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Elbert R. Hilliard Retires as Director Fiscal Year 2004-2005 was marked by the end of the extraordinary thirty-one-year tenure of Elbert Riley Hilliard as the fifth director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the beginning of my service as the sixth director. Mr. Hilliard's retirement reception, held at the Old Capitol on January, 27, 2005, drew an impressive crowd of more than 700 department friends. Governor Haley Barbour presented a resolution honoring Mr. Hilliard and declared the day Elbert R. Hilliard Day. Board president William Winter noted of Hilliard's accomplishments as director, citing the tremendous growth of the department, the acquisition of significant properties- Winterville Mounds and the Eudora Welty House-and collections including the Medgar and Myrlie Evers papers, and noting the personal qualities that made him such a successful director.
At the final Board of Trustees meeting of Mr. Hilliard's tenure, the Board appointed Mr. Hilliard director emeritus. I am pleased to report that I have ready access to his wealth of knowledge about the Department and his sound judgment, as he has hardly missed a day at the office since his retirement. Mr. Hilliard is serving as a volunteer editor on various MDAH projects and is working to organize his papers, which will become part of the MDAH collection. He continues to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Mississippi Historical Society. |
Report from H.T. Holmes
Governor Winter also announced that the Board of Trustees had established the Elbert R. Hilliard Fellowship to promote the exchange of information in fields relating to the archives, records management, museum, and historic preservation programs at the Department of Archives and History. The fellowship will provide a financial source enabling the department director to invite scholars and experts in these fields to visit MDAH, both to teach and train department staff and to conduct research to advance their own work. Seed money for the fellowship in the amount of $1,900 was provided by the staff of the Department.