AU 702TR58Speakers: Jenkins, Rev. John Stone; McLemore, Richard Aubrey;

Sullivan, Charles, L.; Winter, William

Title: Archives and History Building GroundbreakingCeremonies, December 3, 1969

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TR58

Archives and History Building

Groundbreaking Ceremonies

December 3, 1969

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· .. Jenkins who is rector of the St. Andrews Cathedral to ask the invocation. Rev. Jenkins.

REV. JENKINS

Let us pray. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who has taught us that in remembering the

past, we shall find strength for the present, and in close study and meditation upon the events of

our history we shall perceive thy mighty hand in the events and moments of our times. Grant that

this building, now to be constructed on this site, may fill the people of this state by increasing our

knowledge of the past so that we shall become more sensitive to the present and of greater

courage for the future. Do thou, 0 Lord, now bless the staff of this institution for their dedication

and perseverance, the governor and legislature of this state for their wisdom and benefactions,

and finally the craftsmen who will use their labors and talent to the building of an edifice fitting

for this cause. This we ask in thy name. AMEN.

DR. MCLEMORE

This is a significant occasion in the history of Mississippi. We are delighted so many friends

have come to celebrate the breaking or the beginning of the construction of the new building with

us.

We are particularly pleased that so many of Mississippi's le~ders are here today. On my left is

Governor Paul Johnson who was instrumental in the passage of the bond bill that made the

construction of this building possible. We are delighted that he could come this morning, "\ d AHGovernor Johnson, would you stand and be recognized? [APPLAUSE] And, Governor

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Coleman, whose interest in history is well known to all of you, he was instrumental in securing

the appropriation that led to the renovation of the Old Capitol Museum, and during his

administration that building was dedicated. He is now a member of the Board of Trustees of the

Department of Archives and History, and he is chairman of the building committee for the

construction of the Archives and History Building. Governor Coleman, of course, is now a

member of the bench of the Fifth Circuit Court. Judge, would you stand? [APPLAUSE] And,

Governor Ross Barnett who has had an interest in the history of this state from college days, why

I am well acquainted with this fact, and who graciously agreed to be present this morning as a

token of his interest and support of this project. Governor Barnett. [APPLAUSE] And on my

right is Mr. Heber Ladner, Chairman of the Capitol Commission, who tried to make this as

attractive and comfortable a spot for these exercises as possible and who has cared for the state

buildings so well. Mr. Ladner. [APPLAUSE] You have already met Rev. Jenkins. Mr. John

Junkin, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who has supported the Department of

Archives and History in all projects by contributing to the welfare of all Mississippians. Mr.

Junkin, will you stand? [APPLAUSE]

And then the queen of the Department of Archives and History, the lady under whose

administration the project was begun, and I hope she will live long enough to see it completed,

furnishing always the sparkle that goes with these nice bits of interest that all of us enjoy and

appreciate. I am not going to let her respond, but I do want her to stand for you to see.

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I wish I could call each of you by name and tell you how much we appreciate your coming. I

must say that we are indebted to the members of the legislature who have gathered here, to the

members of the Board of Trustees of the Department of Archives and History, to the members of

the Capitol Commission, and, especially, to the members of the State Building Commission. We

are grateful that you have honored us and the people of Mississippi by coming to this ceremony.

Governor John Bell Williams had expected to be here, but he was requested by President Nixon

to attend a very important meeting in Washington, and so he has sent his regrets.

I, also, have a telegram from Representative Montgomery expressing his regret of his inability to

attend the exercise. And a message from Senator Stennis of the same tenor.

I wish that each one of you would recognize this as a historic occasion, one in which you have a

very special part and interest. I am going to say that the 3rd is an important date in the life of

Mississippi. We have already set June 3, 1971, as the time for the dedication of the Archives and

History Building. For those of you who are not history minded, this is the date that the Old

Capitol Museum was dedicated. It is also the date that the New Capitol was dedicated, and it is

the birthday of Mississippi's foremost son, Jefferson Davis. So, we expect you here again on

June 3, 1971, for the dedication exercises.

For the presentation of the building to the people of Mississippi, we have a distinguished leader,

Lieutenant Governor Charles L. Sullivan. Governor Sullivan has manifested on many occasions

his interest in preserving the past for the benefit of the future. He knows full well that on tlieJl 0 A HNOTICE

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basis of the achievements that have gone before, we make progress tomorrow. And so, he has

given his support to this project, as to other projects for the benefit of Mississippians. And we

are very happy that he has come this morning to say a few words to us. Governor Sullivan.

[APPLAUSE]

GOVERNOR SULLIVAN

Thank you very much. Distinguished guests here at the platform, or at the lectern, ladies and

gentlemen in the audience, I am not certain that any of you will be able to hear me. I consider it a

real privilege to be able to participate in this very memorable event this morning. I consider it

particularly a privilege in view of the fact that it is my privilege to speak to you for a few minutes

with men who played such significant roles in the history of the state of Mississippi in recent

times. If I may do so, I would like to take just a minute to give you the background of this

particular occasion and recite to you, if I may, the events which led us to this particularly

significant day. This history has been compiled for me so that I may share it with you.

As many of you may know, the Department of Archives and History, which is, of course,

Mississippi's historical agency, has outgrown its quarters in the War Memorial Building and has

been authorized by the legislature to proceed with a building of its own, specifically designed to

meets its needs. Its collections includes territorial and state papers, private manuscripts, books,

periodicals, photographs, maps, and newspapers all related to the state of Mississippi.

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The Department also directs the program ofthe Old Capitol Museum which is, in fact, one of its

Divisions. During the 1967-69 biennium which ended June 30th, 1969, this Department handled

10,335 written requests for information about our state and it assisted 10,335 researchers in the

Department. Staff members guided 132,287 visitors through this magnificent museum behind

you. The preservation of Mississippi's history and the dissemination of information about this

state have been the chief concerns of the Department since it establishment as the second

department of archives and history in the entire United States in 1902.

Originally housed here in the Old Capitol, it then moved to the New Capitol in 1903. The

Department then, as could have been expected, outgrew its quarters in the New Capitol and was

moved to the War Memorial Building in 1940. Its collections, again, as could have been

expected, soon overflowed its quarters in this building, and, efforts were actually begun in 1963

to gain legislative support for an archives and history building. The legislature in the

administration of Governor Johnson made an appropriation of $1,125,000 for this purpose. The

legislature of 1968 supplemented this appropriation with $170,000 addition to the budget, which

was specifically designated for central power plant.

On November the 6th, again a significant occasion, the bids were opened by your State Building

Commission, and contract was awarded to Mid-State Construction Company for a base bid, plus.

alternates of $1,108,925. The balance of the money will go, of course, for the equipment for the

building and for the architects' fees.

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Dr. R. M. McLemore, whom all of you know is director of the Department. There have only

been four. Dr. Dunbar Rowland was the first director, serving from 1902 when the Department

was established unti11937. He was succeeded by Dr. William D. McCain who served from 1938

until 1955. Charlotte Capers, who has contributed so much to this state through this particular

Department, who is known and loved by all of us, had been assistant director and acting director

during Dr. McCain's war service, became director in 1955 and served until her resignation in

June ofthis year. Dr. McLemore was then elected as the fourth director by the Board of

Trustees.

Ladies and gentlemen, our society is experiencing in its contemporary era one of the most

dramatically changing societies that this country has ever witnessed. As a matter of fact, it may

almost be revolutionary. At the present day, we are concerned primarily, it seems at the national

level, with the abandonment of the traditions of the past, with the forgetfulness of the principles

which made a nation great, with the philosophy that those ideas, those moves, those beliefs, and

those traditions which did, in fact, make this nation great, no longer have any meaning in the late

days of the decade of the sixties and shall have no meaning at all in the approaching decade of

the seventies. But on the contrary, forgetting all that has been done before, America shall forge a

new revolutionary society and perhaps government not bound by the morality of the past,

forgetting the godliness which made a nation great, forgetting the ideas which set America apart

.from other civilizations that ever existed. And it's in this environment that to us Mississippians,

our traditions, our pasts, our history, our mores, our life in the past in this state become

particularly significant. I am not concerned with living in the past --blind loyalties to the ways of

my father would destroy my state--but I am absolutely convinced that it is only through a

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foreknowledge of a history of a great state can its future be assured. It is entirely possible that the

state of Mississippi, which has not ---------- yet of the revolution of which I spoke a moment ago,

may come some day to be a focal point when the great question is asked, "What made the nation

great?" --or the lessons of history of the days gone by, it could be found here in this state, a great

contribution.

It is my privilege today, ladies and gentlemen, to participate with all of the distinguished guests,

and with all of you Mississippians concerned not just about the preservation of the past, but the

maintenance of today and the greatness of tomorrow, to share this occasion with you to dedicate

this new building, and, speaking on behalf of the governor who could not be, and on behalf of all

the people of this state, I consider this a most significant occasion, and I am confident that it will

contribute greatly to the destiny of this state for decades yet to come. Thank you very much.

[APPLAUSE]

DR. MCLEMORE

Thank you, Governor Sullivan. The response will be made by the Honorable William Winter,

president of the Board of Trustees of the Department of Archives and History and a distinguished

Mississippian. Mr. Winter. [APPLAUSE]

MR. WINTER

Mr. Chairman, Governor Sullivan, distinguished public officials, ladies and gentlemen: I was

stopped by a friend of mine on the street a few days ago and said "What in the world does the

state of Mississippi need with another archives building? I thought we had one." Well, this :'\ ~DA HNOTICE

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obviously demonstrated this gentleman's inadequate understanding of the inadequency of the

present building. That building, as many of you know, was never built as an archives building. It

was built as an office building, as a memorial. It was never designed nor has ever really

functioned as a place to deposit and preserve the archives of the state of Mississippi.

I want to take this opportunity of calling to your attention here just what we have in the

Department of Archives and History in the form of the collections of papers and documents,

letters and records of over two hundred years of history in this state. I think it can be said here

without fear of exaggeration that we have in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History

one of the finest collections of state, local, and regional history to be found anywhere in this

country. Scholars, writers, historians, students come from all over the world to do research in

our archives. Students of the Civil War find here one of the richest collection of records that can

be found anywhere. Biographers of Jefferson Davis are found in this archives papers by the

thousands that have rendered a better understanding of that great Mississippian. We have in the

records of the archives of Mississippi, the official papers, or at least most of the official papers,

of all of the governors - territorial and state of Mississippi. We have the collections of

distinguished Mississippians like John Sharp Williams. We have the collections of

distinguished writers like Eudora Welty. May I say that the collection that she recently gave to

the Department has been conservatively valued at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. These

.records are irreplaceable. There's no way to put a dollar value on them, but I think that we could

say that if they were put upon the collectors' market, they would bring many millions of dollars.

These are records, though, that should not be valued, should not be treasured in material terms.

As Governor Sullivan has so eloquently said, they represent our tie with the past. They tell 0 A HNOTIce

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who we are and where we came from. And if there is an important lesson that must be handed

down to succeeding generations, it is that one of knowing who they are, what their forebearers

are, and what they did. This is the measure, I think, by which we are worthy to hand on down to

them the torch of civilization. Civilization hangs by a rather thin thread sometimes, and I like to

think that in this building that will be built on this spot we will strengthen that thread.

And, so, on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Department of Archives and History and of the

people of this state, Governor Sullivan, I am privileged to accept this building and with it I

pledge to you that, as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Department of Archives and

History and for the Department of Archives and History, we shall carry on the work, the duty of

preserving the past, the records of the past, in order that we may have here in Jackson,

Mississippi, a collection of archives that will stand for centuries yet to come as a record of what

we have done and what we have stood for, and what we have believed in. Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

DR. MCLEMORE

Thank you, Mr. Winter. And now for the groundbreaking, I would like to request that these

people in front here move over to the right and take their shovels and prepare to go to work.

.And I would like to invite to join them, Mr. Yarbrough; the State Building Commission--

Representative Cossar, Representative Harlan, Senator Douglas, Senator Pittman, Senator Perry;

from the Capitol Commission--Senator Campbell, Representative Thigpen; from the architectural

staff, Mr. Bill Atkinson; from the contractors, who do most of the work, Mr. Ware and Mr. ,~ DAHNOTIer

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Weems; and the trustees of the Department of Archives and History, Mr. Everett, Mr. Morris,

and Mr. Watkins. And I believe that gets the group. Voice - Senator Crook. Dr. McLemore--

Oh, I'm sorry. I beg your pardon. Did I miss anybody else? All right. If! missed anybody, it's

because somebody didn't give me the right See, I've got to get rid of this responsibility,

this is a good political move, I believe. But, at any rate, will you people now come over here and

hold these shovels so that we can get this project under way.

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