The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has served our state for over 100 years.

The
Department was established by members of the Mississippi Historical Society, a cohort of
academics who collect and publish articles and books on Mississippi history for a broad
audience of teachers, students, and general readers. Recognizing the need for a state agency to
preserve Civil War documents and artifacts for posterity, the Society helped create the
Department in 1902.

The Historical Society’s board of directors became the first 9-member board of trustees for the
Department. Currently, Board service is subject to Senate approval, the Department as a whole
is subject to the legislature’s appropriation process, and meetings of the Board are open to the
public. The Department’s operations are open, accountable, and effective.

As scholars and teachers of history at Mississippi’s colleges and universities, we have benefitted
from the considerable resources of the Department of Archives and History. Whether
conducting research in its vast archives, examining its artifacts spanning 13,000 years of
Mississippi history, or participating in one of the Department’s many public events, we have
directly experienced the incredible asset of a competent and well-run state history department.

We have also been pleased to watch as the Department has grown into one of the most
respected agencies of its kind in the United States. The Department’s treatment of Mississippi
history through the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History has
rightfully garnered nationwide praise and acknowledgement. The Two Mississippi Museums
have quickly become one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Mississippi since their
opening in December 2017.

Last year, the Department also modeled for the world how to navigate historic moments in a
way that embraces the future while respecting the past. The Department showed integrity,
dignity, and transparency throughout its role hosting the Commission to Redesign the
Mississippi State Flag, providing administrative and digital support for the Commission, and
retiring the former flag. As a direct result of the Department’s leadership, the process was
dignified and helped bring Mississippians together like few events in the state’s long history.

We greatly appreciate your past support of the Department of Archives and History. You were
instrumental in facilitating the creation of the Two Mississippi Museums. You trusted the
Department to choreograph the changing of Mississippi’s flag, one of the most sensitive
political moments in each of your public careers. Your trust in the Department and its Board of
Trustees has been noticed and appreciated, and has been rewarded by the Department’s able
guiding of these historic moments.

As you reach the end of this legislative session, we are asking that you not interfere with the
independence of an entity that has done so much good work for our state. To improve this
invaluable Department, what is needed is an increase in funding. Please do not politicize its
Board of Trustees.
Signed,

Stuart Rockoff, Ph.D., Executive Director, Mississippi Humanities Council

Alan Marcus, Ph.D., Chair, Department of History, Mississippi State University

Anne Marshall, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Mississippi State University

James Giesen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Mississippi State University

Noell Wilson, Ph.D., Chair, Department of History, University of Mississippi

Ted Ownby, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Charles Ross, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Theresa Levitt, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Douglas Sullivan-Gonzalez, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Charles Reagan Wilson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Mississippi

Vivian Ibrahim, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Shennette Garrett-Scott, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Susan Gaunt Stearns, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Joshua First, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Jeffrey Watt, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Jarod Roll, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Oliver Dinius, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Anne Twitty, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Mikaela Morgan Adams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Kathryn McKee, Ph.D., Director of Center for the Study of Culture, University of Mississippi

W. Ralph Eubanks, Visiting Professor of Southern Studies, University of Mississippi

Robbie Ethridge, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Marc Lerner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

April Holm, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Susannah Ural, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Westley Follett, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Max Grivno, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Rebecca Tuuri, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Brian LaPierre, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Jennifer Brannock, Curator of Rare Books and Mississippiana, University of Southern Mississippi

Robert Luckett, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Jackson State University

Mark Bernhardt, Ph.D., Professor of History, Jackson State University

Janice Brockley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Jackson State University

C. Sade Turnipseed, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History, Jackson State University

Charles Westmoreland, Ph.D., Chair, Dept. of Social Sciences and History, Delta State University

Andrew Wegmann, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History, Delta State University

Rolando Herts, Ph.D., Director of the Delta Center, Delta State University

Kathryn Green, Ph.D., Professor of History, Mississippi Valley State University

Erin Kempker, Ph.D., Chair, Department of History, Mississippi University for Women

Christian Pinnen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Mississippi College

Otis Pickett, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Mississippi College

David C. Davis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Millsaps College

Amy W. Forbes, Ph.D., Professor of History, Millsaps College

Robert S. McElvaine, Ph.D., Professor of History, Millsaps College

Stephanie Rolph, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Millsaps College

William Storey, Ph.D., Professor of History, Millsaps College

The Society of Mississippi Archivists

Universities listed are for identification purposes only and do not indicate institutional endorsement.