Shaifer House Dedication Photographs EA2007.001
The A. K. Shaifer House was built in the late 1820s in Port Gibson, Mississippi, by Abram Keller Shaifer Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Hannah Humphreys Shaifer (sister of Governor Benjamin Grubb Humphreys). It was the site of opening shots of the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1, 1863, and the house was used as a surgical hospital for wounded soldiers. A. K. Shaifer Jr. was away from home, in service to the Confederate army, at the time of the battle, but he returned to the house after his release from a prisoner-of-war camp and established friendships with Union veterans who had fought on his property. Shaifer hosted reunions at the house and sent potted flowers from the battlefield to Union soldiers' graves every Memorial Day from around 1900 until his death May 30, 1921.
The Shaifer family donated the house and grounds to the state in the late 1970s, and the property was transferred to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 1999. Restoration was undertaken in 2006, under the direction of architect Robert Parker Adams, as part of the TEA-21 Mississippi Civil War Trails Project. Historian Charles L. Sullivan of Perkinston, Mississippi, took these digital photographs of dedication ceremonies held at 10:30 a.m. November 20, 2007, at the A. K. Shaifer House, and donated them to MDAH in November 2009.
The A. K. Shaifer House was built in the late 1820s in Port Gibson, Mississippi, by Abram Keller Shaifer Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Hannah Humphreys Shaifer (sister of Governor Benjamin Grubb Humphreys). It was the site of opening shots of the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1, 1863, and the house was used as a surgical hospital for wounded soldiers. A. K. Shaifer Jr. was away from home, in service to the Confederate army, at the time of the battle, but he returned to the house after his release from a prisoner-of-war camp and established friendships with Union veterans who had fought on his property. Shaifer hosted reunions at the house and sent potted flowers from the battlefield to Union soldiers' graves every Memorial Day from around 1900 until his death May 30, 1921.
The Shaifer family donated the house and grounds to the state in the late 1970s, and the property was transferred to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 1999. Restoration was undertaken in 2006, under the direction of architect Robert Parker Adams, as part of the TEA-21 Mississippi Civil War Trails Project. Historian Charles L. Sullivan of Perkinston, Mississippi, took these digital photographs of dedication ceremonies held at 10:30 a.m. November 20, 2007, at the A. K. Shaifer House, and donated them to MDAH in November 2009.
Collection Description General & Tech Data Catalog Record
Image Arrangement and Numbering
The 97 photographs were arranged in alphanumeric/chronological order, as assigned by the digital camera. Charles L. Sullivan deleted some files before donating the group to MDAH, so some image numbers are missing. The "Browse Collection" option displays the scans of the photographs in their original order.
Technical Details
Digital Photographs: The Shaifer House Dedication Photographs were taken by Charles L. Sullivan November 20, 2007, using a digital camera. The original images are 2592 x 1944 pixel, 24-bit RGB JPEG files.
Conversion: The MDAH Electronic Archives staff converted the files to JPEG tile sets for Web access in November 2020.
Copyright
There are no known restrictions on use of images within the Shaifer House Dedication Photographs. MDAH asks that each image used in a presentation, display, or publication be accompanied by the following credit statement.
Credit: Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Publicity and Privacy Rights
MDAH alerts the user to the issue of publicity and privacy rights of subjects represented in these scans. Distinct from copyright, which concerns the owner of the intellectual content, publicity and/or privacy rights apply to individuals who did not sign a contract or release form giving the creator the legal right to use his/her likeness or personal information. Publicity and privacy rights also differ from copyright in that there are not exemptions for Fair Use or educational purposes. These rights are not regulated by federal law but by state statute and common law. When using images from this collection it is the patron's responsibility to determine whether privacy and publicity rights issues may exist and consider the mitigating factors.
Copy Availability
JPEGs of the images may be purchased from MDAH. The MDAH Public Order procedure and fee schedule apply. Consult the Photoreproduction and Digital Imaging policy or contact MDAH Reference Staff for order options as well as information on how to obtain and complete the necessary Public Order forms: 601-576-6876 or refdesk@mdah.ms.gov.