Categories
Archives Government Records

The Balance Agriculture with Industry Program

Chloe Edwards, of the Government Records Section, brings us this post in an ongoing series about Mississippi Advertising Commission posters. Many thanks to Ms. Edwards for sharing these fun artifacts.

A Mississippi Advertising Commission poster championing the program. Series 552, MDAH.
A Mississippi Advertising Commission poster championing the program. Series 552, MDAH.

A Mississippi version of the New Deal, the BAWI program sponsored local industrial initiatives that would be mostly financed and wholly administered by the local authorities. Before it could be passed, BAWI had to overcome a hurdle. The 1890 Constitution forbade state investment in private companies. The authors of the BAWI bill appealed to the constitution’s general welfare clause on the recommendation of Jackson lawyers. They argued that the bill was a “necessity to protect [the] people” in the midst of the Great Depression. The bill passed in a special session in late 1936.

Source:

Connie L. Lester, “Balancing Agriculture with Industry: Capital, Labor and the Public Good in Mississippi’s Homegrown New Deal,” Journal of Mississippi History 70, no. 3 (2008).

Categories
Digital Archives Maps

Recently Digitized Maps

Map of DeSoto County, 1904. Call Number: MA/2003.0034(c) MDAH Collection
Map of DeSoto County, 1904. Call Number: MA/2003.0034(c) MDAH Collection

These maps were recently digitized and made available online through the MDAH catalog. Click the map title to view the map or click “Link to catalog” to view its catalog record.

Department of Education Calhoun County, May 19, 1928. Call Number: MA/2003.0003(c) MDAH. Link to catalog record.

Map of Desoto County, Mississippi, 1904. Call Number: MA/2003.0034(c) MDAH. Link to catalog record.

Hinds County, Mississippi, 1915. Call Number: MA/2003.0058(c) MDAH. Link to catalog.

Map of Jackson, Mississippi, 1929? Call Number: MA/2003.0111(b) MDAH. Link to catalog

Columbus Separate School District, 1953. Call Number: MA/2003.0283(d) MDAH. Link to catalog.

Gulfport Harbor, Miss. survey to determine the cost and advisability of further improvement, 1926. Call Number: MA/2002.0247(b) MDAH. Link to catalog.

The Mobile and Ohio River Railroad grant in the states of Mississippi and Alabama, c.1893. Call Number: MA/2002.0261(c) MDAH. Link to catalog.

 

Categories
Artifacts

Artifacts: 1962 Ole Miss Riots

Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections in the MDAH Museum Division, brings us this post about interesting artifacts in the collection.

 Tear gas grenade and tear gas canister from Ole Miss riots, 1962. Accession numbers: 1999.6.1 and 2007.2.1 (Museum Division Collection)
Tear gas grenade and tear gas canister from Ole Miss riots, 1962. Accession numbers: 1999.6.1 and 2007.2.1 (Museum Division Collection)

After a prolonged court battle, James Meredith became the first African-American admitted to the University of Mississippi. On September 30, 1962, federal marshals escorted Meredith onto campus. That night white segregationists rioted, hurling bricks, bottles, and gunfire at the marshals who responded by firing tear gas into the crowd. The escalating violence prompted President John F. Kennedy to send over 20,000 U.S. Army troops and federalized Mississippi Guardsmen who quelled the riots. Throughout the night, two people were killed and many more were seriously injured, including over one hundred marshals. The next morning, Meredith walked across a rubble-filled campus to register and attend his first class at Ole Miss. This tear gas grenade and tear gas canister were both found on campus the day after the riot.

Artifacts from the Museum Division collection that are not on exhibit are available for viewing by appointment. Please contact Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections, by email to schedule an appointment.

Sources:

John Dittmer, Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995).

Charles W. Eagles, “The Fight for Men’s Minds”: The Aftermath of the Ole Miss Riot of 1962 (http://www.mdah.ms.gov/pubs/riot.pdf).

Categories
Artifacts

Artifacts: MSU Varsity Football Sweater

Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections in the MDAH Museum Division, brings us this post about interesting artifacts in the collection.

Mississippi A & M (Mississippi State University) varsity football squad sweater. Accession Number: 1984.42.1 (Museum Division Collection)
Mississippi A & M (Mississippi State University) varsity football squad sweater. Accession Number: 1984.42.1 (Museum Division Collection)

This varsity football squad sweater was worn in 1928 by Homer R. “Peewee” Lewis of Laurel, Mississippi. He was a student at Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Mississippi State University) from 1925 to 1929.

Artifacts from the Museum Division collection that are not on exhibit are available for viewing by appointment. Please contact Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections, by email to schedule an appointment.

Categories
Digital Archives Photographs

Wesson Photograph Collection

The Wesson Enterprise newspaper office. Call Number: PI/2000.0001, item 1 (MDAH Collection)
The Wesson Enterprise newspaper office. Call Number: PI/2000.0001, item 1 (MDAH Collection)

The Wesson (Miss.) Photographs Collection (PI/2000.0001) is comprised of thirty black and white photographs of and related to the town in Copiah County. The collection include city scenes of businesses, churches, and schools, as well as images of the inauguration of Governor Edmund Noel and the state fair.