Winter Blog Roundup

On February 28, 2012, in Artifacts, Digital Archives, Maps, Photographs, by Amanda
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Blank 1940 United States Census form (Source: National Archives and Records Administration website)*

Genealogy Notes

Resources for getting a head start on your 1940 census research are available via the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library “Local History Announcements” blog. The 1940 census will be released on April 2, 2012 (the federal census remains closed for 72 years for privacy reasons).

Read some interesting facts about the 1940 census at NARAtions, the blog of the U.S. National Archives.

For researchers tracing families in North Carolina: the North Carolina State Archives recently digitized their WPA Cemetery Surveys. Read about it in this blog post and view the cemetery records here.

Martin Luther King Day

The Arts

The work of Mississippi artist Theora Hamblett is the subject of this blog post from the Mississippi Library Commission.

The Mississippi Museum of Art discusses its upcoming exhibition, Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey, in this blog post.

Fans of the television series Downton Abbey will appreciate this exploration of that period’s popular music by the Library of Congress “In the Muse” blog.

Can a Stradivari violin be duplicated? Apparently so, using CT scans and advanced manufacturing equipment. Researchers used an instrument from the Library of Congress collection to make the replica.

Of Interest

This blog post describes an interesting function of the Library of Congress: selecting twenty-five films that merit permanent preservation for their “cultural, aesthetic, and historical value.” See this year’s list at http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2011/12/the-registry-and-beyond/.

The United States Copyright Office is now blogging at http://blogs.loc.gov/copyrightdigitization. They discuss issues surrounding the digitization of nearly seventy million pre-1978 copyright records.

The Library of Congress just digitized the 30,000th map for its online collection. Read more at http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2011/05/the-view-from-30000-maps/.

The National Archives wants you! …To help transcribe and tag documents in order to make them more accessible to the public. Check out the “Citizen Archivist” initiative at the NARAtions blog.

*Image from National Archives and Records Administration, “1940 Federal Population Census, Part 1: General Information, 1940 Census Forms,” http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/general-info.html#form (accessed February 17, 2012).

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Fall Blog Roundup

On October 27, 2011, in Digital Archives, Photographs, by Amanda
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New Capitol dome. Call Number: Series 317, item 22 (MDAH Collection)

Detail of New Capitol dome. Call Number: Series 317, item 22 (MDAH Collection)

The bloggers at the Mississippi Library Commission have been busy:

The sunken Confederate ship Georgiana and the shipwrecks it caused are the subject of this interesting post on the South Carolina Department of Archives and History’s “Palmetto Past” blog.

From “NARAtions,” the blog of the National Archives and Records Administration:

The bloggers at Preservation in Mississippi take an in-depth look at the domes of the Mississippi and Arkansas state capitols and solve the mystery of their designer’s identity in the Tale of Two Domes series.

The new online catalog system at MDAH receives a nod in the blog of the Council of State Archivists.

Learn how to date historical photographs in this post from the Library of Congress “Picture This” blog.

“Ever wonder what lookouts ate during their, well, lookouts?” The National Archives posed this question on their Facebook page and it is answered in this blog post from “Prologue: Pieces of History.“

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Blog Roundup

On August 2, 2011, in Digital Archives, Photographs, by Amanda
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What are archivists up to these days?

What are archivists up to these days? Photograph from Dept. of Archives and History Records: Series 1349, Box 5562 (undated folder) MDAH.

Check out these recent posts from various archives and Mississippi related blogs:

  • Genealogists will be interested in these posts:
  1. Confederate POWs who died in federal custody during the Civil War from NARAtions
  2. Release date (April 2, 2012) of the 1940 United States Census from NARAtions
  3. “Tracing African-American History” from the “Local History Announcements” blog of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library.
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Remembering Veterans: World War I

On May 27, 2011, in Artifacts, Paper Archives, by Amanda
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In honor of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, we will be highlighting collections related to the military history of Mississippi and veterans who served the state beginning with the territorial militia in 1797 through World War II (the most recent engagement for which we have collections). Special thanks to Jim Pitts, of the MDAH Government Records section, for compiling the military records and their descriptions and to Nan Prince, Museum Division, for compiling the artifacts.

World War I uniform coat. Accession Number: 1985.45.1 (Museum of Mississippi History Collection)

World War I uniform coat. Accession Number: 1985.45.1 (Museum of Mississippi History Collection)

This World War I uniform coat belonged to Luther Manship, Jr., of Jackson.  In 1917, he served as an artillery officer and for a time was attached to the British Army and American Air Forces in France.

Artifacts in the collection of the Museum of Mississippi History are available for viewing by appointment only. Please contact Cindy Gardner, Director of Collections or Nan Prince, Asst. Director of Collections by email to schedule an appointment.

Draft registration card of Albert Pitts. From: National Archives microfilm; World War One Draft Registration Cards from Mississippi.

Draft registration card of Albert Pitts. From: National Archives microfilm; World War One Draft Registration Cards from Mississippi.

The image above shows the May 1917 draft registration card of a Mississippian who was already involved in military training at the Reserve Officer Training Camp in Plattsburg, NY.

Statement of service cards for Albert Pitts. Call Number: Series 1731. Miss. World War One Statement of Service Cards, 1917-1919 (MDAH Collection)

Statement of service cards for Albert Pitts. Call Number: Series 1731. Miss. World War One Statement of Service Cards, 1917-1919 (MDAH Collection)

The above image shows the same soldier’s World War I statement of service cards, showing that he was in the Army Air Service and served overseas in France.

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Remembering Veterans: Spanish-American War

On May 25, 2011, in Artifacts, by Amanda
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In honor of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, we will be highlighting collections related to the military history of Mississippi and veterans who served the state beginning with the territorial militia in 1797 through World War II (the most recent engagement for which we have collections). Special thanks to Jim Pitts, of the MDAH Government Records section, for compiling the military records and their descriptions and to Nan Prince, Museum Division, for compiling the artifacts.

Compiled service record card of soldier in Spanish-American War. Call Number: Series 146. Spanish-American War Service Records Extracts, 1898-1899. (MDAH Collection)

Compiled service record card of soldier in Spanish-American War. Call Number: Series 146. Spanish-American War Service Records Extracts, 1898-1899. (MDAH Collection)

The image above is a compiled service record card of a soldier from the 1st Mississippi Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of three regiments Mississippi raised for the Spanish-American War in 1898. None of the three regiments were deployed outside the continental United States. The Spanish-American War Records Extracts are available to view on microfilm at MDAH.

Sword worn by James K. Vardaman. Accession Number: 1960.627ab (Museum of Mississippi History Collection)

Sword worn by James K. Vardaman. Accession Number: 1960.627ab (Museum of Mississippi History Collection)

This presentation sword belonged to Governor James Kimble Vardaman and was worn by him while he served in the Spanish American War. Vardaman enlisted in the army after the United States declared war on Spain in 1898 and eventually became a colonel. He served as governor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908.

Artifacts in the collection of the Museum of Mississippi History are available for viewing by appointment only. Please contact Cindy Gardner, Director of Collections or Nan Prince, Asst. Director of Collections by email to schedule an appointment.

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