Today marks the last post in the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion series, written by guest blogger Mary Lohrenz, curator of the mansion. For further reading about the mansion, please see the list at the bottom of this post. We hope you enjoyed it!
During the 1972-75 restoration of the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion, only furniture with a documented association with past nineteenth-century governors was retained for display. Edward Vason Jones, architect, interior designer, and consultant to the White House, was hired to select and acquire appropriate furniture and decorative arts objects for the mansion. Jones acquired furniture and furnishings in the Empire style as well as pieces in the French Restauration, Rococo Revival, and Renaissance Revival styles. From 1980 to 1983, noted historical consultant William Seale provided guidance on acquisitions.
Take a look at the “Period Furnishings” section on the governor’s mansion Web site to view an online gallery for four styles of furnishings featured in the mansion: Empire, French Restauration, Rococo Revival and Renaissance Revival.
- Detail, pedestal table. Accession Number: 73.47 (Governor’s Mansion Collection)
An elegant pedestal table such as this one would have been the focal point of a nineteenth-century parlor. This c.1825-35 table may have been made in Philadelphia and was purchased in 1973 for the mansion. The Empire style table is mahogany and mahogany veneer with an intarsia (inlaid mosaic) marble top.
Read more about the mansion’s history and view frequently asked questions on the mansion website.
Free tours of the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion are given Tuesdays through Fridays, 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. on the half-hour. Reservations are required for groups of ten or more. Because the mansion may be closed for official state functions, you should call 601-359-6421 to confirm tour availability.
Learn More!
Cain, Helen and Anne D. Czarniecki. An Illustrated Guide to the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1984.
Darras, Melba. A Taste of History. D’Iberville: Pathfinder Publications, Stanley/Clark Publishers, 1999.
The Governor’s Mansion: A Pictorial History. Jackson: Mississippi Executive Mansion Commission, Inc., 1975.
Lohrenz, Mary. Mississippi Governor’s Mansion Docent Manual. January 2011.
Mississippi Governor’s Mansion website. www.mdah.ms.gov/museum/mansion.html
Mississippi History Now website. http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/ (An online publication of the Mississippi Historical Society. See the “Governors of Mississippi” article by David G. Sansing.)
Peatross, C. Ford and Robert O. Mellown. William Nichols, Architect. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Art Gallery, 1979.
Sansing, David G. and Carroll Waller. A History of the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1977.
Skates, John Ray. Mississippi’s Old Capitol: Biography of a Building. Jackson: Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 1990.
Smith, Timothy B. Mississippi in the Civil War: The Home Front. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi for the Mississippi Historical Society and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 2010.
Winter, Elise. Dinner at the Mansion. Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press, 1982 and reprinted 2010.