Lauderdale County Department of Archives & History Inc.

02/09/2026

Funeral Services Announced for Donna Jill Johnson

Funeral services have been announced for Donna Jill Johnson, who passed away on Thursday, February 5, 2026. Donna Jill was elected Circuit Clerk in 1992 and was known as a dedicated public servant and a friend to many throughout the community.

Services for Donna Jill Johnson will be held on Monday, February 16, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. There will be no visitation. A private burial for the family will take place at a later date, yet to be determined.

In accordance with Donna Jill’s longtime wishes and the requests of her family, no flowers are requested. Those wishing to honor her memory are encouraged to make a donation to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Tunnels to Towers Foundation, a local Humane Shelter, or the charity of their choice. These causes were among her favorites, though there were many others close to her heart.

02/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HA2zCH6fZ/

Join us for the 2026 Mississippi Historical Society Annual Meeting on March 5-6, at the Riley Center and the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience in Meridian! Register at https://www.mississippihistory.org/form/annual-meeting.

11/10/2025

One of my favorite topics, The Endurance Flight made by Fred and Al Key in 1934! This was the lead up to the take off event.

Article from the June 16, 1934 "The Morning Sun"
Full edition of the June 16, 1934 thru December 24, 1934 edition can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/morning-sun-june-16-1934-to-december-24-1934

11/10/2025

Article on Mayor Dial from "The Meridian Herald: Industrial Edition" October 21, 1899

The entire edition can be viewed at our website.
Copy is scanned from Microfilm, the images are of the best quality we could create with what we had to work with.

http://www.lauderdalecountymsarchives.org/the-meridian-herald.html

11/06/2025

So I got intrigued on where the Ragsdale House would have been situated so I called upon Lawson Smith at the Meridian Public Library for some assistance since our City Directory books are still packed in boxes. He was awesome and was able to find these pages in the 1873 directort, and the 1882/1883 Directory. While he was digging through those, and going from informaiton provided from Mr. Baucum earlier this week, I was able to locate the r Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi. Created / Published Sanborn Map Company, Oct 1885

and Now know exactly where the Ragsdale House sat!
the #1 is the Courthouse, and the #2 is the Ragsdale House on the image below.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3984mm.g3984mm_g044931885/?sp=1&r=0.509,0.552,0.423,0.265,0

11/04/2025

News Advert from "The Meridian Gazette" March 16, 1867
First page of the Chapter on Augustus B. Wagner in "The People Of Rose Hill Cemetery: The Tour" publication #369.

"The Meridian Gazette" Scanned Microfilm due ot its size was loaded to the internet archive, instead of our website, but we will have a link from our website to that film. https://archive.org/details/meridian-gazette-3-13-to-5-15-1867

For Those wishing to purchase a copy of "The People of Rose Hill: The Tour" Please visit our website's Publication List Page for ordering information. http://www.lauderdalecountymsarchives.org/publication-list1.html

10/29/2025

We've updated our website!
We have added some of the scanned editions of "The Courier" A weekly newspaper based here in Meridian, Ms in the 1930s
We will also load these newspapers to the internet archive at https://archive.org/ to reach a broader audience.

http://www.lauderdalecountymsarchives.org/scanned-from-microfilm-the-courier.html

10/27/2025

From "The Courier" Small Weekly Newspaper March 17, 1938

10/23/2025

An Article I found most interesting, while working on the January 6, 1938 edition of "The Courier" Page 4.
This would have been before Key Field was designated as a Military installation area, but from what i've gathered and my limited knowledge, (Mr. Calhoun would have known much more than me, I'm more of a tech geek and OCD records manager/organizer than history buff) Congressman Collins I think, was helping to spear head having a military base placed in the area during this time period.

Admin - LJ