This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

HISTORY
■SI EWSLETTER
Deputy Director Tapped to Lead MDAH
and preserve Mississippi’s extraordinary historic resources. And in just three years we will celebrate the state’s bicentennial by opening the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, two new museums that will join with many others across the state in telling stories of our shared past and our shared culture.”
Blount earned her B. A. from the University of Michigan in English and history and her M.A. in southern studies from the University of Mississippi.
State Capitol Undergoing Restoration
A repair and restoration project is underway at the State Capitol that will leave the 111-year-old structure in its best shape in decades. Priorities are to address longtime water leaks, replace materials damaged by water and weather, and clean the exterior.
“Leaks have occurred regularly in some parts of the capitol since its construction,” said Lawson Newman, project architect. “Unfortunately, persistent leaks are common in structures with complex roofs like this one.”
The 402-foot-wide capitol building has three domes—the main dome in the center that soars to a height of one hundred eighty feet, and the smaller domes at each end over the House of Representatives and Senate chambers. Scaffolding and an elevator have been installed to roof level on most of the circa-1903 building, and work will progress around the exterior as crews clean the limestone and granite panels and replace the sealant between them. “Much of the work is not complicated, but it will require going over every square inch of the stone clad-
Scaffolding has been erected across the entire southern face of the state capitol.
ding,” Newman said. “On a building the size Some of the most visible work will be of the capitol it will require significant time	done at the building’s highest point—re-
just to complete the job.” The entire project	gilding the copper eagle atop the main
is expected to take 24 months.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Katherine Drayne Blount has been named the seventh director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The Board of Trustees made the decision at a special meeting on September 4. Current director H.T. Holmes will continue to serve in the position until January 31,2015.
“Katie Blount’s twenty years of experience working with all divisions and programs of MDAH gives her a thorough understanding of the department,” said MDAH board president Kane Ditto. “I am confident
that under her leadership the department will continue to build on the progress made by Hank Holmes over the last decad-e and embrace new opportunities to strengthen the services it offers the people of Mississippi.” Blount has been with MDAH since 1994, working for the last ten years in the director’s office. Since 2011 she has served
as deputy director for communication, overseeing the department’s strategic planning process and working with the department director and deputy director for administration to make decisions on budget, personnel, and policy issues.
“1 am honored to follow in the footsteps of the two outstanding directors under whom I have served, Elbert Hilliard and H.T. Holmes,” Blount said. “This is an exciting time at MDAH. Across the state and here in Jackson, the staff is working hard to collect