Author Archives
In addition to ruling over the MissPres universe with an iron fist, Malvaney enjoys reading, wandering around old buildings, stopping to smell the magnolias, fiddling with databases, and sitting on the porch with a good book and a big ol' dog. Non-interests include but are not limited to tweeting, texting, Instagramming, planking, Candy Crush, Donald Trump, and unecessarily destructive home renovation shows.
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Modernism in Natchez: Natchez High School
Can there be any Modernism in Natchez, home of the Natchez Pilgrimage? The answer, my friend, is yes.
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Main Street Greenwood Starts a Preservation Revolving Fund
Last week, Main Street Greenwood announced the availability of the Antoon’s Department Store, built in 1908, and a longtime mainstay in downtown Greenwood. What’s exciting about this is that it marks the beginning of a larger effort that has paid huge… Read More ›
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Going Inside: Cathedral of the Nativity, Biloxi
I came across this postcard showing the inside of what is now known as the Cathedral of the Nativity in downtown Biloxi and realized I had taken a picture of almost the same view a couple of years ago to… Read More ›
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Craftsman in Mississippi: Natchez Cemetery Shelter House
We’ve taken a break from the Craftsman series, but there are just too many nice Craftsman-style buildings in Mississippi to ignore, so here’s a new one on me, the Natchez City Cemetery Shelter House, which I “discovered” back in the… Read More ›
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Architects of Mississippi: Raymond Birchett (1902-1974)
A long while ago, I did a post about the abandoned Mercy Hospital in Vicksburg, which continues to be a popular post here on MissPres. I used a newspaper clipping from the special edition of the Vicksburg Post that ran the… Read More ›
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MissPres News Roundup 10-17-2016
It’s been a long time since our last news roundup, and even longer since I undertook one. I’ve been out of town a lot the last couple of months, so I fear this roundup won’t approach comprehensiveness and will be… Read More ›
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Two Architects Nominated for Mississippi Hall of Fame
From the MDAH website this week. Two of our favorite architects, William Nichols (1780-1853) and N.W. Overstreet, are among the 47 nominees for consideration by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to the Mississippi Hall of Fame. William Nichols came… Read More ›
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HABS in Mississippi: Dr. C.M. Vaiden House, Vaiden
The MDAH Historic Resources Database says about the Dr. C.M. Vaiden House, which it also calls Prairie Mount: “Like nearby Malmaison and Indian Mound, this was a large, elegant two-story porticoed mansion in the “Bracketed Greek Revival” style. Having been… Read More ›
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Time to Pick the Cotton
Have you ever wondered how cotton is picked and processed nowadays? Have you puzzled over the round yellow bales that now dot the fields after harvest, like I did last year? Then watch this video by Vicksburg photographer Marty Kittrell–all your… Read More ›
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Delta Queen Makes National 11 Most Endangered List
The National Trust announced its 2016 list of the nation’s 11 Most Endangered Places this week. Although not currently located in Mississippi, the Delta Queen is the last historic wooden steamboat of the hundreds that once plied the Mississippi River. Way… Read More ›
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Industrial Mississippi: Mississippi Products, Jackson
The 1951 Manufacturers Record had this to say about the enormous manufacturing complex that stood on Livingston Road near what is now the Jackson Medical Mall until just a couple of years ago. Mississippi boasts the world’s most modern and… Read More ›
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Mississippi Streets: Jackson’s Capitol Street, 1960s
I’ve seen a lot of postcards of Jackson’s Capitol Street looking from the far west end near the King Edward Hotel up to the Old Capitol, but this one goes in the opposite direction and shows some buildings that don’t… Read More ›
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HABS in Mississippi: Chaffin Farm, Amite County
There’s so little information about the Chaffin property that the MDAH Historic Resources Database throws up its hands and says “location not documented.” Because no one has seen it since 1936, when HABS photographer James Butters came through, the house… Read More ›
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Roadside Mississippi: Homewood Manor, Jackson
This former tourist court still stands as a trailer park on North State Street, up past Broadmoor and south of Cedars of Lebanon. Its cottages are gone, but a house that may be a remodeled version of the old 1940s… Read More ›
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Mississippi by Air: Biloxi’s Working Waterfront
I don’t know a date on this card, and I hope some Biloxi historians will voice their opinions, but it looks like it could pre-date the 1947 hurricane. Compare to the similar, but very different, pre-Camille and pre-Katrina views.
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Industrial Mississippi: Greenville Port
Many cities advertised their prime locations in the 1951 Manufacturer’s Record, dedicated to Mississippi’s industrial opportunities, including Greenville and its port. If I’m reading this image on MDOT’s Port of Greenville webpage correctly, it looks like they succeeded in expanding… Read More ›
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Going Inside: Ole Miss Chapel, c.1915
This fascinating picture comes from an even larger image, titled “Views on Campus, University of Mississippi,” a photo by John C. Coolvert that is available as an electronic record on the MDAH catalog. I had never noticed this interior view,… Read More ›
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HABS in Mississippi: Stanton Hall, Natchez
HABS photographer Lester Jones took a grand total of one photo of Stanton Hall in 1940, and because there are no photographer’s notes, it’s not clear why this grand historic home, now a National Historic Landmark and open daily for… Read More ›
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Monterey in Mississippi
If you’ve been around MissPres for a while, you’ve know we’re big fans of “McAlester’s Field Guide” or more properly A Field Guide to American Houses. This was originally published in 1984, and I wore my paperback copy out by the time… Read More ›
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Before and After on Jackson’s North State Street
BEFORE: AFTER: The photos tell the story of the resurrection of the Merrill-Maley House, built in 1907 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. After years as an antiques shop, and maybe a decade of vacancy and… Read More ›
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Mississippi Streets: Richton, c.1910
I like this postcard because of its obvious hand-tinting, but Richton has changed so much since its boom years as a lumber producer that I couldn’t really find where this view was taken. My best guess is that this is… Read More ›
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Industrial Mississippi: J.A. Olson Company, Winona
When I began this post, I knew nothing about the J.A. Olson Company of Winona, but now through the wonders of the internets, I know that it manufactured mirrors and frames, that its headquarters was in Chicago, that this was… Read More ›
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Labor Day 2016
On this Labor Day, we stop to consider an interesting footnote to the construction of Mississippi’s New Capitol, which I stumbled on by browsing around the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America database of historic newspapers. It seems that soon after construction… Read More ›
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Mississippi Streets: 1920s Corinth
Today’s Mississippi street-scene comes from the Corinth, Miss. Collection at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History: The twenty black-and-white photographs in this collection were produced ca. 1920 by McCord’s Studio in Corinth. The images are of commercial buildings, houses,… Read More ›
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What’s the deal with the metal silos?
I love driving the back roads of the Mississippi Delta. Even if there aren’t any buildings or people, there’s always the landscape to take pictures of, and the sky. I especially love coming up on agricultural buildings, gins, the rare old… Read More ›
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Missing the Golden Fisherman, a Tale of Katrina and Incompetent Salvagers
There once was a Golden Fisherman who lived in downtown Biloxi, Mississippi, which at the time he was born, 1977, was non-ironically called “The Vieux Marche” (pronounced “The View Mar-SHAY”). . .
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Happy Centennial NPS!
Preservation in Mississippi 