Natchez National Historical Park Historian Jeff Mansell greatly deserves the recognition he earned recently for his yeoman job of effectively herding cats into what became a beautiful performance.

The National Park Service recently honored Mansell as the 2017 Southeast Region Park Employee of the Year.

He earned the honor primarily for his work creating a spectacular historical document of sorts to help celebrate the City of Natchez’s 300 years of existence.

Mansell spearheaded the effort to create the Natchez History Minute, which delivered a short video that was published each day of the year during the calendar year 2016.

He coordinated NPS summer interns and more than 350 volunteers who read scripts for the videos.

That effort had to be the equivalent of herding dozens of cats.

But in the end, his hard work and passion for the project paid off in one of the most lasting pieces of Natchez’s Tricentennial celebration.

The Natchez History Minute series was a hit and it helped educate thousands of locals and visitors on some of our community’s most interested bits of 300 years of history.

None of that would have been possible without Mansell’s efforts and for that, Natchez will forever be thankful.