More Maps Digitized!

On December 6, 2011, in Maps, by Amanda
1
A map of the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia comprehending the Spanish provinces of east and west Florida as fixed by the Treaty of Peace between the United States and the Spanish dominions, ca. 1792. Call Number: MA/92.0022(a) MDAH Collection

A map of the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia comprehending the Spanish provinces of east and west Florida as fixed by the Treaty of Peace between the United States and the Spanish dominions, ca. 1792. Call Number: MA/92.0022(a) MDAH Collection

Take a look at these maps which were recently digitized! Click the title to view the map image or click “View the catalog record” to see that map’s catalog record.

Tagged with: • • • • •
 

Mississippi Herald Printed this Month in 1804

On July 26, 2011, in Artifacts, Portraits, by Amanda
0
Mississippi Herald, July 20, 1804. MDAH microfilm roll number 21941.

Mississippi Herald, July 20, 1804. MDAH microfilm roll number 21941.

Andrew Marschalk (1767-1838) was the editor and publisher of the Mississippi Herald, one of the first newspapers published in the Mississippi Territory. While in the U.S. Army, he was assigned to Natchez to print the laws of the territory and went on to become a newspaper publisher and public printer. Marschalk brought a small mahogany printing press from England to the United States in 1790 and then brought it to Mississippi in July 1802.1

Andrew Marschalk, Hall of Fame portrait. Accession Number: 1978.10 (Museum Division Collection)

Andrew Marschalk, Hall of Fame portrait. Accession Number: 1978.10 (Museum Division Collection)

In addition to printing, Marschalk served in the municipal government of Natchez and clashed with several others in the community, particularly George Poindexter who held various posts in the territorial government and went on to become governor. One encounter between the two was described in the Journal of Mississippi History:

Marschalk accused Poindexter of partisanship, indifference, and incompetence while in office. The feud reached its climax when Poindexter stormed into Marschalk’s little newspaper office at Washington on a March day in 1815 and gave him a severe beating with a walking cane. The next month Poindexter attacked again by suing Marschalk for “scandalous, malicious, libelous, unlawfully wicked” editorials. The outspoken journalist was found guilty and sentenced to “a fine of $896.66 or three months in prison until the fine be paid”…None [of the other city printers], however, mixed the job of city printing with politics in the fiery manner of the colorful Marschalk.2

The Mississippi Herald was one of several newspapers published by Marschalk, many of which are on file at MDAH. The portrait of Marschalk pictured above is exhibited with other portraits in the Mississippi Hall of Fame at the Old Capitol Museum.

1 Madel J. Morgan, “Notes and Documents: Andrew Marschalk’s Account of Mississippi’s First Press,” Journal of Mississippi History 8, no. 1 (1946): 146-48.

2 D. Clayton James, “Municipal Government in Territorial Natchez,” Journal of Mississippi History 27, no. 2 (1965): 153.

Tagged with: • •
 

Early Natchez: Concord

On January 19, 2011, in Artifacts, Photographs, by Amanda
2

This post is the final part of a short series of items from the collection related to the early days of Natchez, one of the early settlements in Mississippi and the center of government and society during the territorial years (1798-1817) and early days of statehood.

PI/CI/N38.3.65
Concord, Natchez, 189-. Call Number: PI/CI/N38.3 Item 65 (MDAH Collection)

This is “Concord,” built in 1789 by Don Manuel de Gayoso, Spanish governor of the Natchez region. The governor named the home “Concord” because it symbolized the fact that people from different countries lived together in “concord” in the Natchez area. The occupants of the home entertained many notable people of the day, including territorial governor Winthrop Sargeant, Aaron Burr, and Jefferson Davis. The last event held there was hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Manchester. Concord burned in 1901. The only parts remaining were the curved marble staircase in the front and a brick outbuilding (the staircase was dismantled in the late 1970s). Some pieces of furniture and a few of the marble mantles were also saved from the blaze.

Read more about Concord, including the text of a newspaper article published shortly after the fire in this article from the Preservation in Mississippi blog.

Key from Concord. Accession number: 1960.44.5 (Museum of Mississippi History Collection)

Key from Concord. Accession number: 1960.44.5 (Museum of Mississippi History Collection)

E.B. Baker donated these Concord artifacts to MDAH in 1917. 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.

Newel post ornament from step leading to front entrance of Concord. Accession number: 1960.44.2 (Museum of Mississippi Collection)

Newel post ornament from step leading to front entrance of Concord. Accession number: 1960.44.2 (Museum of Mississippi Collection)

Connelly’s Tavern on Ellicott’s Hill, exterior, Natchez, Miss. Call Number: PI/2004.0011 (MDAH Collection)

Connelly’s Tavern on Ellicott’s Hill, exterior, Natchez, Miss. Call Number: PI/2004.0011 (MDAH Collection)

Concord originally looked similar to this house on Ellicott’s Hill in Natchez.
Sources:
“Concord,” Subject File, MDAH.

Westley F. Busbee, Jr., Mississippi: A History (Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 2005), 47.

Tagged with: • • •
 

Early Natchez: 1854 River Scene

On January 14, 2011, in Sketches & Engravings, by Amanda
0

This post is the second part of a short series of items from the collection related to the early days of Natchez, one of the early settlements in Mississippi and the center of government and society during the territorial years (1798-1817) and early days of statehood.

Natchez, 1854. Call Number: PI/1989.0001.1 (MDAH Collection)

Natchez, 1854. Call Number: PI/1989.0001 (MDAH Collection)

This 1854 engraving shows Natchez from the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River. Notice the steamboat traffic on the river and buildings in Natchez “Under-the-Hill.” Describing it as a ”colorful, ribald old river port” one writer said:

There were times when flatboats were tied to its banks 14 deep in a stretch two miles long. Ships from Liverpool and other foreign ports came to its wharfs. All that remains is a single desolate street and a few moldy buildings; year by year the river eats away the soft rockless land.[1]

This was written in 1938, because now things couldn’t be more different–Natchez “Under-the-Hill” is a popular tourist spot that is proud of its colorful past.[2] 

Holiday Closing

All MDAH offices will be closed on Monday, January 17, 2011 in observance of the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Offices will reopen on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 8:00 a.m.

[1] Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration, Mississippi: A Guide to the Magnolia State, The American Guide Series (New York: The Viking Press, 1938), 244.

[2] Natchez Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, “Natchez Under-the-Hill,” http://www.visitnatchez.com/custom/webpage2.cfm?content=Articles&cat=NatchezUnderTheHill (accessed December 16, 2010).

Tagged with: •
 

Early Natchez: Fort Rosalie/Panmure

On January 11, 2011, in Sketches & Engravings, by Amanda
0

This post is part one of a short series of items from the collection related to the early days of Natchez, one of the early settlements in Mississippi and the center of government and society during the territorial years (1798-1817) and early days of statehood.

PI/CI/N38.3
“View of the Fort of the Natchez,” 1797. Call Number: PI/CI/N38.3, Item 1 (MDAH Collection)

This sketch shows Fort Panmure, formerly Fort Rosalie, which was constructed on the site of present day Natchez by Lieutenant Governor Bienville in the early 1700s. At that time, the French ruled the Mississippi-Louisiana area. The fort was renamed in the 1760s during British rule of the colony. In 1797, the date of this sketch, Natchez was under Spanish rule.

For a handy summary of Mississippi colonial and territorial history see the text of the “Mississippi: The Magnolia State” historical marker or check out the marker itself on its blog entry from the historical marker series:

Explored, 1540-1, by De Soto. Colonized first by French, 1699. Became a colony of British, 1763; Spanish, 1779. Territory organized by U.S., 1798. Became 20th. state, 1817.

The area under the bluff by the Mississippi River would later become Natchez “Under-the-Hill,” the more boisterous part of town, owing to its proximity to the river traffic and their boat crews.

The site of Fort Rosalie is now famous as the site of the antebellum mansion “Rosalie,” name after the fort, and built by Peter Little in 1823. It still stands today.

Sources:

Westley F. Busbee, Jr., Mississippi: A History (Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 2005), 29, 39-40, 55.

Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, “Rosalie Mansion,” http://www.rosaliemansion.com/index.html, accessed December 15, 2010.

Tagged with:
 
« Previous Entries