Today is technically the third anniversary of Preservation in Mississippi, but due to my own mistaken impression on the first year’s anniversary that February 9 was the big day, tomorrow will actually be the “Observed” date.

In the meantime, as you’ll notice, I’ve changed the header for the blog, which happens every year on or around the anniversary date.

Mainly for my own benefit, here’s a review of the headers that have played top dog on MissPres since the beginning.

We started off in 2009 with Jackson’s Bailey Junior High School, built by W.J. McGee & Son in 1936-37, designed by Jackson architects N.W. Overstreet and A.H. Town.

This was followed in 2010 by the Durant School, at which time I had figured out how to put text on an image in Photoshop. Durant School, built in 1942, was also the work of the Overstreet firm, but as N.W. Overstreet & Associates, after A.H. Town had moved back to Louisiana.

In February 2011, after two years of Modernist schools, I decided to go with something completely different with the image of a cotton gin and grain elevator I had captured in a nice winter light in Thornton, Mississippi. A little more Photoshopping went on to get the colors where I wanted them and make it a little more than just a cropped photo at the top of the page.

All these headers were in similar WordPress themes that had only slightly different proportions, but when we decided to change to our new format last summer, we had a dilemma about how to cut the header down to the narrow little strip this theme uses as a header. I ended up doing a real whack job on the cotton gin header, and although not as balanced as the original header, I grew to accept it.

All three previous headers have been 20th-century buildings, so this year, I really really tried to come up with a 19th-century building. As you can see, I have failed in that task. Twentieth-century buildings just lend themselves more easily to the long horizontal proportions of a header. I did have a 19th century building in the mix until the very end, but this one came out “on top” so to speak, and here it is.

Something very different with this header is that it’s more in the green family than in the blue family that the previous three have been in. I’ve already noticed that my own blueish gravitar may not go very well with it.

Oh well, if you hate it, sorry–give it time to grow on you. Who knows, maybe I’ll change it before next February. Traditions need to get a little kick in the pants occasionally.

Special points to the MissPreser who can identify where this architectural detail comes from, not including those who I told yesterday–you know who you are! One hint, this building is on the recently published 101 Mississippi Places To See Before You Die list.

Categories: Recent Past, Uncategorized