Holly Springs – A Sense of Place

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:

Baseball

On the Smithsonian Institution Collections Blog, there is a fascinating article on one aspect of manufacturing baseballs. Did you know that the cover is still hand-stitched on? Learn more in this post!
Historical baseball photos are on the Delaware Public Archives facebook page (read more on baseball and their collection on their blog).
Brian Wilson’s beard is the subject of this post on the National Archives’ Prologue: Pieces of History blog.

Halloween

Stumped on a Halloween costume this year? Check out this fun article on the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art blog for some historical ideas.
A spooky database find and a post on the roots of our Halloween traditions are on the Mississippi Library Commission Reference Blog.
Read the eerie story of Robert Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s son, on the Prologue: Pieces of History blog.
The phrase “modern office structures” may sound scary to some, but there is a non-scary, and yes non-related to Halloween but still interesting, article on the subject on the Preservation in Mississippi blog.
Read about ghost sightings at the National Museum of Natural History on their blog.

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.

Call Number: PI/CW/B38.8, Item 77 (MDAH Collection)

Marshall County, named for Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court, was formed in 1836. The courthouse and town of Holly Springs, Mississippi are depicted in this sketch from Harper’s Weekly Magazine, January 10, 1863. The courthouse was burned during the Civil War, and rebuilt in 1872.

Call Number: PI/SF/COL/1987.0127, Item 127 (MDAH Collection)

This photograph of the courthouse was taken at some point before 1925, when east and west wings were added to increase office space.

The Marshall County Courthouse, with its clock tower and Greek revival architecture, is an example of the classic courthouse style employed in Mississippi in the 19th century. You can view other courthouses from around the state in the Cooper Postcard Collection, just type in “courthouse” as the search term.

Source: Bill Gurney, Mississippi Courthouses: Then and Now (Ripley, Mississippi: Old Timer Press, 1987), 99-100.