Civil War study opportunities just increased

Mississippi State University, and in conjunction Northeast Mississippi, earned a spot on the national academic map following the dedication of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and Williams’ Collection of Lincolniana.

Visitors, along with university and elected officials, gathered for a ceremony on Nov. 30 to officially open the library at the university’s main campus in Starkville.

The library is on the fourth floor of MSU’s Mitchell Memorial Library and houses the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Museum, the Williams’ Collection and the Congressional and Political Research Center.

The Grant Library is a $10-million, 21,000-squarefoot expansion of Mitchell Memorial Library that includes an auditorium, research room, office spaces, a conference room, a processing room and a climate-controlled storage unit, as reported by the Daily Journal’s Emma Crawford Kent.

The Grant Museum is an interactive experience that presents the four eras of the 18th president’s life. The museum contains sculptures along with Grant’s personal letters and documents that visitors can interact with digitally.

The Grant Presidential Collection consists of some 15,000 linear feet of correspondence, research notes, artifacts, photographs, scrapbooks and memorabilia, as noted by information provided by MSU. There also are 4,000 published monographs on various aspects of Grant’s life and times. The collection housed at Mississippi State is the largest single collection of Grant’s papers and additional items in the world.

The museum also features artifacts such as Grant’s White House china and one of the library’s most prized pieces, the “Seven Mile Funeral Cortege of Gen. Grant,” a book of photographs from Grant’s funeral procession through New York City.

The Williams’ Collection, which was made possible by generous contributions from retired Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and President of the Ulysses S. Grant Association Frank Williams, contains rare historical memorabilia, artifacts, signed documents, ephemera and original and early mass-produced artwork related to Lincoln and the Civil War.

Overall, the Williams’ Collection contains more than 12,000 published volumes of historical writing on the Civil War and Lincoln.

It is considered the largest privately owned holding of Lincoln research and display material.

As Mississippi State officials noted during the ceremony, the library and collections finding a home in Mississippi is fitting.

“Our university offers a unique opportunity for the study of the Civil War not from a Northern perspective, not from a Southern perspective, but from a truly American perspective,” said MSU President Mark Keenum.

The opening of the Grant Library makes MSU one of six universities nationwide to house a presidential library.

That statistic alone should bring great pride to all those who have worked to make this project a reality, as well as all Northeast Mississippians who can add one more impressive feat to the long list of landmarks and accomplishments found throughout our region.

The library gives one of our region’s most valuable assets, Mississippi State University, a unique opportunity to pioneer research on the Civil War and two notable presidents.