Categories
Digital Archives Photographs

An 1890s Christmas

It’s a short week here at the archives, but we will spend it looking at some of the wonderful Christmas themed holdings from the collections! Holiday hours are listed at the end of the post.

Christmas tree, Stewart Photograph Collection, 189-. Call Number: 1992.0006 (MDAH Collection)
Christmas tree, Natchez, 189-. Call Number: 1992.0006, Item 8 (MDAH Collection)

These images from the Stewart Photograph Collection show turn of the century Natchez around Christmas time. View the entire collection (including more snow scenes) in the Digital Archives.

Collection Description:

The collection consists of 258 black-and-white images from prints of glass plate negatives created by amateur photographers (and brothers) Robert Livingston Stewart and William Percy Stewart of Natchez, Mississippi, around 1890-1905. The photographs are primarily of the Natchez area and focus on the Stewart family and activities such as dedication ceremonies, winter storms, floods, steamboats and river scenes.

"Residence of W. P. Stewart," Snow scene, Natchez, 189-. Call Number: PI/1992.0006 Item 148 (MDAH Collection)
"Residence of W. P. Stewart," Snow scene, Natchez, 189-. Call Number: PI/1992.0006, Item 148 (MDAH Collection)
"Mississippi River," River, ice and snow, Natchez, 189-. Call Number: PI/1992.0006 Item 246 (MDAH Collection)
"Mississippi River," River, ice and snow, Natchez, 189-. Call Number: PI/1992.0006, Item 246 (MDAH Collection)

MDAH Holiday Closings:

All offices will be closed for the Christmas holidays from Friday, December 24 through Monday, December 27, 2010.

All offices will be closed for New Years’ from Friday, December 31, 2010 through Monday, January 3, 2011.

Categories
Artifacts Museums & Historic Sites

Decking the Halls…of the Archives!

Decorating at the Winter Building, November 30, 2010
Museum division staff decorate the historic Christmas trees in the lobby

The holiday season has arrived at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building! Here’s a look at the decorations sprouting up all over the place.

Christmas decorations in library, 2010
The Reference Library has extra security for the holidays!

Library Christmas decorations, 2010
Decorations in the library

Come by tonight for the Old Jackson Christmas by Candlelight tour and see the decorations, as well as holiday decor at the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion, Mississippi State Capitol, and Old Capitol Museum. Tours are tonight only from 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Musical entertainment is scheduled at the Governor’s Mansion, State Capitol, Old Capitol Museum, and Winter Building. Historic holiday film footage will be shown at the Winter Building. Refreshments will be available at the Governor’s Mansion and the Old Capitol Museum.

Shuttle buses will run between sites approximately every 5 minutes. Visitors may begin the tour at whichever site they choose and take the shuttle to the various sites. Parking is available at all sites, except the Governor’s Mansion. For more information, please call 601-576-6800.

Possum Ridge train exhibit
Possum Ridge train exhibit detail

For more images of decorations at the Winter Building and other MDAH museums and sites, check out the department facebook page and the Old Capitol Museum facebook page!

Categories
Museums & Historic Sites

Christmas by Candlelight this Friday!

Mississippi Governor's Mansion 2009
Mississippi Governor's Mansion, 2009

Don’t miss the Old Jackson Christmas by Candlelight tour this Friday, December 3 from 4:30-8:30 p.m. See the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion, Mississippi State Capitol, and Old Capitol Musuem in all their holiday splendor! The William F. Winter Archives and History Building will also be host to the village of Possum Ridge and its famous trains, as well as the historic Christmas tree exhibit.

Experience the magic of the holiday season as you visit Jackson’s most historic buildings! These images show the popular event in past years. Read more details about the tour below.

Mississippi State Capitol, 2005

Old Capitol Museum, 2009

Refreshments will be available at the Governor’s Mansion and the Old Capitol Museum. Musical entertainment, including choirs and instrumental ensembles, is scheduled at the Governor’s Mansion, State Capitol, Old Capitol Museum, and Winter Building. Historic holiday film footage will be shown at the Winter Building. 

Shuttle buses will run between sites approximately every 5 minutes. Visitors may begin the tour at whichever site they choose and take the shuttle to the various sites. Parking is available at all sites, except the Governor’s Mansion. For more information, please call 601-576-6800 or email the Museum division.

Categories
Digital Archives Photographs

Mississippi Eats

PI/1994.0004.186
Men and women sitting at banquet tables. 194- Crystal Springs. Call Number: PI/1994.0004, Item 186 (MDAH Collection)

As we all prepare to sit down to Thanksgiving feasts this week, see how past Mississippians ate together in these images from the collection. Bon appetit!

PI/1992.0006.74
"The J. E. Schwartz and Wm. P. Stewart families, and others at party." 189- Natchez. Call Number: PI/1992.0006, Item 74 (MDAH Collection)
PI/1985.0032
Male and two females sit at table in outdoor garden setting. 18-- Jackson. Call Number: PI/1985.0032 (MDAH Collection)
PI/1994.0004.431
Anniversary celebration. 19-- Crystal Springs. Call Number: PI/1994.0004, Item 431 (MDAH Collection)
Governor Cliff Finch eats with schoolchildren, 1976. Call Number: PI/STA/F56.3 (MDAH Collection)
Governor Cliff Finch eats with schoolchildren, 1976. Call Number: PI/STA/F56.3 (MDAH Collection)
Categories
Artifacts Photographs Postcards

Bats, Brooms & Black Cats

Rust University baseball team PI/1992.0001
Call Number: PI/1992.0001 (MDAH Collection)

Two things seems to be in the air right now: baseball and Halloween. Here’s a roundup of what’s been going on around the archives and history blogosphere on these two subjects:

Willie Mitchell's baseball glove MMH Collection 1974.60.1
Accession Number: 1974.60.1 (Museum of Mississippi History Collection)*

Baseball

 

Halloween

The Cooper Postcard Collection yielded the image of the Rust baseball team above and the Rose Hill Cemetery below…

Cooper Collection: Rose Hill Cemetery, Brookhaven PI/1992.0001
Call Number: PI/1992.0001 (MDAH Collection)

Here at the archives, we have many more baseball photographs, suject files, and books. There are also books on ghost stories and Mississippi folklore, and of course, cemetery records. Search the catalog to find holdings.

*The baseball glove from the Museum of Mississippi History collection pictured above belonged to William (Willie) Mitchell who was the first Mississippian to attain major league status. Mitchell was born on December 1, 1888, in Pleasant Grove, Mississippi. He attended Mississippi A & M College (now Mississippi State University) from 1906-1909 where he received All Southern honors as a baseball pitcher. Mitchell later played in the major leagues for the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers. He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1966. A collection of correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning his induction into the Hall of Fame can be found in the Archives. For more information or to see the glove, contact Cindy Gardner or Nan Prince by email or by phone at 601-576-6850.