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.
Vanderbilt PhD candidate Zachary Clary will research African American intellectualism and protest strategy during the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi
Zachary Clary, a doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University, has been selected as the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s 2026 Religion in Mississippi History Research Fellow. This opportunity will contribute to Clary’s doctoral dissertation in History and is made possible by a grant through Lilly Endowment's Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative.
Clary’s research will take place in Jackson at MDAH’s vast archives, particularly accessing archival resources surrounding the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. Clary will investigate the role of religion and morality in how African Americans viewed the oppression, violence, and death they faced during the movement.
“I am honored to receive the 2026 Religion in Mississippi History Research Fellowship,” Clary said. “The archival materials in Jackson will be a tremendous help to the development of my dissertation project on martyrdom and sacrifice in the American Civil Rights Movement.”
Clary is currently working toward his doctoral degree in History from Vanderbilt University, where he also earned a Master of Arts in History. He also received a Master of Arts in History from the University of South Carolina. Clary previously attended the College of William & Mary for his Bachelor of Arts in History.
The $5,000 fellowship stipend is used to cover travel, housing, and other expenses incurred while conducting primary research at the archives.
In November 2025, MDAH announced that Lilly Endowment, Inc., awarded a $2.5 million grant through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative to the Foundation for Mississippi History to help MDAH expand public understanding of religious history in Mississippi. This was Lilly Endowment’s second grant to the foundation.
“The Lilly Endowment’s support allows researchers to use the many MDAH archival collections that contain religious history,” said Laura Heller, MDAH acquisitions and collections coordinator. “Clary’s research will expand the field of research around Mississippi religion and related history and culture.”
Archival collections regarding religious history in Mississippi may be accessed at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson. For more information on the fellowship or about the collection, contact Heller at 601-576-6889, or by email at fellowships@mdah.ms.gov.
A group of Mississippi students will participate in the National History Day Contest in College Park, Maryland, in June after winning at the state level at an event hosted by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
The Mississippi History Day (MHD) contest on April 10 drew middle and high school students to the Two Mississippi Museums, where they displayed projects on the theme of revolution, reaction, and reform in history.
MHD is the state’s affiliate of National History Day, a cross-curriculum program focusing on in-depth research and critical analysis.
Thirty-four students participated in the 2026 Mississippi History Day State Contest. Of those, 26 won first or second place to qualify for the National History Day Contest. Third-place winners act as alternates for qualifiers who are unable to attend the national contest held June 14-18, at the University of Maryland.
The Mississippi students will join nearly 3,000 competitors from the United States, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Department of Defense schools in the Atlantic, China, and Korea for the national competition.
2026 Mississippi History Day winners:
Senior Individual Exhibit
First Place: Maggie Brown from Hernando High School
The Assassination of Julius Caesar: Causes and Consequences
Second Place: Keylee Lang from Starkville High School
Striking the Match: The Matchgirl Strike of 1888
Third Place: C. Gregg from the Youthful Offenders Unit
John R. Lynch and Reform in Reconstruction Era Politics
Junior Individual Exhibit
First Place: Geneva Hicks from Hernando Middle School
Giving Them a Voice: Reforms in Animal Cruelty Laws for Horses
Senior Group Exhibit
First Place: Allisha Guan and Sivmeng Nak from Hernando High School
A Tribute to the Homeland: How the Diaspora Changed Africa
Second Place: Connor Daniels and Christopher Lightfoot from Hernando High School
Battle of Athens Tennessee
Senior Individual Website
First Place: Coy Vanpelt from Hernando High School
The Engine That Changed Everything: How the Invention of the Steam Engine Became the Turning Point in Global Industry and Society
Junior Individual Website
First Place: Aiden Rhee from Armstrong Middle School
The Railroad: An Influential Asset During the Civil War
Senior Group Website
First Place: Shriyansh Dash and Kai Saikia from Starkville High School
Aiming for the Heart, Hitting the Stomach: How Upton Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle’ Raked Away a Century of Muck
Second Place: Brendan Seo and Joseph Thompson from Starkville High School
Revolutionizing the Delta: The Story of the Greenwood Food Blockade
Junior Group Website
First Place: Sian Lee and Peter Mun from Partnership Middle School
Alan Turing, a Genius That Arrived Too Early
Senior Individual Documentary
First Place: Walter Giesen from Mississippi School for Math and Science
Woodrow Wilson and the Reinvention of American Foreign Policy
Second Place: Ian Jung from Starkville High School
Battle of Blair Mountain: A Revolution in the Coal Mines
Senior Group Documentary
First Place: Ojash Bhushan, Peter Buys, Divya Sai, and Saindhavi Shankar from Starkville High School
Revolution, Reaction, Reform: Louis Pasteur and Germ Theory
Second Place: Jaida Denz and Jordyn Taylor from Mississippi School for Math and Science
When War Came Home to the Mind: Vietnam Veterans and the Fight to Acknowledge PTSD
Senior Paper
First Place: Catherine Shao from Mississippi School for Math and Science
A Revolution Behind-the-Scenes: Manufacturing Outsourcing, Deregulation, and the Pathway to US-Led Economic Globalization in the Crisis-Ridden 1970s
Second Place: Daniel Hu from Mississippi School for Math and Science
The Flames of Los Angeles
Third Place: Heer Patel from Mississippi School for Math and Science
The Truth Behind the Partition
Junior Paper
First Place: Madelyn Hudson from Simpson Central School
The Roots of Reform
Best Project in Medical History Award
Sponsored by Dr. Jon and Candice Buchanan
Angelina Tan from Mississippi School for Math and Science
Manufacturing Doubt: The AMA, the Tobacco Industry, and the Politics of Public Health
Best Project in Oral History
Sponsored by The University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage
Ian Jung from Starkville High School
Battle of Blair Mountain: A Revolution in the Coal Mines
Best Project in Black History
Sponsored by The University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Black Studies
Brendan Seo and Joseph Thompson from Starkville High School
Revolutionizing the Delta: The Story of the Greenwood Food Blockade
Best Project in Archival History
Sponsored by the Society of Mississippi Archivists
Presented by the Treasurer of the Society of Mississippi Archivists, Miranda Vaughn
Walter Giesen from Mississippi School for Math and Science
Woodrow Wilson and the Reinvention of American Foreign Policy
Best Project in Military History
Sponsored by The University of Southern Mississippi’s Dale Center for the Study of War and Society
Aiden Rhee from Armstrong Middle School
The Railroad: An Influential Asset During the Civil War
Best Project in Women and Gender History
Sponsored by the University of Southern Mississippi’s Evelyn Gandy Center for Women and Leadership
Keylee Lang from Starkville High School
Striking the Match: The Matchgirl Strike of 1888
Best Project in Mississippi History
Sponsored by the Mississippi Historical Society
C. Gregg from the Youthful Offenders Unit
John R. Lynch and Reform in Reconstruction Era Politics
The Major Calvin Wu Best Project in Asian History
Sponsored by the Hattiesburg Hall Alumni Association
Daniel Hu from Mississippi School for Math and Science
The Flames of Los Angeles
Best Project in Humanities History
Sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council
Catherine Shao from Mississippi School for Math and Science
A Revolution Behind-the-Scenes: Manufacturing Outsourcing, Deregulation, and the Pathway to US-Led Economic Globalization in the Crisis-Ridden 1970s
Shriyansh Dash and Kai Saikia from Starkville High School
Aiming for the Heart, Hitting the Stomach: How Upton Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle’ Raked Away a Century of Muck
Best Project in Gulf South History
Sponsored by the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for the Study of the Gulf South
K. Smith from the Youthful Offenders Unit
Claudette Colvin: Revolution in Montgomery
Teacher of the Year Nominee
Craig Wood from Starkville High School
NHD is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, which seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history. Established in 1974, the National History Day Contest engages more than half a million students every year in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. Projects compete first at the local and affiliate levels, where the top entries are invited to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD is sponsored in part by HISTORY®, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, The Better Angels Society, and the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation.
MDAH was founded in 1902 to collect, preserve, and provide access to the archival resources of the state. The commitment to preservation continues today through the work of the department’s five divisions. By preserving Mississippi’s diverse historic resources and sharing them with people around the world, MDAH inspires the discovery of stories that connect our lives and shape our future.
For more information, call 601-576-6850 or email info@mdah.ms.gov.
Stony Brook University PhD student Arleigh Rodgers will research the relationship between Eudora Welty’s work and local stage adaptations
Arleigh Rodgers, a doctoral student at Stony Brook University in New York, has been selected as the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s 2026 Eudora Welty Research Fellow. This summer, Rodgers will explore the Eudora Welty Collection, the world’s finest collection of materials related to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and stage adaptations of Welty’s novella, “The Ponder Heart.”
The annual fellowship, which provides a $5,000 stipend, is offered at MDAH in partnership with the Eudora Welty Foundation.
Rodgers plans to use this opportunity to investigate Welty’s perspective on adaptation and the theatre community in Jackson. The archival collection at MDAH holds manuscripts, ephemera, and correspondence between Welty and local stage adaptors, and will provide Rodgers with unique insight into text-to-stage adaptation. Rodgers said she intends to contribute to the greater conversation around Welty and story mediums.
“I'm curious to explore Welty's relationship to the adaptations of her works and to consider how adaptations of ‘The Ponder Heart’ appeared in a performance medium, specifically localized through stage productions in the Jackson community,” Rodgers said. “This close contemplation of Welty's work in the theatre space speaks to the intertextual approach to adaptation studies to which I hope to contribute, specifically through publication, presentation, and/or teaching of my findings after my time in Jackson this summer."
Rodgers is currently working toward her doctoral degree in English from Stony Brook University. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Ithaca College and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Southern Mississippi.
The fellowship stipend is used to cover travel, housing, and other expenses incurred while conducting primary research at the archives.
Elisabeth Cambonga, MDAH manuscripts archivist and curator for the Eudora Welty Collection, coordinates the Eudora Welty Research Fellowship. She credits the partnership with the Eudora Welty Foundation for enabling this fellowship opportunity.
“Rodgers will have the opportunity to research in one of the most varied literary collections in the country, “said Cambonga. “With access to such a large and diverse collection of manuscripts, letters, photographs, artwork, and audio-visual materials, the annual fellowship seeks to increase scholarly interest in and help promote continued appreciation of Eudora Welty’s life and works.”
The Eudora Welty Collection may be accessed at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson. For more information on the fellowship or about the collection, contact Elisabeth Cambonga at 601-576-6868, or by email at fellowships@mdah.ms.gov.
Historian Jeff Giambrone has a personal connection to the Mississippi Made temporary exhibit at the Two Mississippi Museums.
With an emphasis on innovation, industry, art, and entertainment, the exhibit tells the story of Mississippi in celebration of America250 – the national observance of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The exhibit displays some 250 artifacts, including items donated by Giambrone, who is a cultural resource specialist at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, where he’s worked for nearly 14 years.
Giambrone’s family has lived in central Mississippi since the 1920s, and he has donated many items to MDAH over the years. Three of these artifacts are now on display in Mississippi Made.
One is his dad’s 1967 credit card for The Emporium. Giambrone found it in a book, where it had been used as a bookmark. The Emporium was a department store in downtown Jackson until 1970. Giambrone’s father, J.T. Giambrone, was a banker, and he purchased suits at The Emporium.
Giambrone describes the downtown Jackson of his childhood as “vibrant.” He remembers the shift from department stores such as The Emporium to retail shopping centers like the Jackson Mall and the Metrocenter Mall – a shift that mirrored the national landscape.
His two other items on display in Mississippi Made are both Jackson Mets artifacts. This farm team was a Class AA of the New York Mets and lasted from 1975 to 1990. Giambrone donated a baseball and a 1979 season program, both signed by members of the team. He remembers hanging out by the locker room to acquire the signatures of the popular baseball players.
Giambrone was 12 when he caught the ball that is now on display. He and his family would attend many of these games at Smith-Wills Stadium. He describes the big crowds and atmosphere as “traditional Americana at its finest.”
Farm teams like the Jackson Mets were often seen as a pipeline to the major leagues, which inspired even more excitement around local teams, he said.
“These are the stories we need to preserve, particularly because they get lost the easiest,” Giambrone said.
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Giambrone was 12 when he caught the ball that is now on display. He and his family would attend many of these games at Smith-Wills Stadium. He describes the big crowds and atmosphere as “traditional Americana at its finest.”