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.
-
Lost Churches of Mississippi in bookstores
In case you’ve missed the announcements, Lost Churches of Mississippi, a book that I’m sure most of you will want to add to your library has just come out in the last week. Published by University Press of Mississippi, the… Read More ›
-
Name This Place 5–Final Standings
We have our first tie ever in this week’s Name This Place contest. Belinda took the early lead and held it all the way until today, but laconic Theodore, who usually lurks around making snide remarks and pretending not to… Read More ›
-
Name This Place 5.5–Finis
It’s been an exciting week on MissPres, as readers wait with baited breath to see what picture will pop up for identification. Belinda took the lead on the first day and has managed to hold on, but just by one… Read More ›
-
Name This Place 5.45
Is it possible to have two bonus rounds in one Name This Place contest? Yes it is. Be the first to name the building in this snowy pictures and you get one point.
-
Name This Place 5.4
After three days and a bonus round, Belinda is still hanging on to the lead in this week’s Name This Place contest. Yesterday, I thought I would celebrate my birthday by stumping everyone in the bonus round with an old… Read More ›
-
Name This Place 5.3
Well, folks, after two days and one bonus round, we’ve got a nail-biter going in this week’s Name This Place contest. Here’s how it stands now. Belinda: 3 points W. White: 2 points J.R. Gordon: 2 points Tom Barnes: 1… Read More ›
-
Name This Place 5.25
Well, it’s mid-week in our latest Name This Place contest, and it seems to me we could use a bonus round. In bonus rounds, there’s just one point for someone to grab–name the place and you get it. No extra… Read More ›
-
Name This Place 5.2
Belinda grabbed the early lead in the first day of the fifth annual Name This Place contest yesterday by being the first to identify the masonic lodge in Fayette. W. White and Tom Barnes also took a point each by… Read More ›
-
Name This Place 5.1
Be the first winner in this week’s Name This Place contest. Read the rules, guess the place correctly and give us some information about it. It’s that simple!
-
How ‘Bout a Contest?
I think it might be time for another contest, so let’s just set aside all other concerns, obviously of lesser importance, and get to it, shall we? For those of you who have recently stumbled into the wacky world of… Read More ›
-
Avoid Druggie Plumbers and Other Renovation Lessons
I know today is typically a News Roundup day, but instead I’m taking a minute to sit back and review a house renovation project I’ve been working on since May 2006–four years! It all started in March 2006 when my… Read More ›
-
An Important House Needs Our Help (Part II)
Last year, a reader contacted me about a house in Jefferson County that has fallen on hard times and needs a new owner to bring it back to life. I ran a post about it (“An Important House Needs Our… Read More ›
-
Preservation Month in the MissPres Universe
As y’all are no doubt aware, May is Preservation Month, which is good because if it was June, July or August, we would all have to agree it was just too hot to put on a program. But since it’s… Read More ›
-
Lost Mississippi: Concord, Natchez (1789-1901)
Last week’s WPA Guide to the Magnolia State mentioned the Natchez mansion “Concord” very prominently in its discussion of the evolution of architecture in Mississippi. Concord must have been an amazing place because although it burned in 1901, it has… Read More ›
-
Tornado Victim: Ebenezer Baptist Church
The tornadoes that ripped through the state last weekend from Eagle Lake through Yazoo City, Holmes County, and Choctaw County spared the large historic districts in Vicksburg, Yazoo City, and Lexington, but Friday’s Clarion-Ledger reported that at least one historic… Read More ›
-
MissPres News Roundup 4-30-2010
Our crack reporter, W. White, has finished exams at MSU (or maybe just got kicked out?) and headed back Alabama way for the summer, where he no doubt will waste his substance in riotous living before coming back to Starkville… Read More ›
-
WPA Guide to the Magnolia State: But the Depression is Great!
Today we come to the conclusion of the WPA Guide to the Magnolia State and its section on Architecture. While Beverly Martin, the young architect we have conjectured is the author, has shown his bias for the antebellum era and… Read More ›
-
Historic Schools Day
Well it’s very embarrassing to me that I didn’t know that this week is “School Building Week” and that yesterday was “Historic Schools Day”! In fact, I didn’t know either of those existed, but I’ll be sure to celebrate next… Read More ›
-
WPA Guide to the Magnolia State: Let’s Just Forget 1865-1920
This week we’re working our way through the section on Architecture in the WPA Guide to the Magnolia State, published in 1938 as part of the Federal Writers’ Project. If you’re coming in late, make sure to pick up Part… Read More ›
-
Some Mid-Week News
Since this can’t wait until our regular News Roundup, I wanted to make the MissPres universe aware of two events in which you might be interested. First, the Mississippi Historic Preservation Conference will be next Thursday and Friday in Natchez,… Read More ›
-
WPA Guide to the Magnolia State: No Such Thing as “Southern Colonial”
Today’s post is the second in this week’s serial reproduction of the section on architecture in the Guide to the Magnolia State, published in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writer’s Project. As we saw yesterday, this… Read More ›
-
Book Quotes: WPA Guide to the Magnolia State
As I get back on my feet from my French connection, I figured this week would be a good one to dedicate to another in the Book Quotes series. This week, we’ll take the section titled “Architecture” from Mississippi: Guide… Read More ›
-
The Original Romanesque and Gothic
Well, after a 24-hour day of flying, including five airports, four hours standing in six lines at Charles de Gaulle, a lovely dinner of lamb and couscous on the Air France flight on which I finally got placed, two hours… Read More ›
-
More Really Old Places from the Continent
Still in France, of course, and still waiting on the volcano to be quiet or airlines to move to Plan B. In addition to the Roman remains in France, there are many fortified and walled towns, churches, bridges, and even… Read More ›
-
I’m Not Dead Yet . . .
Well, y’all, I thought I would be back in Mississippi by now, enjoying a lovely Spring while relaxing on my screen porch, sorting through my thousand-plus pictures from my trip to France, and getting back to regular posts on MissPres…. Read More ›
-
Vacation Postcards: Columbus Motel
-
Vacation Postcards: Sea Gull Tourist Court
“March 3, 1956, Sat. eve., Got in here today, rained all nite, a welcome rain. the azaleas and camellias are just beautiful here, I marked where we are on other side. Lots of people here, are next door to a… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 