Preservation in Mississippi
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Already Missing Newspapers
I know lots of people claim to be eager to see the death of paper news, that old dinosaur, delivered to your door each morning to be read with a good, healthy breakfast. They say that the internet can take the place of newspapers more efficiently and can cover a wider range of topics more effectively. They … Continue reading
Red State Preservationist, or what the National Trust Should Have Said
Some of you who are members of the National Trust might have gotten an e-mail last week titled “Help Pass the Energy Bill.” Before I even saw that e-mail, this headline popped up on my computer screen “Drop the National Trust“–this from a site called WEBCommentary. ”Well, well, what’s this all about?” I wondered, so I … Continue reading
Museum Myths in Movies
I know I’m way behind all of ya’ll in the pop-culture arena, so you’ve probably already seen Slumdog Millionaire. But if not, you should just because it’s a really good movie and isn’t depressing as you might expect, but also for a wonderful scene at the Taj Mahal where the protagonists pretend to be docents to … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 6-26-09
June 2, 2009: “Do Lake Plans Endanger Indian Mounds?” the Jackson Free Press asks. This is in regards to the so-called Two Lakes plan to develop the Pearl River in Jackson. I feel no need to wade into this controversial subject, other than to say I think it’s a boondoggle. Don’t you love the word … Continue reading
And of course I must mention MDAH’s exceptionally fine digital collection . . .
Since I’ve been wandering around other people’s online archives this week, I want to bring it back home and mention MDAH’s growing digital archive. Those of you who don’t spend each and every day checking the MDAH website for new features and information like I do may not have noticed that when you get onto the … Continue reading
Internet Archive
A friend who is a more careful and meticulous researcher than I am (I tend to click around and spend hours getting sidetracked on other interesting topics) pointed me to an internet resource I hadn’t known of before called Internet Archive. Of course, we all love real archives, where we walk in, shed all our … Continue reading
North Carolina’s “Architects and Builders” Goes Online
I got a notice the other day that the North Carolina Architects and Builders Biographical Dictionary has just gone public online. You should check it out–it’s very intuitive and easy to navigate and you can follow the links wherever they lead. Also, many of the building entries have photos, which is great, and they promise … Continue reading
MDAH Preservation Press newsletter
One of my faithful readers sent along this new electronic newsletter–or e-zine to hipsters like me–put out by MDAH’s Historic Preservation Division. It’s called Preservation Press, and its inaugural issue opens with a statement of purpose: The Historic Preservation Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History knows that Mississippians care about their historic places. … Continue reading
Partial Collapse at Mississippi Industrial College
Although I haven’t seen anything online about it yet, I’ve heard from a reliable source that Catherine Hall (1906) at Mississippi Industrial College in Holly Springs suffered a partial collapse during a bad storm last week. Those of you who have been to Holly Springs have undoubtedly passed the MIC campus, on the left across from … Continue reading
Summer in Mississippi
It’s 6:30 PM and it’s 100° in the shade. I know it’s Mississippi ya’ll and I know it’s June, but doggone . . . what do we have to do to get back down to our normal low 90s and an afternoon thundershower?
MissPres News Roundup 6-19-2009
Starting today, Friday’s post will be a roundup of news items from around the state (and maybe a few tidbits from *gasp* outside the state) for your end-of-week edification, assuming we have enough news coverage each week. If you come across an article you think I might have missed (contrary to popular belief, I’m neither … Continue reading
Getting Back to Myths
I’m sure you all remember my post a couple of months ago about the fun stories I heard at the Columbus Pilgrimage explaining various architectural features (if you have a bad memory or, even worse, didn’t read it originally, you can find it here). Well, lo and behold, a much more scholarly article by Pamela … Continue reading
Lukacs on Modernism, Post-Modernism, and Developers
While we’re on the subject of unexpected architectural commentary, I recently discovered a short, but dense little book called The End of an Age by historian John Lukacs. Lukacs has written extensively about European history, especially World War II (having lived through it himself in his native Hungary before escaping from the Soviets to the … Continue reading
Flashy Palladianism
I love to come across bits of architectural criticism in books or movies where I wouldn’t expect it, and this is one of my favorite passages from my very favorite 20th-century writer, Patrick O’Brian. I got into O’Brian because of the nautical theme in his 20-volume Aubrey-Maturin series, but I know that that same theme … Continue reading
A Virtual Trip To Exotic Locales
Oh, did I not mention that the winner of last week’s Name This Place contest would win a virtual trip? Whoopsie! Well, it shouldn’t really matter, right? After all, I recently was told by a person with some authority in Mississippi’s preservation world (not because he’s actually preserved anything but because he has political influence) that now that we have … Continue reading
Name This Place: We Have a Winner!
And after an exciting week in our inaugural Name This Place contest, we have a winner! Tsj1957 emerged as the clear victor yesterday with a total of 7 points, even though Carunzel and doakley made it a real competition down to the end. Here’s the final standings: tsj1957: 7 points Carunzel: 5 points doakley: 3 … Continue reading
Name This Place #5
To play this exciting game, see The Rules. Today is the final contest in this series. Today, a winner will emerge (I hope)! Current Standings: tsj1957: 6 points Carunzel: 4 points doakley: 2 points Everyone Else: Total Losers Hint: This building is a courthouse, but which one? Since it’s Friday, I give you two pictures.
Name This Place #4
To play this exciting game, see The Rules. We got ourselves a competition going! Current Standings: Carunzel: 4 tsj1957: 4 doakley: 2 Everyone Else: 0 (still time to catch up!) Hint: This building is in the Delta. Note: I’m going to have only intermittent access to the internet today and tomorrow (yeah, weird, huh?). So … Continue reading
Name This Place #3
To play this exciting game, see The Rules. Current Standings: Carunzel: 3 tsj1957: 2 doakley: 1 Everyone Else: 0 (still plenty of time to catch up!) Hint: This place has never appeared in Preservation in Mississippi or on my Flickr photostream, but it has been publicized on a prominent list.
Name This Place #2
To play this exciting game, see The Rules. The Standings So Far: tsj1957: 2 points, Carunzel: 1 point, Everyone Else: 0 points Hint: This building is from a completely different century than yesterday’s building.
Dealing with Difficult Histories
I don’t know if any of you saw this article in Sunday’s Clarion-Ledger (“When Art Offends,” June 7, 2009) about the awkwardness of the Depression-era mural in Jackson’s federal courthouse–what to do about the stereotypical and degrading depictions of the black characters in the painting. The mural shows an idealized landscape, with white men in obvious positions of … Continue reading
Name This Place #1
To be a part of this exciting game, see The Rules. Hint: This photo, with caption appeared in a Preservation in Mississippi post in March, 2009.
“Name This Place,” An Exciting Contest!
This week, to celebrate that I still haven’t turned on my air conditioning this year even though it’s already the second week of June and we’re in Mississippi, we’re going to play a little game, or if you prefer–as a more mature pastime–”hold a contest.” This game will test all my reader(s) skill in identifying our historic … Continue reading
Enjoying People Who Enjoy History
I heard this story on NPR today about the keepers of the old Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105082304). They interviewed a man whose father had worked there and who now follows in his footsteps tending to the cemetery. He knew all sorts of fascinating stories about the headstones and the people who lay beneath them. The … Continue reading
Military-Themed Day Trip to Hattiesburg
Those of you who love both military history (and really, what’s not to love about guns and tanks and troop movements?) and museums have probably already checked out the Mississippi Armed Forced Museum at Camp Shelby. Camp Shelby, of course, has been the primary training base for the Mississippi National Guard, and Army units too during wartime, … Continue reading
Demolition Permit for old Baptist Church in Natchez
Well, I should know better than to write a positive post because sure enough, there’s always bad news following behind it. That’s why I tell kids, “Be a pessimist–you’ll never be disappointed!” Anyway, after yesterday’s good news about the Mannsdale-Livingston community comes today’s bad news about the old First Baptist Church in Natchez. The church … Continue reading
Preservation Victory in . . . Madison the County?
I know, I know, most people, including me, don’t equate the upscale suburban sprawl that is Madison County with preservation, but in fact, the preservationists who have banded together to protect the rural community of Mannsdale-Livingston, now being pulled into the orbit of Madison The City, have managed to fend off an attack by a county supervisor. … Continue reading
MDAH CLG Grants, 2009
While looking at the History Newsletter on the MDAH website, I noticed (albeit very belatedly) that MDAH has also announced their Certified Local Government grants for this year. Just in case you missed it, here’s the most relevant part of the blurb–you can see the whole thing at http://mdah.state.ms.us/admin/news/clg-grants_09.html presuming MDAH archives its website (that should … Continue reading
MDAH Preservation Boot Camp 2009
I saw this interesting bit in the Mississippi History Newsletter that the Mississippi Dept. of Archives & History puts out monthly. I notice that now they’ve started posting the newsletter online too, which is helpful. Free Preservation Boot Camp Set For June 18-19 Following the success of last summer’s pilot program, the Historic Preservation Division … Continue reading
Happy (?) Hurricane Season
This isn’t really a preservation-related post, I guess, but it is Mississippi-related, so I at least cover half my blog title. Today, June 1, is an important day in the Mississippi calendar: it’s the beginning of hurricane season. Growing up on the Gulf Coast in the 1970s-1990s, hurricane season was exciting for me: the best part was getting out … Continue reading
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