Last week I received the new edition of the 2020-2024 Mississippi Statistical Register known as the “Blue Book.” This edition which is published every four years by the Secretary of State’s office is a volume that has an abundance of information on our state and is a direct reference. This edition is the first one published under current first term Secretary of State Michael Watson.
When I was in college, I would spend countless hours reading old volumes of these "Blue Books" in the library. They are a reference that includes sketches of elected officials in this state, lists of all institutions and their officials, state and county population and election statistics, along with a wealth of other related information for the four years they serve. They also can be used as a historical reference for years to come.
It is so interesting to look back through the decades and study the biography of a governor, the cast of county and municipal officeholders for a particular time, the population of counties and towns, and how they have all changed.
The past volumes when I look through them bring back memories of the old days when people here in Carroll County would gather for the county’s first primary election with a host of local officials would be on the ballot from county supervisor to sheriff.
On that first Tuesday in August people would gather to look at the board outside The Conservative office on Lexington Street in Carrollton to find out the election returns as the boxes came in from all over the county to the Carrollton courthouse.
The crowds would form all the way around the courthouse. Looking back in those historical blue books from years go by brings back those memories to many of those hot August nights when the leaders of county government was chosen.
Through those old statistical registers from years gone by would list, list the officials for that particular four-year term that they were elected to serve.
In the late 1990s, I began collecting these volumes. I would receive one every four years from the Secretary of State’s Office, but I began looking for the older volumes at used bookstores, estate sales or any place I could find one.
Currently, I have all but three. The Secretary of State’s office began publishing the "Blue Book" in the 1930's. Before then back over one hundred and ten years ago Mississippi’s first “Official and Statistical Register” was published by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
It is worth noting that in it was a picture of the New Capitol Building, which was completed the year before. Back in 1931, the “Blue Book” featured on its cover an airplane which was rarely seen by our citizens in those days and inside was a recommendation from then Secretary of State Walker Wood that the driveway to the capitol should be paved.
The new 2020-2024 edition features prominently on the cover has the new state flag draped from the lighthouse on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Biloxi.
Through the changing times of our state, these volumes are a Mississippi institution that tell the story of who we are and where we are at every four years through time.
That goes all the way from the municipal, county, and state level. It's a reference for a particular four years, and the as every four years the new edition is published the past edition becomes a historical document of the past as a reminder how far our state has come.
Ken Strachan serves as the mayor of North Carrollton and is a member of the Mississippi Municipal League board of directors.
