Chloe Edwards, of the Government Records Section, brings us this post in an ongoing series chronicling the construction of the Charlotte Capers Archives and History Building. Many thanks to Ms. Edwards for her research.

The Department of Archives and History called the Capers Building home from 1971 to 2003, when the archives and library functions of the department moved to the newly-constructed William F. Winter Archives and History Building. In contrast to the Capers Building, the Winter Building cost approximately $23.5 million and has more than triple the floor space of the Capers Building. The Winter Building, at five stories and 140,575 square feet, offers state-of-the-art archival facilities for Mississippi’s historical documents and artifacts. The library, located on the first floor, houses books, ledgers, and several computer search stations to assist patrons in historical research. The library also houses two reading rooms, which accommodate up to 160 researchers and a media room with a collection of microfiche and microfilm files ranging from marriage licenses to newspaper articles. The first floor also has an orientation room where presentations and meetings are held. The second floor serves as the central hub of Archives and Records Division processing and cataloguing, while the third floor houses the administrative offices. Two additional floors serve as stack and basement space.
The Winter Building also serves as an exhibit space with the first floor hosting the Winter Holidays exhibition of Possum Ridge model trains, period toys, and Christmas trees. The lobby is used as a temporary space for exhibits such as “Stand Up!:” Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, which is currently on display.
As the department looks to the future, it is undertaking the construction of the 2 Mississippi Museums in honor of the state’s bicentennial in 2017. The Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will be located north of the Winter Building.
References:
Mississippi Department of Archives and History in-house workshop on giving building tours, June 10, 1971 audio transcript (http://www.mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU710_104014.pdf)
Series 1258: Charlotte Capers Building Files, 1928-1992. Box 4899.
Subject file: Archives and History Building, 1966-1970
Subject file: Archives and History Building, 1971 (dedication year)
A Building Survey for a New Archives Building, for the Board of Trustees, Department of Archives and History, prepared by William D. Morrison, Jr., 1966
Tauches, Karen. “The Fate of History: The Old Archives Building is Under Review.” Burnaway, published July 22, 2011. Accessed April 3, 2014 at http://burnaway.org/the-fate-of-history-the-old-archives-building-is-under-review/
CR&HM. Accessed April 3, 2014 at http://www.dalepartners.com/civic-corporate/wfm-archives-and-history/
WFM Archives and History. Accessed April 3, 2014 at http://www.dalepartners.com/civic-corporate/crhm/
Money conversions performed at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl