Two historic Adams County school sites are slated to benefit from an endowment for the Foundation for Mississippi History to help the state Department of Archives and History (MDAH) enlighten the public about the role of religion in the state’s history and culture.
The Lilly Endowment’s $2.5 million grant will enable MDAH to reach out to more people. “For example, MDAH will invest in capital improvements at Historic Jefferson College near Natchez and at the Huddleston Memorial Chapel at Natchez College, a historically Black college open from 1884 to 1989,” MDAH said in announcing the grant earlier this week.
Jefferson College, which shut down as a school in 1964, opened its doors in 1811 as the first college chartered in Mississippi. Now maintained by MDAH as an historic site, the Washington campus and buildings are temporarily closed as the state fulfills plans to develop historic exhibits and a school to train historic preservationists there.
Natchez College, located on North Union Street in Natchez, is owned by the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Mississippi. Its two main buildings fell into disrepair since the college closed in 1989, but the Baptist association has been pursuing restoration efforts with funds allocated in recent years by the Mississippi Legislature.
Lilly Endowment made the grant through its nationwide effort to help museums and other cultural institutions improve the public understanding of religion. MDAH’s two primary museums in Jackson will begin offering free group tours to faith-affiliated communities in Mississippi.
“We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for this major support,” said MDAH Director Katie Blount. “The foundation’s generosity will help more Mississippians experience these museums. Building an endowment to underwrite field trips for Mississippi students was paramount to our initial vision. With the recent passage of the five-year anniversary of the Two Museums, Lilly Endowment helps to build on that momentum and expand our educational outreach.”
The Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opened in 2017.
Lilly Endowment is an Indianapolis-based philanthropic foundation created by the Lilly family whose wealth comes from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co.
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