Skip to Main Content

Antebellum (Archives): Manuscript Collections

Manuscript Collections A-L

This list of Archives & Special Collections holdings briefly describes manuscript collections related to the antebellum period.  Most of the collections relate to Mississippi, although some have a broader geographical scope.  Click on the link to the collection finding aid for a more detailed description of the contents.

Account Books.  1852-1872.  Two account books detailing wage and other expenditures of an unnamed business (1 box).

Jennie and Lucia Adams Collection.  1845-1944.  Papers of Jennie and Lucia Adams who owned Cedar Mount Plantation in Coahoma County, Mississippi just outside of Clarksdale (13 boxes).

Samuel Agnew Diary Photocopies.  1851-1902.  Photocopies of a diary kept by Samuel Agnew, who moved to northeastern Mississippi in 1852 where he was a Associate Reformed Presbyterian minister, teacher, farmer, and prominent local citizen (23 boxes).

Aldrich Collection.  1840-1940.  Personal and business correspondence of the Aldrich and Treadwell families who settled in northeastern Mississippi around Lamar and Davis Mills (now Michigan City).  Includes slave lists and valuations (25 boxes).

Alumni Association Minutes Collection.  1853-1976.  Minutes from meetings of the University of Mississippi Alumni Association (1 box).

Andrew Brown & Son / R.F. Learned Lumber Company Collection.  1837-1974.  Correspondence, business records, accounts, photographs, and reports related to Andrew Brown (and Son) and its immediate successor company, R.F. Learned Lumber Company in Natchez, Mississippi.  Includes non-lumber records related to Natchez Ice Company, Natchez Department Store, and Learned Plantation (117 boxes and 611 ledgers).  Selected materials are available in the Civil War digital collection.  Patrons should provide notice at least two business days prior to prospective visits so that staff may transfer requested boxes from the Library Annex (an off-site facility) to the Special Collection Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.

Audubon Mississippi/Strawberry Plains Finley Collection.  1830-2008.  Correspondence, documents, photographs, and other material related to the lives of the Finley and Davis families of Marshall County, Mississippi and the Strawberry Plains plantation (29 boxes).  Selected materials are available in the Civil War digital collection.

Bank of Mississippi Collection 1825-1834.  Ledger and other materials related to the Bank of Mississippi (3 boxes).

Bank of Oxford Collection 1853-1898.  Ledgers and cash books documenting the operations of the Bank of Oxford in Mississippi, as well as a drug store account book (6 boxes).

F.A.P. Barnard Collection 1831-1889.  Letter, articles, and memorabilia related to Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, president of the University of Mississippi from 1856 to 1861 and later president of Columbia University (2 boxes).

Lionel Baxter Collection.  1851-1986.  Includes 1851 document signed by W.E. Jones and W.W. Loring on the Oregon Territory; an 1860 letter from Robert F. Crenshaw in Pontotoc, Mississippi; and an 1839 document signed by Albert Sydney Johnston as Secretary of War (9 boxes).

Dr. Frederick Robert Bernard Collection 1855-1892.  Papers of medical doctor Frederick Robert Bernard of Lake Providence, Louisiana (1 box).

Blanton-Smith Collection 1844-1988.  Correspondence of the Blanton and Smith families which originated in Virginia and Kentucky and settled near Greenville, Mississippi on several plantations (2 boxes & 2 binders).

Board of Trustee Reports and Minutes 1845-1991.  Minutes of the Board of Trustees of the University of Mississippi (15 boxes).

Boynton Collection 1856-1861.  Glass plate negatives of antebellum scenes at the University of Mississippi campus as well as family portraits and self-portraits of the photographer Edward C. Boynton (3 boxes). The collection has been digitized and is available in the University Archives Photographs digital collection.

Juanita Brown Collection 1829-1948.  Includes antebellum correspondence and business documents of a Tennessee and Mississippi family (7 boxes).

Roane Fleming Byrnes Collection 1854-1937.  Papers of a Natchez, Mississippi family which includes a copy of an invitation to Andrew Jackson's 1840 Inaugural Ball and the 1854 receipt for the jail fees of a runaway slave (46 boxes).

Eugene Craven Callaway Collection.  1824-2005.  Family letters and documents principally belonging to the family of Rev. James Render Callaway, a Methodist minister and significant landowner who settled in Pontotoc and Lafayette counties of Mississippi in the 1830s (2 boxes).

Chilton Collection 1837-1882.  Legal documents, primarily deeds and tax records, for the Chilton family of Mississippi and Texas (1 box).

Clark Family Collection 1832-1868.  Includes antebellum business papers of T.G. Clark of Sarepta, Mississippi (2 boxes).

Coit Collection.  1856-1939.  Includes an 1856 document regarding business transactions (1 box).

C.E. Colbert Collection.  1826-1953.  Miscellaneous historical documents including facsimile of a letter by Henry Clay; land grants issued by presidents John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren; 1852 diary of Francis M. Campbell; 1832-1835 notebook of sold items; handbook entitled "The Ready Reckoner for Ship Builders, Boat Builders, and Lumber Merchants..."; bill of sale for slaves; and legal documents from Noxubee County, Mississippi from 1830s-1870s (1 box).

Commencement Collection 1854-2004.  Programs, invitations, articles, and speeches related to graduation ceremonies at the University of Mississippi (8 boxes).

Craft/Fort Family Letters 1840-1878.  Transcribed correspondence of the

 Craft family.  (1 box).

Charles Nunnally Dean Jr. Collection.  1837-1930.  Correspondence, legal documents, photographs, and ephemera related to the Dean family of Marshall County, Mississippi.  Includes bills of sale for slaves and plantation records.  Finding aid available in Special Collections (32 boxes).

Diploma and Certificate Collection.  1850-1955.  Various diplomas and certificates conferred by the University of Mississippi and other institutions. 

Edmondson/Bray/Williams/Stidham Collection.  1834-1987.  Correspondence, diaries, ledgers, and documents for several families of North Mississippi and Tennessee (35 boxes).  Selected materials are available in the Civil War digital collection.

Evans Collection.  1806-1832.  Correspondence and documents related primarily to the Evans family of Natchez, Mississippi.  Includes bills of sale for slaves and letters regarding the Choctaw Indian Agency in Mississippi (1 box).

Faculty Minutes and Committees Collection.  1848-1984.  Minutes from faculty meetings at the University of Mississippi (14 boxes).

Fant Collection.  1848-1936.  Diary, correspondence, photographs, slave bill of sale, and other documents related to the Anderson, Fant, and McNeill families of Marshall County, Mississippi (1 box).

Featherston Collection.  1824-1952.  Legal documents, correspondence, speeches, pamphlets, and miscellaneous items related to the family of Winfield Scott Featherston of Holly Springs, Mississippi (16 boxes).  Selected materials are available in the Civil War digital collection.

Eugene B. Ferris Collection.  1826-1984.  Includes antebellum letters from the Micou family (4 boxes).

Elijah Fleming Collection.  [1859].  Twenty-one tintype images of University of Mississippi faculty and students. These images available in the University Archives Photographs digital collection.

Gage Family Collection.  1830-1937.  Correspondence and other materials documenting the life of the Gage family of Holmes County, Mississippi (3 boxes).

Roxana Chapin Gerdine Collection.  1858-1892.  Papers of Roxana Chapin Gerdine, a native of Chicopee, Massachusetts who married William Louis Crawford Gerdine in 1858 and moved to his home in West Point, Mississippi (3 boxes).

William Franklin Hamilton Autograph Book.  1859-1860.  Autograph book signed by friends and family of University of Mississippi student William Franklin Hamilton (1 box).

Hermaen/Phi Sigma Societies Collection.  1857-1934.  Programs, correspondence, speeches, invitations, minutes, ledgers and other items related to the Hermaen and Phi Sigma debate societies at the University of Mississippi (5 boxes).

E.W. Hilgard Collection.  1856-1872.  Transcriptions of correspondence largely from F.A.P. Barnard to Eugene Woldemar Hilgard. Barnard served as chancellor of UM from 1856 to 1861. Hilgard was appointed Mississippi state geologist in 1855 and served as professor of chemistry and agriculture at UM between 1869 and 1873 (1 box).

Daniel Holland Ledger.  1837-1865.  The first portion of the ledger dates from 1837-1845 and appears to be for a store in Natchez, Mississippi (1 box).

Holly Springs Ledger.  1837-1904.  Ledger from Holly Springs, Mississippi (1 box).

Howry Family Collection 1838-1981.  Includes two letters dating from 1838 and 1842 from James K. Polk to J.M. Howry of Mississippi (6 boxes).

John F. Johnson Collection.  1849-1911.  Journals, correspondence, and other documents related to John F. Johnston, a farmer, tax assessor, and postmaster of Greensboro, Mississippi (4 boxes).

John Wesley Johnson Collection. 1853-1930. Johnson was a UM professor of Physics from 1899 to 1906. Collection includes correspondence, diaries, clippings, and biographical sketches of UM alumni (1881-1911) (6 boxes).

Kavanough Collection.  1853-1858.  Two ledgers from a tavern, possibly located in Aberdeen, Mississippi (1 box).

Kelley Family Collection 1839-1987.  Correspondence, sermon notes, ledgers, and other material related to the family of Joshua Kelley in Port Gibson, Mississippi (15 boxes).

Kraus/Overstreet Collection.  1809-1967.  Promissory notes, tax receipts, bank drafts, and other financial documents from Mississippi residents, banks, and businesses (1 box).

Felix LaBauve Collection.  1846-1883.  Colonel Felix LaBauve immigrated to the United States from France and eventually settled in Mississippi (1 box).

L.Q.C. Lamar Collection.  Circa 1860-1885.  Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar represented Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1857 to 1860 and again from 1873 to 1877. He sat in the U.S. Senate from 1877 until 1885. Lamar served as a delegate to the Mississippi Secession Convention of 1860 and held the office of lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army until 1862 when he entered the Confederate diplomatic service. After the war, he served as a member of Mississippi's Constitutional Conventions in 1865, 1868, 1875, 1877, and 1881. President Grover Cleveland appointed Lamar as Secretary of the Interior (1885-1888) and then Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1888-1893). The L.Q.C. Lamar Collection consists of fifty-three photocopied items dating between 1868 and 1885. Most of them are letters from Lamar to Oxford resident and former law partner E.D. Clark.  Location: Small Manuscripts 76-6 (1 box).

Landry-Hume Collection 1780s-1871.  Correspondence, plantation ledgers, and legal/financial records associated with the plantation-owning Farar, Ellis, and Rapalje families of Adams County, Mississippi (12 boxes).

William and Marjorie Lewis Collection.  1828-1908.  Correspondence, genealogical research, clippings, photographs, and legal documents related to Jacob Thompson of Oxford, Mississippi.  Jacob Thompson served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1839 to 1851 and chaired the Committee on Indian Affairs. President James Buchannan appointed him Secretary of the Interior in 1857. Thompson resigned in 1861 and during the Civil War served as Inspector General of the Confederate Army and as a confidential agent of the Confederacy to Canada (2 boxes).  Portions of the collection are available in a digital collection.

Locust Grove Plantation Slave Ledger.  1825-1845.  Ledger from Locust Grove Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi containing cotton harvest data for each slave as well as names, marriages, births and deaths of slaves on the plantation (1 box).

John Guy Lofton Collection 1860-1863.  Includes one 1860 letter from S.W. Clark to his mother (1 box).

Longstreet-Hinton Collection 1830s-1955.  Includes antebellum invoices and financial documents related to the family of Augustus Baldwin Longstreet of Georgia and Mississippi (3 boxes).

Manuscript Collections M-Z

Map Collection.  1687-1998.  Consists primarily of Mississippi maps. 

W.T. Marshall Collection.  1833-1985.  Includes 1847 lithographs entitled "Elements of National Thrift and Empire" and "Commerce and Navigation" and an 1833 Fall River, Maryland newspaper issue and an 1855 Bristol, Rhode Island The Pastor's Annual (10 boxes).

McAlexander/Marshall County Collection.  1838-2009.  Contains documents and research files associated with the history of Holly Springs and Marshall County, Mississippi (24 boxes).

Andrew McCrery Ledger.  1813-1865.  The first portion of the ledger dates from 1813-1814 and includes the accounts for McCrery's two Adams County, Mississippi plantations, a general store, and a medical practice. The second section dates from 1865 and tracks the cotton production of freedmen on a plantation.

Miller-Avent Papers.  1851-1960.  Correspondence of the family of Colonel Hugh R. Miller of Pontotoc County, Mississippi (1 box).

Miller Family Papers.  1830-1865.  Correspondence of the family of Colonel Hugh R. Miller of Pontotoc County, Mississippi (2 boxes).

Mississippi Churches Collection.  1846-1997.  Includes the 1846 minutes of the Baptist Church of Christ in Greensboro, Mississippi; 1856-1947 minutes of Spring Creek Church in Oxford, Mississippi; and 1860 first sermon preached in St. Peter's Church in Oxford, Mississippi (2 boxes).

Mitchell Family Marshall County Collection.  1812-1984.  Documents, photographs, ledgers, and other items related to the Marshall County, Mississippi and surrounding counties.  Includes 1857-58 free negro family registers for Marshall County (7 boxes).

Natchez Bank Ledger 1829-1830.  Ledger of a bank in Natchez, Mississippi (1 box).

Natchez Library Institute Ledger 1842; 1870s.  Ledger containing accounts of the Library Institute of Natchez, Mississippi (1 box).

William Cowper Nelson Collection.  1843-1949.  Correspondence of the Nelson family of Holly Springs, Mississippi (11 boxes).

Newspapers (Bound) 1823-1990.  Bound volumes of various newspapers, chiefly from Mississippi (178 volumes).

Newspapers (Boxed).  1824-2012.  Partial runs and individual issues of newspapers, primarily from Mississippi (74 boxes, 1 bound volume, and 1 drawer). 

Mrs. R.E. Price Collection.  1859-1973.  Includes a handwritten copy of an 1859 diploma conferred by Corona College in Corinth, Mississippi (3 boxes).

Thomas Reber Collection.  1860-1918.  Includes a photocopy of an 1860 letter from Uncle Caldwell in Sandusky, Ohio to Thomas Reber (4 boxes).

Registrar Ledgers.  1848-1921.  Ledgers recording admissions, vital statistics, grades, and other information on University of Mississippi students as well as faculty committee minutes (13 boxes).

David G. Sansing Collection.  1840-1999.  Research materials related to David G. Sansing's book The University of Mississippi:  A Sesquicentennial History as well as other volumes on Mississippi history (10 boxes).

Sessions Collection.  1860-1929.  Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings and recollections of the Civil War by Delia Sessions of Yazoo City, Mississippi (1 box).

Settle Family Collection.  1860-1864.  Includes a fragment of an 1860 letter from Monticello, Alabama (1 box).

Sheet Music Collection.  1846-1974.  Sheet music mostly related to Mississippi (1 box).

Calvin R. Simmons Collection.  1840-1992.  Letters, documents, and photographs related to the Simmons family of Pontotoc County, Mississippi.  Includes slave bill of sale (24 boxes).

Small Manuscripts 1976-1.  Includes two 1859 letters between Jesse B. Barry and James K. Barry (Folders 17 & 18).

Small Manuscripts 1976-2.  Copies of Burton-Butler correspondence dated 1853-1854 (Folder 1); Clark-Freeman papers dating from 1857 (Folder 2); biographical information on Dr. Jerome Cochran (b. 1831) and his early medical practice in Mississippi (Folder 3); copies of Craft-Fort correspondence dating from 1820-1878 (Folders 4 through 9); and Kate W. Freeman correspondence poem and memory book dating from 1846 to 1864 (Folders 13 through 18).

Small Manuscripts 1976-5.  Copies of papers, documents, and board minutes of Holly Springs Female Academy from 1836 to 1901 (Folders 1 & 2); autobiography and original articles by Rev. Thaddeus McRae dating from 1831 to 1880 (Folders 5 & 6); H.W. Walters papers includes a journal of travel through northern Mississippi dated 1856 (Folder 7); and copies of papers of Sam McCorkle dating 1834-1854 (Folder 9).

Small Manuscripts 1876-7.  Includes copy of Augustus Baldwin Longstreet's 1840 inaugural address at Emory College in Georgia (Folder 3); copy of 1809 oration by unknown speaker, possibly in South Carolina (Folder 4); Peter Patterson papers with 1844 math ledger and biographical information (Folders 6 & 7); General Charles Nelms papers dating from 1849-1885 with bills of sale for slave, accounts, and letters (Folder 10); and Harriet S. Pegues daybook dated 1848 (Folder 12).

Small Manuscripts 1876-8.  Includes A.J. Tully papers dated 1849-1860 (Folder 5); General Absalom West papers dated 1857-1870 with correspondence and Mississippi Central Railroad papers (Folders 12 & 13); and Charles Stubblefield papers dated 1853-1856 (Folders 14 & 15).

Small Manuscripts 1977-1.  Includes A.F. Farnsley papers dated 1856-1858 (Folder 25); and T.F. Dibdin papers with 1822 letter (Folder 29).

Small Manuscripts 1977-2.  Includes notes related to 1839 Betty Allen legal case and the rights of married women in Mississippi (Folder 2); copies of 1845 letters of Nathaniel and Noel Bouton (Folder 11); and typed copy of an 1843 letter from William Wordsworth to S.S. Prentiss (Folder 34).

Small Manuscripts 1977-3.  Includes 1849 letter from J.D. Whitney in Boston, Massachusetts (Folders 11, 13, & 14); 1849 E.R. Beadle letter (Folders 5 & 6); and a 1845 order issued in Natchez, Mississippi requiring Sgt. Wood to collect money for knapsacks (Folder 18).

Small Manuscripts 1978-1.  Includes 1842 minutes of Order of the Eastern Star of John Cain Lodge (Folder 1); 1967 stamp commemorating 150th anniversary of Mississippi statehood (Folder 20); and a 1858 letter from Samuel C. Burr inviting "Board of Directors" to accompany the mayor in meeting Jefferson Davis during his visit to Boston (Folder 28).

Small Manuscripts 1978-2.  Includes Sanders Taylor papers with 1840 Marshall County, Mississippi land deed and an 1844 land deed (Folders 2 & 3).

Small Manuscripts 1978-5.  Includes Hugh Lawson Bedford papers with 1856-1861 handwritten poetry volume (Folder 9); and Judge and Mrs. J.W. Clapp papers with 1840 public addresses in Holly Springs, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee (Folders 8, 10, & 11).

Small Manuscripts 1978-6.  Includes copy of a letter dated 1838 from J. Thompson to Walter Goodman and Richard Bolton (Folder 9).

Small Manuscripts 1978-7.  Includes copies of documents on Duncan McCall's 1814 appointments as 1st Lieutenant of Mississippi Territory, 1820 appointment as quartermaster, and 1825 appointment as Associate Justice (Folders 1 through 3); and the business papers of planter S.H. Clark of Attalaville, Mississippi dated 1855-1873 (Folders 4 through 7).

Small Manuscripts 1979-1.  Includes 1850 diary of Goodloe Warren Buford from northeast Mississippi (Folders 6 through 9); exercise books dated 1854 and 1856 (Folders 12 & 13); I.M. Patridge papers dated 1850s (Folders 14 through 17); and Daniel Brent and Thomas Braidwood letters dated 1818 (Folders 18 & 19).

Small Manuscripts 1979-4.  Includes copy of an 1837 notice of sale of land and slaves at Clark Plantation, northeast of Oxford, Mississippi (Folder 10).

Small Manuscripts 1979-7 (Oversized).  Includes an 1847 address by Hugh White to the U.S. Congress (Folder 7); and public land sale deeds for Alabama and Mississippi dated 1826-1841 (Folder 10).

Small Manuscripts 1982-1.  Includes 1854-1855 papers of Landon Cabell Garland, president of North East & South West Alabama Railroad Company (loose).

Small Manuscripts 1986-1.  Includes 1860 letter from H.M. Rice to his father regarding his experiences at the University of Mississippi (Folder 15).

Small Manuscripts 1988-3.  Includes an 1842 letter from Joseph Ingraham (Folder 3); and an 1823 letter from Elliot [B?] to Zecheriah Howes regarding the establishment of mission schools for Choctaws in Mississippi (Folder 6).

Small Manuscripts 1991-1.  Transcriptions of an 1821 letter from William P. Gould at "Choctaw Agency" to Eden Brashears in Port Gibson, regarding annuity to Choctaws (Folder 29); 1826 slave bill of sale written by L. John McThompson (Folder 31); and Harriet Blanton Theobald papers on early history of Greenville, Mississippi dated 1833-1886 (Folders 32 through 36).

Small Manuscripts 1992-1.  Includes Rabb/Ferris family papers including correspondence dated 1851-1854 (Folders 2 & 3); and an 1822 Amite County, Mississippi marriage license for Isaac Vanduzor and Constant Glascock (Folder 7).

Small Manuscripts 1992-2 (Oversized).  Includes copies of Duncan family letters from 1840 (Folder 3); and a handwritten prospectus dated 1856 for a Know-Nothing Party newspaper in Vicksburg, Mississippi entitled "Young America" (Folder 4).

Small Manuscripts 1993-2.  Includes Ford family papers with an 1859 copy of J. Ebenzer Ford's will (Folders 12 through 14); Robb Farm papers including recipes and plantation ledgers dated 1839-1865 (Folders 20 through 23); and an 1830 petition by A.B. Longstreet to the court (Folder 24).

Small Manuscripts 2000-2 (Oversized).  Includes 1856 Henderson indenture.

William Forbes Stearns Collection 1837-1993.  Correspondence, lectures, and legal materials related to attorney and University of Mississippi law professor William Forbes Stearns (2 boxes).

Alfred H. Stone Collection.  1786-1943.  Materials collected by Alfred Holt Stone pertaining to the issues of race and slavery (4 boxes).

Stubbs Collection.  1847-1994.  Research files compiled by Steven H. Stubbs for his book Duty, Honor, Valor:  The Story of the 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment (2000)  (26 boxes).

Elijah M. Walker Collection.  1851-1860.  Diaries of Caroline King and Elijah Millington Walker (2 boxes).

E.C. Walthall Collection.  1834-1924.  Edward Carey Walthall received an appointment to fill the seat in the U.S. Senate vacated by L.Q.C. Lamar in 1885. He won election to the post in his own right and remained until 1894 when he resigned for ill health. Reelected in 1895, Walthall served until 1898. He chaired both the Committee on Military Affairs and the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. The collection contains material dating from 1837 to 1898, and only a few of the items date from Walthall's congressional tenure (1 box).

Watson Family Collection.  1843-1912.  Correspondence of John Watson, a Texas businessman (1 box).

Weston Lumber Company Collection.  1841-1956.  Contains letterbooks, correspondence, account ledgers, financial records, various legal and administrative records, deeds, and contracts related to the business of H. Weston Lumber Company which operated along the Pearl River basin in Mississippi.  Patrons should provide notice at least two business days prior to prospective visits so that staff may transfer requested boxes from the Library Annex (an off-site facility) to the Special Collection Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.

J.D. Williams Family Collection.  1831-1902.  Correspondence and other documents related to the ancestors of former University of Mississippi Chancellor J.D. Williams who lived in Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania (1 box).

Woodall Family Collection 1840-2004.  Primarily consists of land deeds and other financial documents related to the Woodall family in Yalobusha County, Mississippi (1 box).

Librarian Contact

Jennifer Ford
Senior Curator of Manuscripts
Email: jwford@olemiss.edu

Departmental Information

Archives and Special Collections
PO Box 1848
University, MS 38677
3rd floor of the J.D. Williams Library
Email: archivesdept@olemiss.edu 

Open Monday through Friday 8am - 5pm (except holidays)