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Grant Awarded to Catalog, digitize Items
Eudora Welty kept books in every room in her house—including stacks on the table in the dining room.
MDAH will use nearly $150,000 in federal funds to create digital images and descriptions of more than 11,000 artifacts and make that information available online. The Institute of Museum and Library Services grant will provide for contractual staff, photography and computer equipment, and specialized software over the three-year project project, which will begin December 1.
“Our grants are highly competitive, and receiving one is a significant achievement,” said IMLS director Susan H. Hildreth. “The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums.”
The project team will catalog, photograph, and create digital object records for more than 11,000 artifacts—more than half the entire MDAH collection—including more than four thousand books at the Eudora Welty House and Garden. Staff will record each artifact’s measurements, materials, type, identifying marks, and any damage, then create metadata for the new digital object records.
The department adopted a new nomenclature system in 2012, and some previously cataloged artifacts will be reclassified in accordance with it. MDAH began accepting artifact donations soon after the department’s creation in 1902 but did not begin to formally accession items until 1960. The majority of records from the first half century years lack measurements, detailed descriptions, and current condition reports.
“This work may challenge many people’s understandings of Mississippi’s story as the project leads to the uncovering of misidenti-fied artifacts, disprove reputed provenance and object histories—particularly for artifacts donated prior to 1960,” said MDAH
director of collections Cindy Gardner.
Accurate assessments of artifacts in the collection will allow staff to prioritize any work needed on the nearly 1,800 objects slated for permanent exhibit in the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum now under construction. The enhanced database will be used to develop programming and exhibits for the new museums by identifying strengths of the collection. “It will also extend the lifespan of the department’s holdings by reducing the need for repeated handling of those artifacts and allow staff to shift their time from maintaining artifacts to identifying and acquiring items to fill in gaps in the collection,” Gardner said.
MDAH staff will make regular monthly postings to the department’s collections blog A Sense of Place highlighting the newly digitized content as the project progresses. The project will pave the way for the development and launch of a digital collections interface.
For more than a decade online researchers could find descriptions of many of the department’s holdings but few images of the actual items. An ongoing MDAH project will add images of all items in the collection to the online catalog and allow users to view a wide array of not only historical documents and photographs but also archaeological artifacts and objects from the museums and historic sites the department operates.
Original Rolling Stones To Perform at Old Capitol
Relive the early days of rock and roll at “Go, Cap’ Go! An Evening with Andy Anderson and the Original Rolling Stones” at the Old Capitol on Thursday, January 22. The event will feature live music from Anderson and some of his bandmates, an opportunity to meet the musicians before
and after their performance, food, and an open bar.
Doors will open at 5:30, and attendees can play songs from a jukebox loaded with records from the 1950s and ’60s as they eat, drink, and mingle. The performance will begin shortly after six o’clock and last about an hour. Anderson
will have books and music for sale before and after the show. Tickets are $40, but if purchased before December 15 are only $35.
The Rolling Stones formed in 1955—before the English band that would later make the name famous— while the members were
enrolled at Mississippi State University. The band played early rockabilly and *rock and roll tunes, both covers and originals. Some of their hits included “Tough, Tough, Tough,” “Johnny Valentine,” and “You Shake Me Up.” For tickets or more information call 601-576-6920.