In case you missed the significance of the date in today’s title, it is indeed Valentine’s Day. If you forgot, you still have a chance to recover and to pretend you had been planning a surprise all along.

The blogosphere has been active of late, so let’s get to it, shall we?

• As you might recall a few weeks ago, JRGordon mentioned in the news roundup an article about the proposed demolition of Miller Hall at Ole Miss. Suzassippi took a riff off of that to do a little research about Miller Hall, which she hadn’t really noticed on campus, and wrote about it on her blog. She also linked to a fascinating ESPN essay by Wright Thompson about the undefeated Ole Miss team of 1962 and how they took refuge in Miller Hall, which was the athletic dormitory, during the riots surrounding the admission of James Meredith. Thanks Susan for sharing that resource with us–I learned much from it!

• Urban Decay by kodachromeguy featured two posts about the famous Margaret’s Grocery, a site that is unfortunately quite endangered and somewhat faded now that Margaret has died and the Rev. Dennis has had to go into an assisted living home. The images on the two posts are mostly scanned slides that kodachromeguy has taken over the last couple of decades and show the evolution of the place from a simple roadside grocery to a place of folk art legend. Must See!
  • “Margaret’s Grocery, Vicksburg, Mississippi: The Early Days“
  • “More Views of Margaret’s Grocery, N. Washington Street, Vicksburg“

• In an extended blog essay, “Altorf,” Alan Huffman, author of a book I think every Mississippian should read, Mississippi in Africa, hunts through the scattered remains of an old recently demolished house in Issaquena County and discovers a history going back to the 1840s. The rushed demolition of the house after years of neglect adds an element of mystery to the story.

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  “Pushmataha and His Braves” by Mississippi Snopes (Flickr)

  MDAH’s Sense of Place collections blog had two posts that might be of interest to MissPresers:

  • “Pushmataha,” which introduces us to the man behind Jackson’s Bailey Junior High bas relief “Pushmataha and His Braves”
  • “National Archives adds Katrina photos online” about the 8,000 or so photos from FEMA of damage in New Orleans and our own Gulf Coast that the National Archives has recently posted publicly.

• The West Jackson blog also ran two posts of interest:
  • “COFO Complex now open for public viewing” about the renovated old COFO building on Lynch Street
  • “WESTerday Trivia: Campbell College” about the first occupant of the north side of Lynch Street, before Jackson State University made it its home.

• In Jackson’s Fondren neighborhood, resident Frank Ezelle discusses his thoughts about the recently posted petition “Save the Strip Fondren,” focusing on the intersection between preservation and development in “Save the Strip in Fondren.”

Outside the state, lots of chatter about the gritty “Imported from Detroit” commercial during the Super Bowl, which highlighted the architectural jewels of the city along with the message that the city has come through hell and is on its way back. Oh, and something about a car . . .

For two opposite perspectives, see “Why That ‘Imported from Detroit’ Ad Was So Good” on The Moderate Voice and “Chrysler’s Deplorable “Detroit” Super Bowl Ad” by Mother Jones. Yes, they’re both referring to the same commercial. Even the National Trust’s blog ran a post about the commercial, “Preservation Roundup: The Keep Detroit Beautiful Edition.”

Two articles in Architectural Record about Modernist additions to older buildings caught the eye of one of my diligent correspondents:

• “Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater” (generally positive)
• “Glasgow Neighbors: Mackintosh versus Steve Holl” (negative)

Last but not least, the National Trust blog has run a couple of historic school-related posts recently:

• “Add your two cents to draft guidelines for siting of schools” about the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft guidelines for where schools should be sited for the most environmental benefit. The Trust has been trying to deal with the abandonment of historic schools in favor of huge new campuses outside of town for a decade now, beginning with their “Why Johnny Can’t Walk to School” in 2000 and carried on now under their “Helping Johnny Walk to School” program.
• A look back at the decade-long project to save Rosenwald schools in Georgia, by Jeanne Cyriaque, winner of a National Trust honor award in “People and Partnerships Come Together to Save Rosenwald Schools.”

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That’s it for the blog roundup, but don’t forget that the Mississippi AIA’s deadline for photo submissions for their Modern Architecture Photo Contest is tomorrow, February 15! Still time to get your pictures sent off!

Categories: African American History, Schools