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Newspaper Digitization Project Underway
From the state’s longest running newspaper, the Woodville Republican, to short-lived Civil War newspapers such as the Corinth War Eagle, seventy-four Mississippi newspaper titles from twenty-two counties published between 1836 and 1922 are being processed for inclusion on the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America website. On Wednesday, November 12, at noon Deborah Thomas, National Digital Newspaper Program coordinator, will be at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson to discuss the project and Mississippi’s role in it.
“As a primary source for the historic record, newspapers give a rich view into the events, people, and society of the past,” said Thomas. “The addition of
unique content from Mississippi communities will provide his-
torians, genealogists, students, and teachers the opportunity to explore further how the people of those communities lived their
lives and add Mississippi historical viewpoints to the national corpus.”
In 2013 MDAH received a two-year National Digital Newspaper Program grant to digitize 100,000 pages of the state’s historical newspapers. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, the program has helped more than thirty states scan eight million newspaper pages to enhance the study of American history.
Mississippi newspapers should begin to be available by early October through the Chronicling America website, hosted by the Library of Congress. Research friendly tools include keyword searchable
pages and a brief overview of each newspaper title providing information about the publisher, geography, significant events covered, audience/community, and politics.
“Chronicling America attracts a wide range of users, from family historians to educators and students to researchers interested in practically every discipline,” Thomas said. “Use of the site has increased steadily over time as we add more newspapers from more states and towns. With more state programs already in development (total participation is now 37 states and 1 territory), we’ll continue to expand the geographic coverage and depth of content available on the site, hopefully leading to more and more usage over time.”
2014 Tony-winning Play Coming to Jackson
The Department of Archives and History is partnering with New Stage Theatre in Jackson and the Mississippi Humanities Council to bring the Tony Award-winning All the Way to the state. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan’s play dramatizes President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s first year in office and his shepherding of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
“Since so many of the play’s events are the result of Freedom Summer activities in Mississippi, it was important for us to offer it during the fiftieth anniversary,” said New Stage artistic director Francine Thomas Reynolds.“In an almost unprecedented move, we were granted permission to stage the play while it is still on Broadway, thanks to Robert Schenkkan’s support for a Mississippi production.”
All the Way won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play, 2014 New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and Drama Desk Award for Best Play. It features twenty stage actors portraying Mississippi civil rights activists Fannie Lou Hamer and Ed King as well as some of history’s most compelling figures, such as J. Edgar Hoover, Martin Luther King Jr., Governor George Wallace, Senator Hubert Humphrey, and LBJ himself.
“All the Way is a wonderful complement to the Freedom Summer 50th commemora-
tions,” said MDAH director H.T. Holmes. “We are pleased that the playwright saw the importance of bringing this story to Mississippi, and we are proud to collaborate with New Stage on this production.”
workers, historians, artists, politicians, and activists. Planned topics to be covered are the legacy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Freedom Summer 1964—its historical importance and impact on the One Person,
It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Politics
“Non-Stop Action. The Suspense of a First-Class Thriller.”
The show will play October 21 through November 2. During its run New Stage will schedule related programming under the title “America at the Turning Point: Conversations on All the Way.” Led by scholars, the panels will feature civil rights
One Vote Movement; and arts and culture in times of struggle and dramatizing politics and history.
For more information or tickets call New Stage Theatre at 601-948-3533.


Mississippi History Newsletter 2014 Fall (3)
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