I’ve been spending alot of time on a website that is one of my favorites and also a nemesis, abebooks.com, which combines the databases of hundreds or thousands of used bookstores around the world. I enjoy seeing what pops up when I type in search terms like “Mississippi architecture” or “school architecture” but I usually end up spending way too much money on what I find.

One of my recent acquisitions is the 1964 edition of Bibliography of Early American Architecture, compiled by Frank R. Roos, Jr. and originally published in 1943. The bibliography is helpfully organized by region and state, so it’s easy to see what’s out there for us Mississippi researchers. As you might have guessed, the Mississippi list of books and articles is significantly shorter than, say, Virginia’s or New York’s. But like I always say, it’s not quantity we’re after, but quality, am I right?

This one acquisition has led to a spurt of book-buying, as I’ve been searching out the books he lists for Mississippi. In addition to the books, Roos lists a large number of articles, some from fairly obscure sources that I might never have found. I still haven’t gotten to the House Beautiful articles, but it’s on my list of things to do.

Below is the bibliography for Mississippi. Depending on copyright issues, I’d like to try to make the articles available here on MissPres, but it’s hard to figure out what’s still in copyright and what isn’t. Someone should start a website that tracks that–why hasn’t anyone done that yet?

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General References

DEUPREE, MRS. N.D. Some historic homes in Mississippi. Mississippi Historical Society. Publications, 6:245-64, 1902; 7:325-47, 1903. illus.
—Brief sketches of twenty-one houses.

FEDERAL WRITERS’ PROJECT. Mississippi: a guide to the Magnolia State. N.Y., Hastings House, 1949, 545 p. illus.
—First published 1938. American Guide Series.

OLIVER, NOLA NANCE. The Gulf Coast of Mississippi. N.Y., Hastings House, 1941.
Photographs with brief descriptions

SUTTON, CANTEY VENABLE (ed.). History of art in Mississippi. Gulfport, Miss. Dixie Press, 1929. 177p. illus.

Locations

Biloxi

EVANS, W.A. Jefferson Davis shrine–Beauvoir home. Journal of Mississippi History, 2:206-11, 1940.

RAGUSIN, ANTHONY V. The centennial of the Biloxi Lighthouse. Journal of Mississippi History, 11:204-6, July 1949.

SMITH, KATHERINE LOUISE. Home of Jefferson Davis. House Beautiful, 15:272-74, Apr. 1904. illus.
–Beauvoir, 1852-54.

Jackson

HOLCOMB, GENE. The Mississippi Governor’s Mansion. Journal of Mississippi History, 2:321, 1940.

NOLL, ARTHUR HOWARD. Some southern capitals–part 1, Mississippi’s Capitol. American Architect and Building News, 29:84-86, Aug. 9, 1890. illus.
—1836-39. William Nichols, architect.

TAYLOR, J.R. Capitol buildings of Mississippi. Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Register, pp. 56777, 1904.

Natchez

COOPER, J. WESLEY. Natchez: a treasure of ante-bellum homes. Philadelphia, E. Stern, (for Southern Historical Publications, 1957). 159p. illus.
—Thirty-five houses in and near Natchez, 1780-1861.

CUTIS, ANSON BAILEY. America preserved. Architectural Review, 83:183-86, Apr. 1938. illus.
—Colonial and Classic Revival, in and near Natchez.

DUPEE, FREDERICK. Colonnades in the deep South: Natchez, the Versailles of a vanished empire of cotton. Travel, 66:13-14, 51, Feb, 1936. illus.
—Monteigne, Longwood, Magnolia Hall, Revena, Greensleaves.

FAUST, M.E. Some historic houses of Natchez. House Beautiful, 67:310-12, Mar. 1930. illus.

HERING, OSWALD. Plantation homes of the Mississippi: princely mansions of Natchez–what they stand for in American tradition–the origin of their architecture. Arts and Decoration, 43:10-13, Oct. 1935. illus.
—Classic Revival

MARSHALL, THEODORA BRITTON, and EVANS, GLADYS CRAIL. They found it in Natchez. New Orleans, Pelican Publishing Co., [1939]. 236p. illus.

Melrose–symbolic of the South–built in 1845. Country Life in America, 66:58-63, Oct. 1934.

Natchez. House Beautiful, 81:62-63, Mar. 1939. illus.
—Ca. 1780–ca. 1850

Natchez pilgrimage. Antiques, 37:140-41, Mar. 1940. illus.

NEWELL, MRS. GEORGIA (WILLSON), and COMPTON, CHARLES CROMARTIE. Natchez and the pilgrimage. Kingsport, Tenn., Southern Publishers, 1935. 39p. illus.

OLIVER, NOLA NANCE. Natchez–symbol of the old South. N.Y., Hastings House, 1940. 101p. illus.

OLIVER, NOLA NANCE. This too is Natchez. N.Y., Hastings House, 1953. 71p. illus.
–Historic houses built ca. 1776—-.

PETERSON, CHARLES. Notes on Natchez. Society of Architectural Historians. Journal, 14:30-31, Mar.; 28-30, Dec. 1955. illus.
—On Mount Locust (ca. 1785, Longwood (ca. 1861), and the prefabricated frame of a house (1790).

PISHEL, ROBERT GORDON. Natchez, museum city of the old South. Tulsa, Okla., Magnolia Publishing Co., 1959. 128p. illus.

RONIM, E.E. Quaint houses of the South–Colonial homes of Natchez. House and Garden, 11:59-64, Feb. 1907. illus.

TYREE, IRENE S. Natchez ante-bellum homes. Natchez, Miss., T.L. Ketchings Co., 1964. 128p. illus.

VAN COURT, CATHARINE. The old house. Richmond, Va., Dietz Press, 1950. 137p. illus
—1816. Courtland plantation near Natchez now in Homochitto National Forest.

WEEKS, LEVI. Levi Weeks on Natchez, 1812. Society of Architectural Historians. Journal, 15:27-28, May 1956. illus.
—A letter to Ep. Hoyt, dated Natchez, 27 Sept. 1812, on the architecture of the town.

WILLINK, CECILE. Historic homes of old Natchez. Country Life in America, 47:51-54, Dec. 1924. illus.

Categories: Architectural Research, Biloxi, Jackson, Natchez