University of Mississippi History

Subject guides compile all or most archival collections related to a specific topic.

• Yearbooks.  All editions of the UM yearbook Ole Miss from the first one in 1897 to 2013 as well as an 1861 Classbook.
• Frederick Robert Bernard Collection.  Includes correspondence by Bernard while a student at UM in 1873.
• Black Power at Ole Miss.  Material from a 2020 commemoration of the arrest of 90 African American UM students in 1970 following a peaceful protest in Fulton Chapel.  Includes oral histories, photographs, documentary, staged reading, and a bibliography of press coverage.
• Edward C. Boynton Collection.  Includes glass plate negatives of UM campus and people dating from 1856 to 1861.
• Chancellor Inaugurations at the University of Mississippi.  Selected archival documents related to the history of 20th and 21st century inaugural events for the university's chief executive officer.
• Civil War Archive.  Includes material from the Richard C. Bridges Collection (A student at UM in 1861, Richard C. Bridges became a Confederate soldier in the 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, Company A known as the University Greys) and the Gage Family Collection (includes the Civil War correspondence of Jeremiah Sanders Gage, a member of the University Greys and a student at UM).
• Civil Rights Archive.  Includes the papers of the John Crews Collection (material related to African American students at UM from 1970 to 1973, including papers of the Faculty Committee on Black Student Affairs which John Crews chaired).
• Cofield Collection.  Includes photographs of Oxford, Lafayette County, and university.
• James E. Edmonds Collection.  Includes correspondence by Edmonds as a UM student from 1896 to 1900.
• Elijah Fleming Tintype Collection.  Collection of 21 tintypes of UM faculty and students circa 1859.
• Gunter Photograph Collection.  Photographs of buildings and athletics on UM campus between 1910 and 1930.
• Integration of the University of Mississippi.  Correspondence, newspapers, newsletters, scrapbooks, and photographs documenting James H. Meredith's integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962 and the violent riot that erupted on the night of September 30th.
• Robert F. Kennedy Speech Collection.  Recording of speech by Robert F. Kennedy on UM campus in 1966.
• Ed Meek Collection.  Photographs and publications dating from 1962 to 1980s by Ed Meek who worked in UM public relations in various capacities for over thirty-seven years.
• James Meredith Collection.  Correspondence received by James Meredith in the fall of 1962 from those who supported and those who opposed his efforts to integrate the University of Mississippi.
• Mississippi Cities and Counties Postcards.  Postcard images of locales, including UM, dating from 1914 to 1980
• Sidna Brower Mitchell Collection.  Photographs and a scrapbook from the editor of the UM campus newspaper during the 1962 integration of the university.
• Open Doors Collection.  Oral histories recorded in 2002 to document the 40th anniversary of UM's integration in 1962 and the experiences of individuals present at the time.
• John E. Phay Collection.  Includes images of UM from the 1940s and 1950s; under “Narrow Your Search By” click on “School” and choose “University of Mississippi”)
• Presidential Debate Collection.  Photographs documenting campus activities on 26 September 2008 when UM hosted the first presidential debate between Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain, as well as recordings of debate-related programs on campus that semester and a documentary about the debate produced by the university's Media & Documentary Projects.
• Ann Rayburn Paper Americana Collection Postcards.  Vintage postcards, including images of UM campus.
• James W. Silver Collection.  Selection of items from the physical collection, including news clippings and pamphlets documenting the controversy over UM History Professor James Silver's support for ending segregation as well Silver's correspondence with others.
• University of Mississippi Board of Trustees.  Ledgers with the handwritten minutes of the UM Board of Trustees dating from 1845 to 1897.
• University of Mississippi Publications Collection.  Includes various publications created at UM including the 1849-1909 Historical Catalogue of the University of Mississippi, various sorority documents from 1959, and magazines from 1902 and 1907.
• Western Union Telegram Collection.  Telegrams sent to and from the Western Union telegram office in Oxford, Mississippi during August-October 1962 when James Meredith enrolled as the first African American at the University of Mississippi.

The collections of chancellors will contain material on a wide array of subjects.  Use the date ranges to determine the chancellor(s) applicable to your research.  These are physical collections; the links take you to finding aids for each collection.

These are physical items located either in Special Collections or in the main library stacks.  Links take you to their catalog records.