Z 2091.000 Rowland (Dunbar) Papers

Z 2091.000
ROWLAND (DUNBAR) PAPERS

Dunbar Rowland was born in Oakland, Yalobusha County, Mississippi, on August 25, 1864. He was the son of Dr. William Brewer Rowland of Virginia and Mary Judith (Bryan) Rowland of Tennessee. After attending private schools in Memphis, Tennessee, and at Oakland Academy, Rowland graduated with honors from Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Mississippi State University), receiving a bachelor of science degree in 1886. He graduated with honors from the University of Mississippi, receiving a bachelor of laws degree in 1888. After first practicing law in Memphis and later in Coffeeville, Yalobusha County, Mississippi, Rowland became the first director of the newly organized Mississippi Department of Archives and History on March 15, 1902, a position he held until the end of his life. The University of Mississippi awarded Rowland an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1906.

On December 29, 1906, Dunbar Rowland married his cousin, Eron Opha (Moore) Gregory (1861-1951), daughter of Major Benjamin B. Moore and Ruth (Rowland) Moore. Rowland attended the International Congress of Archivists at Brussels, Belgium, in 1910 as a delegate from the American Historical Association. While abroad, he studied archival repositories in several European countries including Belgium, England, Germany, and the Netherlands.

During his tenure at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Dunbar Rowland founded the Mississippi Hall of Fame and the state history museum. He also authored a congressional bill that opened for research the Confederate archives at the War Department in Washington, D.C. A prolific author, Rowland authored or edited numerous works, including the Mississippi Official and Statistical Register for the years 1904, 1908, 1912, 1917, 1920, and 1924; The Mississippi Territorial Archives, 1798-1803 (1906); Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (1907); Mississippi Provincial Archives, English Dominion (1911); ten volumes of Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers, and Speeches (1923); History of Mississippi: The Heart of the South (1925); Mississippi Provincial Archives: French Dominion (1927); and Courts, Judges, and Lawyers of Mississippi, 1798-1935 (1935).

Dunbar Rowland was a member of numerous organizations, including the American Historical Association, and he was president of the Mississippi Historical Society. Rowland persistently lobbied for the creation of the National Archives. He was also chairman of the committee that renovated St. Andrews Episcopal Church and of the committee that renovated Battle Hill, the home of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi. Dunbar Rowland died on November 1, 1937.

This collection consists of three certificates presented to Dunbar Rowland and printed materials concerning the 1903 centennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase in New Orleans.

The first certificate, dated October 24, 1912, acknowledges Rowlands contributions to the 1912 campaign of President Woodrow Wilson and Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall. The second certificate, dated December 31, 1923, credits Rowland with being a "founder subscriber" of The American Mercury. The last certificate, dated 1937, is written in Polish and translated into English, and it acknowledges his contribution to the national memorial mound in Cracow, Poland, honoring General Jozef Pilsudski.

The printed materials consist of a large invitation from the governor of Louisiana to the president of the Mississippi Historical Society, inviting him to attend the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, held in New Orleans from December 18-20, 1903. The other printed item is a colored program listing all of the events of that three-day celebration. The program was once three pages long, but the pages are now separated from one another.

1. Certificates. 1912; 1923; 1937. 1 folder.
2. Printed Materials. 1903. 1 folder.