Series 2448: Mississippi Newspaper Project Records. 1976-1991.
Dept. of Archives and History (RG 31). Archives and Library.
As of 01/14/2009
Series 2448: Mississippi Newspaper Project Records. 1976-1991.
Dept. of Archives and History (RG 31). Archives and Library.
Files documenting the Mississippi Newspaper Project, a three-phase grant-funded effort to identify, locate, catalog and microfilm all newspapers ever published in the state of Mississippi. The files are divided into several main groups: General files (pertaining to all phases of the project), survey files, photographs and slides, and newspaper title files (which are further subdivided into in-state and out-of-state title files).
Phase I of the project is reflected in the Survey Files. Phase II of the project is reflected in the title files, which largely document the cataloging of the newspaper titles, both in-state and out-of-state. There are a few general files which relate to all three phases of the project, though there are very few Phase III files in this collection, as those are still actively used by Department of Archives and History personnel, who continue to microfilm the newspapers of the state. The series also contains photographs and slides documenting the project. Images include staff members at work, bound newspaper volumes and newspaper pages, and scenes of various locations in Mississippi visited by staff members during the final phase of the project, particularly county courthouses. There are thirty-five prints and three contact sheets (all in black & white) and forty-two color slides.
See also:
Government Records: Series 2291: Subject Files.
Series 2469: Conservation Committee Files [contains a copy of the Newspaper Project microfilming manual].
Series 1254: Director’s Correspondence – E. R. Hilliard [see boxes 4768 and 17163 for Newspaper Project folders].
Series 454: Newspaper Survey Files (RG 60).
Subject File:
Mississippi Newspaper Project.
Library (Archival Reading Room):
Mississippi Newspaper Project Newspaper Inventory Manual: Instructions for a Survey of Newspapers in Mississippi.
MDAH call #025.3432/M678m/1987.
| General files (all phases) | Box 27773 |
| Survey files (Phase I) | Box 27773 |
| Title files: Aberdeen – Byhalia | Box 27755 |
| Title files: Calhoun City – De Kalb | Box 27756 |
| Title files: Drew – Hattiesburg | Box 27757 |
| Title files: Hazlehurst – Lexington | Box 27759 |
| Title files: Jackson | Box 27758 |
| Title files: Liberty – Natchez (Daily Morning Courier) | Box 27760 |
| Title files: Natchez (Evening Gazette) – Panola | Box 27761 |
| Title files: Pascagoula – Southaven | Box 27762 |
| Title files: Starkville – Waynesboro | Box 27764 |
| Title files: Wesson – Yazoo City (Yazoo City Weekly Whig) | Box 27768 |
| Title files: Yazoo City (Yazoo City Whig thru Yazoo Whig-Extra) | Box 27769 |
| Out of State title files: Alabama – Louisiana | Box 27770 |
| Out of State title files: Louisiana – New York | Box 27771 |
| Out of State title files: New York – Ohio | Box 27772 |
| Photographs and slides | Box 19800 |
A grant for the Mississippi Newspaper Bibliographic Project was awarded to the Department in 1985 by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Phase I of the project had two goals – to identify all newspapers ever published in Mississippi and to locate still-extant copies. Phase II of the project consisted of gathering and cataloging the bibliographic data for all titles identified in Phase I. The third and final phase of the project (technically titled “The Mississippi Newspaper Microfilming Project”) was to microfilm all Mississippi newspapers. While many of these approximately 2, 100 titles were held by the Department of Archives and History and the various state universities, other titles were only located in historical societies, county courthouses or other sites scattered across the state.