Save the Place, Share the Story

On June 9th and 10th, the Mississippi Heritage Trust will host the Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference in Raymond. The conference will focus on the difficult stories our historic places sometimes have to tell and how to incorporate these stories into the community narrative so that important connections between history and place are not lost.

Raymond is the perfect location to explore the intersection of the past, present and future uses of Mississippi treasured historic places and discuss how to best share a building’s stories in a thoughtful, thorough and respectful way.

Ready to meet in person?  Come on to Raymond then!  If you are not yet ready to participate in an in-person gathering, there will be virtual option for conference sessions.

Registration:

Full Conference Registration: $95

Thursday Only Registration: $75

Virtual Attendance: $25

Wednesday, June 9
Pre-Conference Get-Together

5:00-5:30pm

Telling Our Stories Through Film 
Stratton Hall, Crooked Letter Picture Company
101 High Street, Natchez

Get into town early?  Join Stratton Hall for a behind-the-scene look at how movies get made down South.  After touring the headquarters of the Crooked Letter Picture Company, Stratton will share the highlights of a preservation-minded Natchez renaissance led by renown Mississippi filmmaker Tate Taylor.  

The tour will end at Natchez Brewing Company, 207 High Street, with Dutch-treat suds and snacks. 

9:00-10:00am

Breakfast and Registration

10:00-10:15am

Welcome
Mayor Dan Gibson, City of Natchez

10:15-11:10am

Telling the Full Story in Natchez - Part One
Kathleen McClain Bond, Superintendent
Natchez National Historical Park

Kathleen will share stories about efforts to tell the full story of Natchez history through an expanded interpretation at Melrose and the William Johnson House focused on the experience of enslaved people and efforts to purchase and interpret Forks in the Road, which was one of the largest slave market in the south.

11:10-11:55am

I Have A Story To Tell
Alison Fast and Chandler Griffin
Blue Magnolia Films

When Blue Magnolia Films crisscrossed Mississippi hosting dozens of photo-essay workshops as part of Mississippi’s Bicentennial Celebration, a common theme emerged-many of the people participating in these workshops told stories about how a historic building was central to their identity.  Alison and Chandler will discuss how preservation became a focal point in the Bicentennial Project and their work to help people find their voice when telling the sometimes difficult stories that tie people to place.

11:55am-12:00pm

A Love of What You Do
Photo Essay by Mary Jane Gaudet about Natchezian Duncan Morgan’s lifelong journey to become a master mason.

12:00-1:30pm

Lunch

Have lunch like the locals at your choice of:
Fat Mama’s Tamales, 303 South Canal Street
The Pig Out Inn, 116 South Canal Street
Pearl Street Pasta, 105 South Pearl Street

1:30-1:40pm

Update-10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi
Claire Winn, Director of Programs
Mississippi Heritage Trust

1:40-2:30pm

Storytelling in Historic Preservation
Mike Grote, Director of Building Programs
Alembic Community Development

When Alembic Community Development looks at whether or not to take on a historic rehabilitation project, their analysis includes potential net operating income, tax credit eligibility-and story.  Using projects like Myrtle Banks School, the Biloxi NAACP Building and McDonogh 19, Mike will discuss how the narrative of history should be a key component of any redevelopment plan.

2:30-3:00pm

Screening of Cailloux
Lauren Durr and Dane Moreton, Filmmakers

Following the redevelopment of St. Rose de Lima Church to become the home of Southern Rep Theatre, Waldorf School of New Orleans and shared workspace for non-profits, Alembic Community Development teamed up with filmmakers Lauren Durr and Dane Morten to create a film that tells the mesmerizing saga of abolitionist Reverend Claude Maistre, pastor at St. Rose during the Civil War, and the funeral of Captain Andre’ Cailloux. 

3:15-3:30pm

Break

3:30-3:40pm

Mississippi State University adds Historic Preservation
Dr. Beth Miller, Director of School of Interior Design
Mississippi State University

3:40-5:00pm

Telling a Fuller Story Through Saving Places
Moderator:  Dr. Stuart Rockoff, Director
Mississippi Humanities Council

Panelists:
Teresa Busby, Alcorn University 
Deborah Cosey, Concord Quarters
Dr. Felicia King, Indianola Freedom House

It is up to each of us to make sure that the important stories our historic places have to tell are remembered and passed down through the years.  These stories can show how family history intersects with nationally-significant events, how a complicated past can help shape the future of a university and how the love of historic architecture can lead to unplanned but fulfilling work to bring a building’s dark past to light.

5:00-6:00pm

Break
Temple B’Nai Israel Open House
213 South Commerce Street

The members of Temple B’Nai Israel invite you to stop by and learn about their efforts to restore the synagogue to meet a new community need.

6:00-7:30pm

Mississippi Heritage Trust Annual Membership Meeting
Magnolia Hall, 215 South Pearl Street

The conversation will be lively, the business light and the hors d’oeuvres delicious as we raise a glass to another year of saving and renewing places meaningful to Mississippians and their history during the 29th annual Mississippi Heritage Trust membership meeting.

Special guests author Jennifer Baughn and contributing author Mimi Miller will be on hand to sign your very own copy of Buildings of Mississippi, hot off the press this March.

8:30-9:30am

Breakfast at Elms Court
542 John R. Junkin Drive

Former MHT board member Anne W.S. MacNeil and her sister Beth Boggess will host us for breakfast and a tour of their beautifully restored antebellum home, Elms Court.  The tour will include the grounds and outbuildings. 

9:45-10:15am

That’s Right, Preservation Makes You Healthier
Madeline England, Community Health Director
Mississippi Department of Health, Southwest Division

As part of the Adams County Civil Rights Project, Madeline is helping to connect the dots between how saving the places where history happened can lead to better health outcomes for communities.

10:15-11:30am

Telling the Full Story in Natchez-Part Two
Natchez Outbuilding Survey

Carter Burns, Executive Director with Historic Natchez Foundation, Dr. Brent Fortenberry, Director of Preservation Studies and Christovich Associate Professor of Historic Preservation with Tulane University School of Architecture and Jennifer Baugh, Chief Architectural Historian, James Bridgforth, National Register Coordinator/Architectural Historian and Meredith Massey, Certified Local Government Coordinator with the Historic Preservation Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, will discuss the comprehensive survey currently underway to documents Natchez’s extensive collection of historic outbuildings.

Following the presentation, the Natchez Outbuilding Survey team will lead a walking tour through downtown Natchez that will highlight buildings included in the survey.