October meeting with Hilferty & Associates and MDAH staff

Hilferty & Associates has met with the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum core scholars and Mississippi Department of Archives and History staff to present the evolving exhibit plan and request feedback about it. Design development is the second of three phases. During this stage the designers are producing exhibit floor plans, choosing sample materials, and narrowing down the stories, images, and artifacts that will be on display.

MDAH staff met with the design team in October to review the most recent exhibit plan changes and additions made during the second phase, design development.

In November the core scholars met with Hilferty & Associates and examined the layout of the galleries and discuss audio and visual components. In addition to giving the design team feedback, the scholars also made suggestions for additional research.

Members of the core scholar committee include Mr. Rims Barber; Mr. Owen Brooks; Dr. John Dittmer; Ms. Katherine Egland; Dr. Joyce Ladner; Dr. Jerry Ward; and Dr. Michael Williams.

.MCRM scholar Michael Williams, Mississippi State University, and design team discuss exhibit plans.

Hilferty & Associates will continue to work with the scholars and MDAH staff as the second phase, design development, comes to a close. The completed plans will be presented to the MDAH Board of Trustees at its quarterly board meeting in April.

Once the plans are approved, construction documents will be produced and provided to contractors who want to bid on the fabrication of the exhibits.

MMH scholars and staff view exhibit presentation

Design Minds has met with the Museum of Mississippi History core scholars and Mississippi Department of Archives and History staff to present the evolving exhibit plan and request feedback about it. Design development is the second of three phases. During this stage the designers are producing exhibit floor plans, choosing sample materials, and narrowing down the stories, images, and artifacts that will be on display.

In November MDAH staff met with Design Minds to review the most recent exhibit plan changes and additions made during the second phase, design development.

The six core scholars met in December with Design Minds and examined the layout of the galleries and a model of the 1927-45 exhibit. In addition to giving the design team feedback, the scholars also made suggestions for additional research.

Design Minds exhibit team demonstrates sample model from 1927-1945 gallery.

Members of the core scholar committee include Deirdre Cooper Owens, University of Mississippi; Pat Galloway, University of Texas; K. C. Morrison, Mississippi State University; Charles Sallis, Millsaps College, professor emeritus; Charles Reagan Wilson, University of Mississippi; and Chuck Yarborough, Mississippi School of Math and Science.

Design Minds will continue to work with the scholars and MDAH staff as the second phase, design development, comes to a close. The completed plans will be presented to the MDAH Board of Trustees at its quarterly board meeting in April.

Once the plans are approved, construction documents will be produced and provided to contractors who want to bid on the fabrication of the exhibits.

Jacqueline K. Dace has been selected as the project manager of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (MCRM).  The nationwide search began in July and attracted more than one hundred applicants. The MCRM project manager will coordinate activities associated with the planning, construction, and opening of the museum. Dace will begin work December 1.

“I was very impressed with Ms. Dace’s experience and enthusiasm for our museum,” said Judge Fred Banks, chairman of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Advisory Commission. “I think that she will do an excellent job in helping to create a facility of which we all can be proud.”

“Jacqueline Dace’s strong organizational and communication skills will be invaluable as we continue our effort to work with citizens around the state to ensure that the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum tells the story of the local people who became heroes of the movement,” said MDAH director H.T. Holmes.

Dace has twenty years of museum experience. From 2010 to October of 2012 she served as the collections manager of the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago. Dace developed the exhibit Spread the Word: The Evolution from Chicago to the World that ran from September 2011 through May 2012 at the DuSable, and increased artifact donations to the museum through community outreach. Her duties also included preserving, documenting, and managing the DuSable’s collection and supervising staff and volunteers.

“Helping to develop the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is a natural progression of my work and life experiences,” said Dace. “I’m looking forward to working with community members and everyone involved as the MCRM evolves into an institution that powerfully documents this crucial part of our historical record. I am also looking forward to returning to Mississippi, where my maternal and paternal family legacy is long and enduring.”

In 1992 Dace began as a research associate at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis, and in 2004 she became curator of African American collections there. She developed a variety of exhibits and oral history projects, including Katherine Dunham: Beyond the Dance, on display from November 2008 through February 2010, and Through the Eyes of a Child: Growing up Black in St. Louis, 1940-1990, installed in 2003. The Dunham project was the first major exhibition on the life of choreographer, dancer, civil rights activist, and author Katherine Dunham. Through the Eyes of a Child used oral history and research to examine contemporary and historical remembrances of childhood from four African American communities in the St. Louis area.

From 2006 to 2011 Dace was an adjunct faculty member of the African and Afro American studies department at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2011 she received a fellowship from National Arts Strategies. She has presented at conferences throughout the country and served as meeting chair of the Association of African American Museums annual meeting in 2000, 2006, and 2008. Dace received her bachelor of science in social science from Webster University.

“Jacqueline Dace’s background in museum collections and management and her years of experience in museum expansion projects, development of large scale exhibits, and public speaking insure that she will be ready from day one to take this project forward,” said Lucy Allen, MDAH Museum Division director. “We know her experience with African American collections will also be a major strength as we work with the community in seeking artifacts for the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.”

The cheese box from Dubard & Company, a general store in Grenada County, will be displayed in a general store exhibit of the new Museum of Mississippi History. Dubard & Company operated from 1900 until its closure in 1956. Cheese boxes were used for ripening and storage of cheese.

This bound volume of the Citizens Council newsletters contains issues from 1955 to 1961. The newsletters were used to spread segregationist propaganda. The volume will be on display in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

At top left, the poll tax receipt for Wilson F. (Bill) Minor is from 1965.  After the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, this receipt was no longer needed when voting.

Established at Hawkins Field in Jackson in 1942, the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School was a training base for Dutch airmen also known as the “Dutch Flyers.” The uniform coat belonged to Andries Christiaan “Harry” Bakker, who was drafted and served in the Netherlands Navy from 1934 to 1948.

The c. 1950s butcher block was used by Moon See Low in his grocery store, the Canton Food Market. Low immigrated to the U.S. from China  in 1939 and learned the grocery store trade from Mr. Wing in Grenada. After serving in WWII and living briefly in California, Low and his wife moved to Canton, Mississippi, where he became a partner in the market.

Fayette mayor and civil rights leader Charles Evers ran as an independent for governor in 1971 against Democrat William “Bill” Waller. The poster is from Evers’s campaign.

All donated items will be conserved to meet the highest professional standards using the state-of-the-art collection care facility planned for the two museums. For more information about making a donation, email info@2mississippimuseums.com.

A sample of possible panels for the MCRM

Initial designs, or schematic design plans, establish the interpretive blueprint for the exhibits and are the result of historical research, interpretative planning, architectural coordination, and community collaboration. The next phase, design development, fleshes out the storyline established in the first phase with specific names, faces, and facts. Contract documents, the final design phase, are provided to contractors who want to bid on the fabrication of the exhibits. To see the initial designs click here.

Plans for the MCRM and the Museum of Mississippi History buildings are already in the design development phase and are scheduled for completion in August 2012. ECD—a consortium composed of Eley Guild Hardy Associates/Architects; Cooke Douglas Farr Lemons, Ltd., Architects and Engineers; and Dale Partners Architects—and the Freelon Group presented an update at the June 22 meeting. Groundbreaking for the construction of the museum complex is expected to begin in August 2013. The buildings will be constructed at the same time, and the two museums will be connected, allowing cost savings through shared collections storage areas, artifact conservation labs, classroom and auditorium space, parking garage, store, and other features.

A sample of text and image panels depicting the Great Depression

Initial designs, or schematic design plans, establish the interpretive blueprint for the exhibits and are the result of historical research, interpretative planning, architectural coordination, and community collaboration. The next phase, design development, fleshes out the storyline established in the first phase with specific names, faces, and facts. Contract documents, the final design phase, are provided to contractors who want to bid on the fabrication of the exhibits.

Design Minds has come up with a plan that organizes Mississippi’s 12,000 years of history into eight chronological exhibits with four breakout galleries. The finalized schematic plans/conceptual drawings were submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval. To see the plans click here.

Plans for the MMH and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum museum buildings are  in the design development phase and are scheduled for completion in August 2012 by ECD—a consortium composed of Eley Guild Hardy Associates/Architects; Cooke Douglas Farr Lemons, Ltd., Architects and Engineers; and Dale Partners Architects—and the Freelon Group. Groundbreaking for the construction of the museum complex is expected to begin in August 2013. The buildings will be constructed at the same time, and the two museums will be connected, allowing cost savings through shared collections storage areas, artifact conservation labs, classroom and auditorium space, parking garage, store, and other features.