On October 4, 2023, Katie Blount and Miranda Vaughn presented “MDAH Projects and Archives Month Updates” as part of the History Is Lunch series.
The Mississippi Legislature appropriated $10 million for the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and Historic Jefferson College. At the Grand Village, the visitor’s center will be renovated and expanded and new exhibits installed. The historic buildings at Jefferson College will be restored and a new museum with modern interpretation developed.
“Historic Jefferson College is the birthplace of the state, and we envision it as a gateway for visitors traveling to Natchez, sharing the powerful stories of westward expansion and the rise and fall of the cotton kingdom built on slavery,” said MDAH director Katie Blount. “As our conservation work at Windsor Ruins nears completion, we are gearing up for our newest project, the development of a Civil War interpretive center in Vicksburg in partnership with the Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park and the National Park Service.”
October is American Archives Month, which is designed to promote public awareness of and engagement with archives.
“Mississippi has many strong archival repositories,” said Miranda Vaughn, an MDAH archivist and vice president of the Society of Mississippi Archivists. “The resources held in them make possible such award-winning programs as the Lantern Project, Tales from the Crypt, and our genealogy workshops at the state archives.”
Katie Blount has served as director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History since 2015. She began work at MDAH in 1994 and served as deputy director for communication before becoming director. Blount earned her BA in English and history from the University of Michigan and her MA in southern studies from the University of Mississippi.
Miranda Vaughn is an archivist in the graphic records section of MDAH. She earned her BA in history from Mississippi University for Women and her MLIS from the University of Southern Mississippi. Vaughn is the Mississippi representative and programming committee chair for the Southeastern Archives Association.
History Is Lunch is sponsored by the John and Lucy Shackelford Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi. The weekly lecture series of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History explores different aspects of the state's past. The hour-long programs are held in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum building at 222 North Street in Jackson and livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
