On-Line Collection of Vicksburg Old Images

atuttle32

Corporal
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Location
Charleston, SC
In looking up some info on someone's ancestor on the Mississippi State Archives, I found this wonderful gem of photos taken of the Vicksburg National Military Park; the pictures being taken between 1899 and 1923.

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/series/573/

Here is the description of the collection.
The Vicksburg National Military Park Photographs collection contains 328 items, mostly black-and-white photographs, which were maintained in the files of longtime park commissioner William T. Rigby. In addition to the photographs, the collection contains a small number of other items including postcards, drawings and conceptual sketches of monuments, a newspaper account of a 1917 reunion of members of the 45th Illinois Infantry Regiment, and a railroad dining car menu bearing an image of the park’s Massachusetts monument. The range of known dates is 1899 to 1923, however many of the items are not dated.

William T. Rigby fought in the Vicksburg campaign as a member of the 24th Iowa Infantry Regiment and in 1895 was elected secretary of the Vicksburg National Military Park Association. As secretary, Rigby spent four years traveling across the nation speaking to veterans’ groups, legislators, and members of Congress in an effort to generate support for legislation to establish a national military park. The legislation was passed by Congress and signed into law by President William McKinley on February 21, 1899. It created a three-member commission to oversee the development and management of the park and specified that all three members had to be veterans of the Vicksburg campaign, one Confederate and two Union. The original commissioners were Rigby, James Everest of Illinois, and General Stephen D. Lee of Mississippi. Rigby was the only member of the commission to move his residence to Vicksburg. He established a park office there and became fully engaged in the acquisition of land, construction of the tour road and bridges, and the securing and placement of monuments, memorials, and tablets. He continued to work to build and improve the park for thirty years until his death in 1929.

The materials in this collection depict and document the efforts of William T. Rigby and others in the establishment of the Vicksburg National Military Park. The photographs include images taken by several prominent Vicksburg photographers, including J.C. Coovert, Charles Long, and J. Mack Moore.
 
Thanks for the link. I love trying to take then and now pics so this will help me on my next Vicksburg trip.
 
Thanks for the link. I love trying to take then and now pics so this will help me on my next Vicksburg trip.

I would love to see them when you have everything put together. I'm planning on doing the same thing with photos of Charleston SC soon ... still selecting the "original" sites from the 1860's though.
 
Back
Top