In 1998, the Mississippi State Legislature authorized MDAH to begin planning construction of a new Museum of Mississippi History. Subsequently, a coalition of Mississippi architects – Eley Guild Hardy; Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons; and Dale Partners – was selected to design the building in association with The Freelon Group (Perkins&Will) of Durham, NC.[5][6] Because of unforeseen state funding priorities created by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and subsequent budget shortfalls, appropriations for museum construction were delayed.[6]
In 2011, Governor Haley Barbour and the Mississippi Legislature approved $38 million in bond funding to begin construction of the two museums.[7] The legislative bill specified that the museums were to be operational by 2017 to coincide with the bicentennial year when Mississippi was admitted to statehood.[7] An additional $16.6 million bond authorization for the museums was approved by Governor Phil Bryant in 2016.[8][9]
In total, the Mississippi State Legislature appropriated $90 million for construction of the two museums. An additional $19 million for exhibits and endowments was provided through private donations, such as the Foundation for Mississippi History.[1][2][10] Construction began in December 2013 by Thrash Commercial Contractors from Brandon, MS.[2] The museums opened December 9, 2017.
The two museums share an auditorium, classrooms, storage areas, and a workshop for preparation of exhibits. The museums cover an area of 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2).[1]
The Museum of Mississippi History examines 15,000 years of state history through exhibits, educational programs, and historical artifacts. As of 2022, there were 8 galleries based on historic timelines:[11]
The First People (13,000 BC – AD 1518) – Native Americans in Mississippi
Cultural Crossroads (1519 – 1798) – Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans
Joining the United States (1799 – 1832) – Territory, Statehood, and Treaties
Cotton Kingdom (1833 – 1865) – Cotton, Enslavement, and the American Civil War
The World Remade (1866 – 1902) – Freedom, Reconstruction, and Regression
Promise and Peril (1903 – 1927) – Progressivism, Repression, and World War I
Bridging Hardship (1928 – 1945) – Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II
Media related to Museum of Mississippi History at Wikimedia Commons
