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Report from the Director MDAH Awards Grants across Mississippi In FY 2005 the Board of Trustees authorized several grants to support organizations doing outstanding work in historic preservation or scholarship. The Board awarded $5,000 to The Papers of Jefferson Davis, $2,000 to the Junior Historical Society of Mississippi, $5,000 to the Historic Natchez Foundation for the biennial Historic Natchez Conference, and $10,000 to the Mississippi Historical Society for its Internet publication Mississippi History NOW. The Board also awarded $110,000 to Beauvoir for the operation of the National Historic Landmark home of Jefferson Davis, as directed by the 2004 Mississippi Legislature. Although no new preservation grant funds were awarded during FY 2005, some grant funds were reassigned. The Board transferred $45,000 of unused funds to the restoration of the exterior of the Hinds County Courthouse in Raymond and $75,000 to the Pass Christian Old Town Library and School project. In the African American Heritage Grant program, the Board transferred $5,000 of unused funds to the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum in Holly Springs. The museum restoration project is now complete, and a grand re-opening was held on July 15, 2005. In December 2005 the MDAH Board of Trustees will award grants in the fourth round of the Community Heritage Preservation Grant Program. Grants of up to $500,000 each will be made to organizations around the state that are preserving and restoring historic buildings. Funds for this round of grants were authorized by the 2004 Mississippi Legislature. |
