MDAH News

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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A native of Mississippi, Hollis Watkins, was born in 1941 and grew up on a small farm in Chisholm Mission and became one of the first young Mississippians to commit to full-time work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Watkins also served as founder and president of the Pike County Nonviolent Direct Action Committee, field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and a county organizer in the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project.

Inspired by civil rights leader Bob Moses, Watkins began organizing local voter registration drives within the Pike County community. He organized one of the first sit-ins in McComb at a Woolworth’s lunch counter with fellow activist Curtis Hayes and was arrested and jailed multiple times for participating in various demonstrations.

Watkins was known for his use of freedom songs as an inspiration to encourage others to join the movement. He traveled across the state and worked on voter registration campaigns with other civil rights leaders such as Vernon Dahmer. Watkins was also involved in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that challenged the state’s all-white delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“Hollis Watkins dedicated his entire life to improving the lives of Black Mississippians,” said Michael Morris, director of the Two Mississippi Museums. “He was heavily involved in the creation of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, lending his voice to the museum’s central gallery. Museum staff are disheartened to learn of his death, but his legacy continues to inspire us.”

In 1989, Watkins co-founded Southern Echo, a community organization which works to develop leaders and empower local residents in support of the welfare of African American communities throughout Mississippi. He also served as chair of the Veteran of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. Watkins was honored with a Fannie Lou Hamer Humanitarian Award from Jackson State University in 2011 and received an honorary doctorate from Tougaloo College in 2015.

Watkins died on September 20, 2023, at the age of 82.