In January, hundreds of oral histories, manuscripts, book collections and historical archives of Black Mississippians collected by the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University will go into a temperature controlled storage during renovations of its campus home, Ayer Hall, which is also the oldest building on the campus.
The federal funds covering the cost of the move came through this fall, but for several months earlier this year, it was unclear whether that would happen.
In 2023, a severe storm damaged Ayer Hall’s HVAC system and a few floors where many of the center’s archives and cultural artifacts are stored. In November 2024, the Margaret Walker Center staff applied for a $317,039 federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to cover relocating the historic materials while Ayer Hall is renovated. IMLS is a small federal agency that supports museums, libraries and cultural institutions across the country…