024.  

Eudora Welty Research Fellowship 

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 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.   

Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellowship  

The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellowship is offered 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 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, CA. 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.   

Religion in Mississippi History Fellowship  

MDAH is delighted to announce the new Religion in Mississippi History Fellowship to encourage and support the use of the many archival collections concerning religious history in Mississippi held by the department.  This fellowship is part of MDAH's Religion Initiative, which is made possible by funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.

This competitive fellowship opportunity offers a $5,000 stipend to a student enrolled in a graduate or doctoral program at an accredited college or university with an interest in conducting primary source research in the wealth of archival materials concerning religious history in Mississippi and related materials at MDAH.   

The recipient of each fellowship is expected to conduct research in residence at the archives for a minimum of two weeks in Jackson during the summer of 2024, during the period of May to September.  

The deadline for all 2024 fellowship applications is March 1, 2024. Additional information, including the application forms for the individual fellowships can be found at mdah.ms.gov/careers-volunteering/fellowship-opportunities.

For additional information and questions about the Eudora Welty Fellowship, e-mail Lis Cambonga at ecambonga@mdah.ms.gov.   

For additional information and questions about the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Fellowship and Religion in Mississippi History Fellowship, email Laura Heller at lheller@mdah.ms.gov.      

On Thursday, October 5, from 5 p.m.–6:30 p.m., Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) staff will provide an update regarding plans for re-opening the Windsor Ruins site, the historic site of the Daniell Plantation. The meeting will be held in the Clinton Bristow Hall at Alcorn State University.

MDAH staff will discuss the status of the column stabilization project that is near completion at Windsor Ruins and engage with meeting attendees to discuss how to enhance interpretation and stories about Windsor Ruins. This valued public input will assist MDAH’s ongoing research and development for new signage at the site, marketing materials, and more. No registration is required to attend the meeting. Port Gibson residents who attended a previous meeting in July helped researchers by asking questions and suggesting angles to explore.

“We invite people in the community to give us input on how MDAH should tell the stories that Windsor evokes—the wealth generated through cotton production, enslavement, the Civil War, and Reconstruction,” said Michael Morris, director of the Two Mississippi Museums. “Among the new stories we will share are the results of genealogy research connecting enslaved people with descendants currently living in Claiborne County and across the country.” 

Windsor Plantation, one of the largest private residences in the state, was built for Smith Coffee Daniell II in 1861. It was constructed near the town of Bruinsburg, where Union soldiers crossed the Mississippi River to begin their quest to capture Vicksburg. It was destroyed by fire in 1890. 

More than a century of exposure to the elements has caused erosion to the 45-foot-tall masonry columns and fracturing of the cast iron capitals. In 2016, MDAH commissioned an architectural conservator to study the site.  

MDAH was founded in 1902 to collect, preserve, and provide access to the archival resources of the state.  

Community meeting information: 

Thursday, October 5, 2023 

Clinton Bristow Dining Hall

Alcorn State University Campus 

Lorman, MS 

5 p.m.–6:30 p.m. 

Entergy Mississippi’s grant of $250,000 to the Foundation for Mississippi History will support the restoration of Raymond Hall as part of a new initiative by the Mississippi Department of Archives at History (MDAH) on the campus of Historic Jefferson College in Washington.

MDAH is developing the Natchez Center for American History (NCAH) at Historic Jefferson College. The $20 million project will include two components: a preservation field school and an interpretive center.

Raymond Hall will be restored and equipped with modern building systems to provide classroom space and housing for what will become the region’s first preservation field school. MDAH preservation professionals and faculty from regional universities will provide hands-on, in-the-field learning to develop the next generation of the preservation workforce.

“The restoration project at Historic Jefferson College is a prime example of Mississippians working to better our communities and create opportunities for the next generation,” said Haley Fisackerly, president and CEO, of Entergy Mississippi. “We’re thrilled to partner with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to develop an institution that will prepare Mississippians for employment in a sector that is woefully short of meeting demand. Not only is it a beautiful site that will play an important role in southwest Mississippi’s tourism, but this effort will also cultivate a strong workforce with diverse skills critical to helping Mississippi’s economy thrive.”

The campus is an 80-acre site with eight main buildings and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance. The first building at the college was completed in 1820 as the cotton economy built on slavery was expanding and generating vast wealth.

Restoration and development of Historic Jefferson College are key components of MDAH’s strategic plan for southwest Mississippi, where it operates two other historic sites—the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians in Natchez and Windsor Ruins near Port Gibson.

“Historic Jefferson College will one day be a gateway for visitors, sharing the powerful stories of the Native American experience, conflicts among Colonial powers, westward expansion, statehood, slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction,” said Katie Blount, director of MDAH. “We will bring visitors to Jefferson College and then send them out across the region to see the places where history happened.”

Historic Jefferson College was Mississippi’s first institution of higher learning and the birthplace of statehood, where delegates gathered 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.

In addition to the grant from Entergy Mississippi, MDAH has secured state and federal funds to support the project. The Foundation for Mississippi History will continue to seek private support.

Entergy Mississippi has generously supported other MDAH projects including the Two Mississippi Museums and the William and Elise Winter Education Endowment.

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