From digitizing to community archiving: Preservation initiatives take root at HCLS.
Local history projects are in the works at your library—and we are excited to share some great news about a recent grant-funded opportunity that allowed us to digitize the run of 1990s community magazine, the Mississippi Star.
As a member of the Internet Archive’s Community Webs program, HCLS was able to make digital copies of part of our Mississippi Special Collection available to the public in March 2025. To enhance this collection, we also recorded an oral history interview with the creator of Mississippi Star. You can find this collection online at archive.org.
Collections & Digital Services Librarian Ash Parker and Maurice Singleton after recording an oral history interview about the Mississippi Star magazine.
We celebrated this new digital collection by kicking of a new program series: Hancock Community Archive. This series is scheduled every other month and provides spotlights on our new and growing collections, opportunities to donate materials, and a space to share stories about our vibrant community. HCLS programs are free and open to the public.
You can read more about the Mississippi Star project in this guest post from Ash Parker on the Internet Archive’s blog, “Local Voices, Lasting Impact: Digitizing a Community Magazine in Hancock County, Mississippi.”
Maurice Singleton kicks off new Hancock Community Archive speaker series by recounting his experience founding, editing, and now digitizing Mississippi Star.
Upcoming archiving events can be found here.
