MS Free Press: “Mississippi’s history board should remain free from political interference, historians from across the state are telling House lawmakers, asking them to oppose Senate Bill 2727.
The bill, which Mississippi senators passed on a partisan 34-14 vote earlier this month with only Republican support, would grant the governor and lieutenant governor control over appointments to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s nine-member board of trustees. Currently, board members nominate new additions, and the Senate approves their picks.
“Senate Bill 2727 would strip this nominating power from the Board and transfer it to the Executive Branch of the State of Mississippi. The Society of Mississippi Archivists condemns this action in the strongest possible terms and urges members of the Mississippi House of Representatives to vote ‘no’ on this action,” the Society of Mississippi Archivists said in a Feb. 18 statement.
Telling History ‘Without Concern for Political Fallout’
The organization, led by historians from across the state, harshly criticized the legislation, noting that, though the state founded the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 1902 “to protect the ‘Southern identity’ and preserve the records of the Civil War,” it is now a revered institution that preserves history without political or partisan influence.
“Working together despite their own political differences, the Board successfully raised resources and support for a new Archives and History Building in 2003, followed by the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History in 2017, allowing Mississippi to not only be a destination for researchers, but also offering a place where difficult, controversial stories can be told by trained historians and archivists in a truthful way without concern for political fallout,” the Society of Mississippi Archivists said.”