April 2006 – Mississippi Humanities Council Newsletter (Visit our web site at www.mshumanities.org to learn more about us.)
Contents:
NEH Chairman Praises “Heroic Efforts” to Restore Gulf Coast Cultural Heritage Mississippi Humanities Council Awards $41,550 in Cultural Grants Last Chance to View ‘Between Fences’ Tour Preservation Workshop Offered for Museums Next MHC Grant Deadline is May 1 New Speakers, New Topics Invited for MHC Speakers Bureau Upcoming Humanities Events in Mississippi
NEH Chairman Praises “Heroic Efforts” to Restore Gulf Coast Cultural Heritage
Dr. Bruce Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, visited Mississippi March 15, 16 and 17 to witness the damage suffered by Gulf Coast cultural institutions in Hurricane Katrina last August. Dr. Cole called the destruction “sobering” and stressed the importance of restoring museums, libraries and other cultural institutions. The Biloxi Sun Herald reported on Chairman Cole’s visit. Visit www.mshumanities.org to read the complete report.
Mississippi Humanities Council Awards $41,550 in Cultural Grants
The Mississippi Humanities Council approved six Minigrant projects in January for a total of $8,400. The Council also approved eight Regular Grant projects for a total of $33,150.
Mini-grant applications are reviewed bi-monthly and regular grant applications are reviewed twice a year, at the Council’s February and October meetings.
The approved projects span a variety of humanities disciplines. The successful proposals include: Opening a Time Capsule of Primary Source Material on People of African Descent. Sponsor: Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Award: $1,750. Historian will speak at a pubic meeting to announce the creation of a “finding aid” for researching some 3,000 articles and pamphlets on race and race relations written by Alfred Holt Stone, a Mississippi racial theorist in the mid-1930s. Keynote Address: Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Philosophical Association. Sponsor: University of Southern Mississippi. Award: $1,150. McComb Railroad Workers Oral History Project. Sponsor: McComb City Railroad Museum, Inc. Award: $900. Oral histories will be collected from former employees of the Illinois Central Railroad’s rail shop, formerly based in McComb. The resulting histories will be accessible to visitors to the museum and a public program will be held to share the histories when they are completed. Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Southern Jewish Foodways. Sponsor: Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Award: $1,000. Council funding will support two public lectures on southern Jewish history, culture and foodways. Between Fences. Sponsor: M.R. Dye Public Library. Award: $1,800. Council funds will be used to employ a musicologist/cultural anthropologist, woodwind performer and naturalist/storyteller to conduct workshops and lead lectures pertaining to a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit, “Between Fences,” when it visits the Horn Lake community. Children of the Right Oral History Project. Sponsor: The University of Southern Mississippi/The Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Award: $1,800. Oral histories will be collected from residents of the Mississippi Delta about their and/or their parents’ role in opposing the Civil Rights movement. The collected histories will be shared in a public forum. The Blues Today: A Living Blues Symposium. Sponsor: University of Mississippi. Award: $2,000. Three-day symposium focusing on blues music and culture. The Double Decker Storyfest. Sponsor: The Double Decker Festival (Oxford Tourism Council). Award: $2,500. Council funding will be used to employ a storyteller to perform during the sixth annual Double Decker Festival. If You’re Gon’ Be a Leader, Don’t Stay Behind – Remembering the Jackson Civil Rights Movement. Sponsor: The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship & Democracy. Award: $5,000. Series of educational programs exploring the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson, specifically the roles of youth. Mississippi History NOW. Sponsor: Mississippi Historical Society. Award: $5,000. Council funding will support the creation of content for Mississippi History NOW, an online publication featuring articles on the state’s history and providing lesson plans for teachers. 14th Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival. Sponsor: Coahoma Community College. Award: $5,000. Annual two-day festival celebrating and generating greater understanding of Mississippi playwright Tennessee Williams and his work. St. Andrew’s Writers’ Workshop. Sponsor: St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. Award: $3,650. One-day annual writers’ workshop for high school students. Emmett Till Traveling Exhibition & Educational Resources. Sponsor: Delta State University Archives & Museum. Award: $5,000. Council funds will support transforming an Emmett Till exhibition into a traveling exhibition with accompanying teacher guides and online resource materials to travel to public and private school libraries and public libraries and community centers in Mississippi and beyond. Pascagoula Katrina Project: In Our Own Words. Sponsor: Communities in Schools of Greenwood Leflore, Inc. Award: $5,000. Students of the Alternative School of the Pascagoula School District will create a half- hour documentary about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on their community.
Last Chance to View ‘Between Fences’ Tour
“Between Fences,” a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit depicting the settling of the United States, opened March 20 at the Mitchell Memorial Library on the Mississippi State University Campus in Starkville, MS. The Starkville display is the sixth and final showing of this insightful exhibit. “Between Fences” is the third Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit to come to Mississippi via the Mississippi Humanities Council. It is an interactive experience that reminds us of the many ways fences affect us every day. The exhibit completes its Mississippi run April 25 in Starkville. For information about special events and exhibits at this site, contact Glen Berry at 662-325- 2029 or [email protected].
Preservation Workshop Offered for Museums
The Mississippi Museums Association, with funding from the Mississippi Humanities Council, will host a free workshop Monday, April 3, focusing on preservation, conservation and restoration for museums that suffered hurricane damage. A conservator will discuss the treatment and restoration of flood damaged furniture and an expert will discuss and demonstrate decorative paint techniques. A question-and-answer session will be included. The workshop will be held at the Mississippi Museum of Art, 201 E. Pascagoula St., Jackson, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. An optional lunch will be available for $15. Pre-registration is required by March 29. For more information, call 601-961-4724 or 601-442- 2901.
Next MHC Grant Deadline is May 1
May 1 is the next Mississippi Humanities Council minigrant application deadline for proposals up to $2,000. Application guidelines and forms are available at www.mshumanities.org.
New Speakers, New Topics Invited for MHC Speakers Bureau
Since the introduction of our Speaker’s Bureau in 1990, the Mississippi Humanities Council has sent hundreds of speakers around the state to address audiences at civic clubs, libraries, community centers and classrooms. They have presented topics as diverse as “Women as Agents of Change in Mississippi During the Twentieth Century” and “The Delights and Dilemmas of Nature: The Challenge of Environmental Ethics.” New speakers and new topics are always
welcome. All styles of presentations are welcome, Storyteller Rebecca Jernigan from living history characterizations (Chautauqua Discusses the oral tradition presentations) to traditional lecture/discussions, In Mississippi in her Speaker’s literary readings and multimedia presentations. Bureau presentation entitled Visit www.mshumanities.org to see the kinds of “Mississippi Telling.” programs that are currently available and an application form. Speakers receive an honorarium from the Mississippi Humanities Council and reimbursement for travel and lodging expenses, if necessary.
Upcoming Humanities Events in Mississippi
• March 2 - April 7, 2006, Boogaloo: An Exhibit, Charles W. Capps Jr. Archive and Museum Building, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS. Greenville photographer Ralph Jones' photography exhibit of Delta bluesman, Boogaloo, captured through performances throughout the Delta. • March 20-April 25, 2006, Between Fences, Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS. Traveling exhibit examining the role fences have played in local politics, industry and daily life. Exhibit is part of a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit appearing in 15 states during 2005 and 2006. • March 30-April 1, 2006, Thirteenth Oxford Conference for the Book, Oxford, MS. A conference for authors, editors, publishers and others in the trade as well as educators, literacy advocates, readers, and book lovers. Planned events include exhibitions, addresses, panels, readings, a fiction and poetry jam, an Elderhostel program, a book-signing and an optional literary tour of the Mississippi Delta. • April 1, 2006, The Telling Trees, Wiggins Park, Wiggins, MS. Enactment of collected stories of Stone County residents' memories of the local lumbering industry. This event will be part of an annual community festival known as Pine Hill Day. • April 4, 2006, The Life and Times of Will, Cedar Lake Christian Assembly, Biloxi, MS. An event examining Shakespeare's time and The Old Globe. This event is a project of the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra. • April 4, 2006, Tour: Shack-Up Inn, Clarksdale, MS. This tour travels to Clarksdale to visit Shack-Up Inn, also known as Hobson Plantation, which is a collection of shotgun houses, cotton gin and other agriculturally related buildings that create a unique overnight accommodation destination for tourists not familiar with southern architecture. Enjoy a walking tour and a barbecue dinner catered by a local restaurant. Bus leaves Capps parking lot at 6 p.m. RSVP 846-4780 by March 31. • April 6-Oct. 14, 2006, If You’re Gon’ Be a Leader, Don’t Stay Behind, Jackson, MS. The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship & Democracy will present a series of educational programs exploring various facets of the history of the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson, Mississippi, between 1961 and 1963, specifically the roles and contributions of youth (primary, secondary and college students). Events will be hosted at several locations throughout the Jackson community. • April 7-8, 2006, Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Philosophical Association, Oxford, MS. The 2006 annual meeting of the Mississippi Philosophical Association will feature scholarly presentations and discussions among philosophers and others. • April 8, 2006, A Time Capsule of Primary Source Material on People of African Descent, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 200 North St., Jackson, MS. MDAH has developed a “finding aid” to access a collection of 3,000 articles and pamphlets on race relations donated by Alfred Holt Stone, a planter in the Mississippi Delta and racial theorist whose writings influenced the debate over racial issues in Mississippi until the start of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Availability of the finding aid will be announced officially on April 8, 2006. John David Smith, an internationally-known historian who has written and lectured for more than 30 years about Alfred Holt Stone, race relations in the South and the historiography of the period, will be the keynote speaker. • April 8, 2006, Genealogy Workshop, Charles W. Capps Jr. Archive and Museum Building, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS. Free workshop sponsored by Clarksdale Carnegie Public Library and DSU Archives and Museum brings Professor Mike Brubaker of the Atlanta History Center's Kenan Research Center. Professor Brubaker will offer guidance and assistance as he demonstrates the best techniques for genealogists. This workshop begins at 9:30 a.m. with coffee and the session will begin at 10:00 in the Reading Room on Capps 2nd Floor. Lunch on your own followed by internet instruction in the Roberts-LaForge Library's Bibliographic Room on the first floor. For reservation information, call 662- 846-4780. • April 9, 2006, Archives White Glove Tea, Charles W. Capps Jr. Archive and Museum Building, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS. In celebration of "The Year of Cleveland" the DSU Archives and Museum is hosting the Archives White Glove Tea. For reservation information, call 662-846- 4780. RSVP by April 4. • April 11, 2006, The Bird People – Southern Circuit Film Series, Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex, Room 215, Millsaps College, Jackson, MS. A film examining the pleasures and problems of watching and naming birds, and investigates the social construction of nature, centered on ornithology and its amateur counterpart, bird watching. Filmmaker Michael Gitlin will be available to answer questions. • April 15, 2006, Meet Will!, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Gulfport, MS. An educational presentation about Shakespeare's plays and times. This event is a project of the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra. • April 19, 2006, Doing Business in China, Painter Hall, Room 209, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS. One of a series of discussions and films in the annual International Series at Mississippi University for Women. The 2005-2006 series focuses on China. • April 20, 2006, Shower, Columbus Arts Council, Fifth & Main, Columbus, MS. One of a series of discussions and films in the annual International Series at Mississippi University for Women. The 2005-2006 series focuses on China. This film begins at 6 p.m. It tells the touch story of a father whose oldest son leaves him. He remains in Beijing, only to discover the extreme relevance of the bathhouse and its integral role in the community. • April 22, 2006, A Less-Than-Genteel Social History of Early Mississippi, Itawamba Community College, Advanced Education Center, Tupelo, MS. A lecture by James Wiggins examining the aspects of everyday life in early Mississippi that tend to be left out of the tourist brochures and made- for-TV movies. • April 26, 2006, St. Andrew’s Writers’ Workshop, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Ridgeland, MS. A workshop to expose Mississippi high school students to a variety of writers whose background is in the humanities. 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. • April 27, 2006, The Double Decker Storyfest, Oxford, MS. Storytellers Kathryn Tucker Windham and Wanda Johnson will perform. Planned events, in addition to storytelling, include musical performances, an art show, a food court, a spring run and a children's fair.
For contact information and further details about Mississippi Humanities Council-sponsored events, please visit our Events Calendar at www.mshumanities.org.
Disclaimer The MHC is supported by Congress through the NEH and by the generosity of individual donors. The MHC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily represent those of the NEH.
Unsubscribe You are receiving this email from the Mississippi Humanities Council because you have shared your email address with us at some time in the past. If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please reply with the word “REMOVE” in the subject line.
Mississippi Humanities Council | 3825 Ridgewood Rd., Rm. 311 | Jackson, MS | 39211