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Newspaper Holdings To Be Digitized
MDAH has received a $274,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize 100,000 pages of Mississippi newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). The department will partner with Louisiana State University Libraries Special Collections on the project.
With newspaper holdings from 1801 to the present comprising more than 13,000 rolls, the microfilmed newspapers are some of the most frequently used holdings at MDAH. Genealogists, local officials, journalists, documentary producers, attorneys, students, and other
researchers rely on Mississippi’s newspapers for information on local and national events; birth, death, and marriage notices; and city and county information.
“We are excited about this new level of digital access to the state’s documentary heritage and thrilled about the partnership with LSU,” said Julia Marks Young, director of the MDAH Archives and Records Services Division. “LSU has extensive experience with digital content and technology projects as an established NDNP grant recipient.”
MDAH holds approximately 2,700 rolls of microfilmed newspapers containing 782 newspa-
per titles that span the 1836— 1922 project dates. Twenty-five are antebellum newspapers from eleven counties, including ones from the older counties in the southwest such as Adams, Amite, and Wilkinson, and the newer counties that were being settled in the north, such as Panola, Tippah, and Yalobusha. Civil War newspapers from southwest, central, and northern counties are also included.
Eleven newspaper runs in the department’s collections dating 1866-1922 from Natchez, Liberty, Jackson, Raymond, Lexington, Macon, Sardis, Vicksburg, and Woodville appear to be complete. MDAH
also holds scattered issues of African American publications (Jackson’s Messenger, 1894; Vicksburg’s Light, 1900, and Golden Rule, 1900; and Brandon’s Free State, 1900) as well as runs of the agrarian press (Corinth’s Sub-soiler and Democrat, 1882-1892; Kosciusko’s Mississippi Farmer, 1896-1900; and Columbus’s Patron of Husbandry, 1875-1882).
The NDNP is a joint project of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to develop an online searchable database of historical U.S. newspapers. Learn more at the Chronicling America website: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Downtown Jackson Open House
DOWNTOWN
ON DISPLAY
OPEN HOUSE IN THE CITY OCTOBER 5 2-5pm
More than twenty-five buildings from the Lamar Life skyscraper to the War Memorial in Jackson will open their doors to the public on Saturday, October 5, from 2 to 5 p.m. for Downtown on Display.
Visitors can take architectural tours, enjoy magnificent views, eat, shop, and listen to live music in Jackson’s most historic neighborhood. The Old Capitol Museum, William F. Winter Archives and History Building, Mississippi State Capitol, and War Memorial Building will be part of this collaborative open house.
At the Old Capitol, visitors will meet and interact with a living historian portraying a prominent nineteenth-century statesman who will share his story of service to Mississippi. The famous “dummy mummy,” one of the museum’s all-time favorite attractions that has fascinated generations of Mississippians, will also be on display.
The Mississippi State Capitol has been the seat of the state’s government since 1903. Tours detail the Capitol’s history and Beaux Arts style of architecture and provide an up-close look inside the chambers
of the Senate and House of Representatives. A free guided tour will be offered at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Self-guided tour information is also available.
Interested in the long-term care of historical items? MDAH archivists and curators will be at the William F. Winter Building to examine artifacts, documents, photographs, or other materials visitors
might wish to donate to the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. These items are critical to telling the stories of Mississippi’s people, culture, and history.
Visitors may also tour the exhibit “This Is Home”: Med-gar Evers, Mississippi, and the Movement,” which draws on photographs, artifacts, documents, and news film footage from the MDAH collection. The exhibit covers Evers’s early life and family, his career with the NAACP, and his death.
The War Memorial, built as a somber monument to “The Great War,” opened on the verge of another world war in 1940. The beautiful limestone building features a memorial courtyard with cast aluminum doors that feature »
tools of war from ancient and modern times. Mississippi’s military history is written and portrayed on the walls of the Art Deco interior.
For more information on Downtown on Display, contact Downtown Jackson Partners at 601-353-9800 or visit http:// www.downtown-jackson.com/.


Mississippi History Newsletter 2013 Fall (3)
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