Preservation in Mississippi
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MissPres News Roundup 7-31-2009
Can you believe it’s almost August? After our horrible hot dry June, July has flown by with beautiful rain, coolish nights, and not-very-hot days. This is my kind of summer! This week has been very eventful, and in a good way. You may need to sit down for this, but I think we are demolition-free … Continue reading
National Register and Other Simple Tools
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on the value of the non-flashy National Register, I wanted to mention how struck I was with the book Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect a City’s Landmarks and its emphasis on the importance of simple educational methods in the growth of the preservation movement. The author, Anthony C. Wood, who … Continue reading
In Defense of the National Register
I planned to write this particular post when I first started this blog, way back in the Dark Ages of February, but for some reason, I’ve only just now gotten around to it. I felt the need to defend the National Register after reading Tom King’s CRM Plus post “Cutting a Bit of Fat from … Continue reading
Campus Research Resources
Last week, our crack researcher Carunzel, referenced the “CIC Historic Campus Architecture Project (HCAP)” in a reply to Day 3 of the contest, Woodworth Chapel at Tougaloo College. It reminded me of that website, which I am now including in the “Research Resources” over on the right-hand side toward the bottom. Here’s what the site has … Continue reading
Old Newspaper Clippings: Saving the Madison County Courthouse
A group of dedicated researchers in Canton has put together a notebook of newspaper clippings and other primary source materials titled “Madison County History Preserved,” and I was fortunate enough to have a colleague show it to me. Glancing through it, I noticed a number of 19th- and early-20th-century articles dealing with the Madison County Courthouse, … Continue reading
A Little Tidbit About the South Delta Housing Authority
Here’s an interesting little article I saw yesterday in the Clarion-Ledger about a lawsuit against the South Delta Regional Housing Authority: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907240344. As you might recall from Shame of the South Delta Regional Housing Authority”, the SDRHA demolished the National Register-listed Finlay House in Greenville a couple of weeks ago, and claimed that in fact, there … Continue reading
Final Standings for July09 Name This Place
As I’m sure you all knew because you woke up early this morning to check, doakley won this month’s contest with a wild guess that just happened to be correct. With that daily victory, doakley also set a record for most wins in one week, 4 out of the 5 days. Congratulations to doakley, and thanks to everyone … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 7-24-09
Here’s some goings-on that you might find interesting. July 12, 2009: An obituary in the Hays (FL) Daily News for architect and planner Raymond L. Eaton, who died July 7, 2009. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Eaton was a partner in Lewis-Eaton, the successor firm to Overstreet, Ware, Ware, & Lewis. July 16, 2009: “For … Continue reading
July09 Name This Place #5–Who Will Win?
To recap: Joseph A grabbed an early lead with Monday’s spot-on identification of the Washington County Courthouse in Greenville. But then doakley, obviously a morning person, jumped into the fray and took the lead with a win each of the next three days. Carunzel and Tom Barnes gave 110% by taking an extra point each in … Continue reading
Chance to Earn Extra Points
Yesterday, through much searching, Carunzel came up with the architect and builder of the Washington County Courthouse. You can add an extra point to your score if you are able to name one of the other buildings constructed in the state by that builder and add a link to a photograph of the building you name … Continue reading
July09 Name This Place #4
We’re getting down to the nitty-gritty, and hopefully this one will be a little more of a challenge. Ya’ll are getting too smart for me. To play this exciting week-long game, see The Rules. Daily Winners: Monday: Joseph A Tuesday: doakley Wednesday: doakley Current Standings: doakley: 4 points Carunzel: 3 points Joseph A: 2 points tsj1957: 2 … Continue reading
July09 Name This Place #3
To play this exciting week-long game, see The Rules. Daily Winners: Monday: Joseph A Tuesday: doakley Current Standings: Joseph A: 2 points doakley: 2 points Carunzel: 2 points tsj1957: 1 point Theodore: 1 point
July09 Name This Place #2
To play this exciting week-long game, see The Rules. Congratulations to Joseph A for grabbing the first points yesterday. Today we’ll go to a different part of the state and a different era. Current Standings: Joseph A: 2 points tsj1957: 1 point Theodore: 1 point
July09 Name This Place #1
Here we are at the beginning of another contest that will reveal who knows the most about the architecture of the Magnolia State. Review the rules for this contest by clicking here Hint to get you started: This building still stands in a town that has gotten a lot of attention recently.
Get Ready to Ruummmble! Another Contest of Skill and Daring
I don’t know about ya’ll, but I certainly enjoyed the first annual/whenever-I-feel-like-it Name This Place contest last month, in which loyal readers battled for a trip to an exotic locale. For those of you who weren’t around these parts last month–hopefully I’ve gained a few readers since then–or for those who would like to relive … Continue reading
Battle of the Tour Buses
I had to actually Laugh Out Loud when I saw the cover of the New Yorker this week. It depicts two triple-decker tour buses passing on a narrow street in Manhattan, blazing away at each other with cannons like two battleships. I don’t know why, but it struck me as a very funny perspective on heritage … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 7-17-2009
Ok, while our friends in Greenville work on unraveling the mysterious funding structure of the South Delta Regional Housing Authority, let’s look around the state for historic preservation news, hopefully of a better sort than demolitions . . . July 11, 2009: Here’s something fun from the Hattiesburg American in its article “10 Pine Belt Women to vie … Continue reading
Shame on the South Delta Regional Housing Authority
On Tuesday (7-13), the South Delta Regional Housing Authority (SDRHA), a quasi-governmental agency located in Leland and apparently funded solely or mostly through the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), demolished the oldest house in Greenville, a building individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982. The Finlay House, a … Continue reading
Lost Mississippi: Institute for the Blind, Jackson
In response to a reader’s request after last week’s School for the Blind post, it seemed only fitting that I follow up that first-ever in the “Abandoned Mississippi” series with a first-ever “Lost Mississippi” post about the institution that preceded the School for the Blind. As I mentioned last week, the Institute for the Blind … Continue reading
Whither House Museums?
Since we’re on the subject of heritage sites and the role of public history (and when I say “we” I mean “I”), I thought I would share a link I came across in my vast amounts of research on the subject. It’s a symposium called ”New Audiences for Old Houses: Building a Future with the Past” that … Continue reading
More Musings on the National Park Service
I’ve been thinking more this weekend about the role of the National Park Service in light of the issues raised last Thursday in On Recreating History. As an aside, would thinking about the role of the National Park Service on a weekend make me a geek, or a nerd? It goes without saying that I must … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 7-10-2009
Somewhat of a slow week in the news this week, at least as far as preservation in Mississippi is concerned. Happy Friday! July 2, 2009: From the Greenwood Commonwealth, “Inferno Consumes Most of Downtown Block“ July 2, 2009: A photographic story in the Madison County Herald about the Fairview School in Madison County, a one-room … Continue reading
On Recreating History
I read an insightful short article in the Summer 2009 issue of The American Scholar (pp. 6-7) by Christopher Clausen titled “Sesquicentennial Excess: Must we erase evidence of later commemorations at Civil War sites?” (You can buy the journal at most newsstands or read the article at your local library.) The essay helpfully placed in a … Continue reading
Bexley School, Hwy 98 Landmark
One of my personal landmarks on Hwy. 98, just before you get to the Lucedale exit(s), is the Bexley School, a small frame building standing off on a red-dirt hill on the north side of the highway. At first glance, it might seem that this school might be the next entry in my Abandoned Mississippi … Continue reading
NHL Photography Contest
The National Park Service has recently announced its second annual Imaging our National Heritage NHL Photo Contest. Photos of National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) should be submitted to the Park Service by September 4, 2009. A first and second place winner will be selected for each of the six NPS regions (Mississippi is in the Southeast … Continue reading
Abandoned Mississippi: School for the Blind
I know this isn’t a particularly preservationist thing to say, but one of the things I love to do is find abandoned places and explore and take photographs of them. I guess part of it is the thrill of discovery, but another part is the melancholy of being in a place that once was loved … Continue reading
Fall of Vicksburg
A friend who is a Civil War expert reminded me that July 4th is also the anniversary of the fall of Vicksburg in 1863. As far as I know (and I haven’t researched this, just repeating what I’ve been told) Vicksburg and Jackson and maybe other MS towns didn’t celebrate July 4th for many many … Continue reading
Celebrate Independence
Statue of Liberty by jsnku (Flickr) The Statue of Liberty’s crown re-opens to visitors today for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. Last one to the top’s a rotton egg!
MissPres News Roundup 7-3-2009
This week’s round-up of all the preservation news I can find from around the Magnolia State. As usual, if you have any newsy tidbits come your way, please pass them on to me so I can be sure to post them. June 22, 2009: “Return to Glory” in the Vicksburg Post about the renovation of … Continue reading
MDAH Community Heritage Preservation Grant Program
Ol’ “Eagle Eyes” Malvaney caught this exciting announcement on MDAH’s website yesterday, which not coincidentally was the first day of the state’s fiscal year: $2M Available for Preservation Projects Statewide The 2009 Legislature has authorized the seventh round of the Community Heritage Preservation Grant Program, making available $2 million in grants for preservation projects across … Continue reading
People Pictures
I don’t usually have pictures with people in them because, well, I guess I’m always focused on the buildings, but after mentioning architect R.W. Naef’s picture yesterday, I figured I’d better rustle it up and show what I was talking about. Unfortunately, the photo I was thinking of was in a book at the archives called … Continue reading
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