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HISTORY
■M EWSLETTER
Summer 2013
Volume 55, No. 2
Ground to Be Broken on Museums
Architect’s rendering of the Museum of Mississippi History, left, and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. The buildings will be constructed on the block to the north of the William F. Winter Archives and History Building on North Street. The fairgrounds can be seen down the hill to the east.
The 2 Mississippi Museums project—the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History—continues to move forward with a groundbreaking planned for late this fall, significant artifact acquisitions, and the final phase of exhibit design.
In addition to the groundbreaking ceremony there are plans for an accompanying public symposium and evening fundraising gala. “This groundbreaking is not just the site preparation for construction of two new museums,” said Lucy Allen, MDAH Museums Division director. “It represents the groundbreaking decision by the Mississippi Legislature to construct side by side a comprehensive state history museum and the nation’s first state-supported civil rights museum.”
Design teams for the Museum of Missis-
sippi History (MMH) and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (MCRM), in collaboration with scholar committees, community advisors, and MDAH staff, have completed the second of three design phases. In the initial schematic design phase an outline of the visitor’s experience and a general vision for each museum were established. The design development phase brought together story ideas and design concepts in greater detail. Phase three will begin this summer and produce a final set of plans that will include narrative text and specifications for artifacts, images, and exhibit and audiovisual components for each museum.
Several exhibit concepts have made it through the early design process for each museum and will offer visitors exciting new ways to experience the museums. In the Museum of Mississippi History a fast-track op-
tion will allow visitors with limited time to see an overview of 12,000 years of history. Each of the MMH’s nine gallery entrances will be anchored by a display of artifacts that represents the time period covered within. The recently donated nineteenth-century double rocker (see sidebar on page 3) will be featured in the Freedom, Reconstruction, and Counter Revolution gallery. Another key feature will be a video booth at the end of the tour to let visitors share their stories related to their experience in the museum. Those stories may be used in the Reflections interactive touchscreen exhibit in other galleries.
“We are excited about how the exhibit designs are coming together,” said Cindy Gardner, MMH project manager. “The museum is pulling together our history on a CONTINUED ON PAGE 3