Naturalist Fannye A. Cook was the museum director until she retired in 1958. Cook’s WPA-funded plant and animal survey work served as the basis for the museum’s collection.
1939: State Wildlife Museum opens in Jackson
1939: Greenville Garden Club leads effort to purchase Winterville Mounds site for Greenville
The mounds, originally numbering as many as 23, were occupied by a prehistoric Native American people between 800 and 1600 AD. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks operated Winterville as a state park from 1960 until 2000 when the park was given to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
August 29, 1939: Oil discovered in Mississippi
Oil well dedication ceremony
The state’s first commercial oil well was near Tinsley in Yazoo County, about 40 miles northwest of Jackson.
Link to the catalog