NATCHITOCHES – A retired archaeologist and alumnus of Northwestern State University has been named winner of the 2024 Historic Preservation Award, presented by the Natchez (Mississippi) Historical Society. Joseph “Smokye Joe” Frank, a Natchez historian, will be honored during the society’s annual dinner at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23 at the Natchez Grand Hotel. The Historic Preservation Award honors individuals or organizations who have made a significant contribution to historic preservation or the study of history within the Natchez area.
Frank graduated from NSU in 1970 with a degree in history and anthropology and earned a master’s in social studies with an emphasis on anthropology at NSU in 1975. But his work as an archaeologist in Natchez began in the early 1960s, when after graduating high school he began digging at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians. From then he worked and went to school and served with the Mississippi National Guard. After earning his undergraduate degree, he went to work for the Peabody Museum where, in cooperation with Harvard University, he assisted with a Lower Mississippi Valley Survey of the Natchez Bluffs.
Frank currently serves on the Natchez Preservation Commission and is a tour guide at Elms Court and Hope Farm. He previously served as an officer with the Natchez Historical Society. In 2004, the Mississippi Archaeological Society honored him as the winner of the Calvin J. Brown Award. He has also been honored with the L.B. Jones award by the Mississippi Archaeological Association for his years of contributions to Mississippi Archaeology.
In addition to his work in Mississippi, Frank served as an officer in the Southwest Louisiana Archaeological Society and in the newly formed Louisiana Archaeological Society. In 1980, he was selected to sit on the Louisiana National Register of Historic Places Review Committee. During the 1990s, Frank worked with the Natchez Trace Archaeologist of the National Park surveying the last nine miles of the uncompleted development of the Natchez Trace Parkway into Natchez.
Since his retirement from the State of Louisiana in 2001, Frank continues to do research on various projects. Between 2001 and 2010, he assisted an archaeologist on sites on Fort Rosalie and The Natchez Trace.
For more information on the society’s 2024 annual dinner and the presentation of Frank’s award, visit natchezhistoricalsociety.org or call 281-731-4433 or 601-492-3004.
