The collections below, from the Department of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Mississippi, contain correspondence, manuscripts, and ephemera relating to the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement with a focus on the 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi.
Special Collections also holds a number of original newspapers, among them are scattered issues of some Mississippi African American newspapers, see Journalism & Mass Media: Newspapers.
Thomas Abernethy Collection. 1943-1973. Thomas B. Abernethy of Mississippi served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1943 to 1973. His congressional papers include many files on the issues of civil rights and race relations scattered throughout the collection (but particularly in Boxes 128, 135, 138, 245-248, 273, 303, 309, and 310-312). 444 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material. Photographs and one recording from the collection are available as a digital collection.
Afro-American Studies Newsletter/The Vision Collection. 1989-1993. Eleven issues of the newsletter for the Afro-American Studies (now African-American Studies) program at the University of Mississippi. 1 box.
Samuel Agnew Diary Photocopies. 1851-1902. An Associate Reformed Presbyterian minister, teacher, and farmer who lived in Mississippi, Samuel Agnew's diaries wrote about relations with slaves and free blacks. 23 boxes.
American Association of University Professors (AAUP), University of Mississippi Chapter Collection. 1949-present. Contains correspondence, member lists, minutes, financial statements, chapter letters, handbooks, bulletins, and newspaper clippings. Includes material on race relations at the University of Mississippi and other campuses. 7 boxes.
American Association of University Women (AAUW), Mississippi Division Collection. 1927-present. A national organization, the AAUW promotes education and equality for all women. This collection houses the correspondence, minutes, and reports from the archives of the Mississippi Division. 122 boxes.
Americans for the Preservation of the White Race Collection. 1964-1966. Contains the minutes for the meetings of the Jackson, MS chapter of the APWR, a white supremacist organization (1 box).
Rev. N.G. Augustus Collection. 1902-1948. These papers of a Mississippi Methodist minister include a pre-1940 article by Rev. J.B. Campbell on the "Negro Question." Location: Small Manuscripts 76-1 (10 folders).
Marjorie Baroni Collection. 1950s-1980s. A white Catholic resident of Natchez, Mississippi, Baroni's convictions led her to publicly support the Civil Rights Movement. She was a founding member of the Adams-Jefferson Improvement Corporation, a community action group whose initiatives included Head Start, a credit union, and job training, among other programs. Over a period of ten years, Baroni also worked for Charles Evers. The collection consists of correspondence, clippings, oral histories, and autobiographical manuscripts as well as a variety of other material related to the civil rights era. 21 boxes.
Russell H. Barrett Collection. 1954-1979. A political science professor at the University of Mississippi from 1954 to 1976, Barrett was the author of Integration at Ole Miss (1965). His collection consists primarily of documents relating to the 1962 riot and race relations on campus through the early 1970s. Includes correspondence, clippings, and photographs. 17 boxes. Images are available online as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
Beckwith/Yerger Collection. 1869-1930. Family papers of Byron de la Beckwith III who was indicted in 1994 for the 1963 murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers. Although the collection contains no papers from Beckwith himself, the collection does provide background information on the family. 7 boxes.
Jerry Boone Collection. 1997-2004. Records of Dr. Jerry Boone's service from 1998 to 2004 as court-appointed monitor for the Ayers lawsuit on desegregation and disparate state funding of Mississippi higher education institutions. 5 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Frederick Z. Browne. 1960s. Includes a 1962 sermon by Brown entitled, "Segregation or Integration, Which?" Location: Small Manuscripts 77-2 (4 folders).
Roane Fleming Byrnes Collection. This collection of papers donated by the woman considered the primary force behind the Natchez Trace Parkway, also includes family journals and correspondence dating back to the antebellum period. Box 19 contains material that highlights Byrnes' own relationship with her plantation tenants and the black community. 42 boxes.
Robert Canzoneri Collection. 1952-1970. Mississippi author Robert Canzoneri has published poetry, short stories, a novel, a memoir, and a critical textbook. Collection contains manuscripts and correspondence related to his life and work. 10 boxes.
Hodding Carter Periodicals. 1948-1969. Assortment of periodicals containing articles by Greenville Delta Democrat-Times editor Hodding Carter, several focused on civil rights. 1 box.
Church Women United Collection. A paper and oral history on the Oxford chapter of the national organization which took a stand in favor of civil rights as early as 1942. Location: Small Manuscripts 97-1 (1 folder). A selection of items are available in the Civil Rights digital collection (search "Browse by Original Collection").
Citizens Council Collection. 1954-1979. Contains pamphlets, correspondence, broadsides, clippings, and copies of Citizens' Council publications. 3 boxes. Available as a digital collection.
Civil Rights Commemoration Initiative Collection. 1982-2006. Material related to the development of a civil rights memorial on the campus of the University of Mississippi. 5 boxes.
Civil Rights Movement and the Law. 1989.The University of Mississippi held "The Civil Rights Movement and the Law: A National Symposium" to examine and assess the effects of civil rights litigation on contemporary law and society. Participants in the symposium include lawyers and judges who participated in many of the landmark cases of the Civil Rights Movement. Among the many participants were two judges of the former United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Elbert P. Tuttle and John Minor Wisdom), and three participants on both sides of the integration drama at Ole Miss in 1962, John Doar, Constance Baker Motley, and Charles Clark. The collection contains audio, video, and typed transcripts of panel discussions as well as oral histories recorded with the participants. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Claude F. Clayton Collection. 1934-1969. Claude F. Clayton served as a judge in the U.S. District Court of Northern Mississippi (1958-67) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1967-69). The collection contains judicial files from his tenure on both courts, many of which dealt with civil rights issues. It also includes records from his two unsuccessful campaigns for U.S. Congress against incumbent Representative John Rankin in 1946 and 1948. 44 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material. Photographs are available in a digital collection.
Cleveland/Wilson Collection. 1962-1964. Collection consists of correspondence received by UM Associated Student Body presidents Thomas Cleveland and Richard Wilson received in reaction to the integration of UM. 4 boxes.
J.P. Coleman Collection. A former governor of Mississippi (1956-60), J.P. Coleman served on the bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1965 to 1984. The collection holds his judicial papers, including files on civil rights cases before the Fifth Circuit. 79 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Colin Crawford Collection. 1978-1994. Research material for Colin Crawford's book Uproar at Dancing Rabbit Creek: Battling over Race, Class and the Environment (1996). 12 boxes.
H.V. Cooper Collection. 1931-1966. H.V. Cooper worked as Superintendent of Schools in Vicksburg, Mississippi from 1932 until his retirement in 1960. Cooper served in the Mississippi Senate from 1960 to 1963 chaired an education study committee which issued a 1961 comprehensive report on the state's education system from kindergarten through higher education. Cooper served briefly on the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission from 1959 to 1960. Correspondence with and regrading the National Education Association offers insight into tensions between Mississippi educators and the national organization's stance on integration in the early 1960s. 2 boxes.
W. Wert Cooper, Jr. Collection. 1962. W. Wert Cooper, Jr. was a senior majoring in Commerce at the University of Mississippi when James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi. Cooper took images on campus and in the town of Oxford during the events surrounding Meredith's enrollment. Available online as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
Council on Human Relations (Oxford). 1968. Correspondence and reports primarily concerned with job opportunities for African-Americans in the Oxford Area. Location: Small Manuscripts 89-1 (1 folder). A selection of items are available in the Civil Rights Archive digital collection (search "Browse by Original Collection").
A. Eugene Cox Collection. 1950s-1960s. Clippings and pamphlets from the civil rights era. Location: Small Manuscripts 76-3 (2 folders). A selection of items are available in the Civil Rights Archive digital collection (search "Browse by Original Collection").
John Crews Collection. 1970-1973. Contains various materials related to black students at the University of Mississippi, including papers from the Faculty Committee on Black Student Affairs for which Crews was chairman (1 box). The collection has been digitized and made available in the Civil Rights Archive digital collection (search "Browse by Original Collection").
W.J. Cunningham / Galloway Methodist Church Collection. 1960s. Contains correspondence, clippings and other documents related to the Jackson church's reaction to the civil rights movement. Location: Small Manuscripts 78-6 (binder & 4 folders). A selection of items is available in the Civil Rights Archive digital collection.
Charles Dean Collection. 1837-1982. This collection contains the papers of several related families from Holly Springs, Mississippi. The correspondence and clippings of Box 3 in particular comment on state and local civil rights incidents. Finding aid available in Special Collections. 21 boxes.
Deputy U.S. Marshals 50th Anniversary Memory Book. 1962-2012. Reproductions of documents related to the 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi and later commemorations of that event. 1 box.
John G. Deupree Collection. 1866-1867. Letters written by Deupree for Mississippi newspapers on various topics, including the Freedmen's Bureau. Location: Small Manuscripts 78-1 (1 folder). A selection of items are available in the Civil Rights Archive digital collection (search "Browse by Original Collection").
Ann Rogers Dillard Collection. 1951-1962. Newspaper clippings and periodicals related to University of Mississippi integration and other civil rights topics. 1 box.
William Doyle Collection. 1865-2001. William Doyle's American Insurrection: James Meredith and the Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 is an historic account of James Meredith's journey to integrate the University of Mississippi on 30 September 1962, which exploded into a violent conflict between federal and state authorities in Mississippi. The collection contains interviews, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and research materials gathered and used by Doyle in the writing of his work. 9 boxes.
James O. Eastland Collection. 1930-1978. James O. Eastland represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate for a few months in 1941 and then from 1943 until his retirement in 1978. The collection contains a significant amount of material on civil rights in Mississippi and the nation. 1,800 linear feet. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material. The photographs are available in the James O. Eastland Collection Photographs digital collection. The James O. Eastland digital collection consists of recordings, a scrapbook, and White House correspondence.
Fant Collection. 1848-1936. This Mississippi family collection includes an 1855 bill of sale for 23 slaves. 1 box.
Eugene B. Ferris Collection. 1839-1995. Contains remarks on the "Negro question" as well as family letters dating back to 1839. 5 boxes.
Anselem Joseph Finch. 1941. The Brandon, Mississippi author's poem, "I Am A Negro." Call Number: PS3556 I45 I36 1941.
Mamie Lee Ratliff Finger. A daughter's memories of her mother's (Cora Rodman Ratliff) civil rights activities in Clarksdale, Mississippi in the 1940s and 50s. Location: Small Manuscripts 93-2 (2 folders).
Fortieth Anniversary Symposium and Observance of the Integration of the University of Mississippi Collection. 1962, 2003. Copies of U.S. Department of Justice display items from "The Kennedy Justice Years 1961-1964" and the ceremony honoring the integration of the University of Mississippi on 15 July 2003. Includes VHS and DVD recordings of ceremony and symposium. 1 box
Freedom Riders' 40th Anniversary Oral History Project. 2001. Oral histories conducted in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the civil rights challenges to segregated travel on interstate buses. Digital collection available.
Henry Gallagher Collection. 1962-2001. Second Lieutenant Henry Gallagher of the U.S. Army 716th Military Police Battalion arrived on the University of Mississippi campus on the night of the 1962 integration riot. He later served as principal security officer for James Meredith from October 1 through late November 1962, returning again to Oxford in 1963. Includes correspondence, documents, maps, photographs, and film. 3 boxes.
Lela Karen Smith Hale Collection. 2008-2009. Oral histories of teachers, parents, and students involved in the desegregation of Mary Reid Elementary and Potts Camp Attendance Center in Marshall County, Mississippi. Original recordings and transcripts. 7 microcassettes and bound transcription.
Fannie Lou Hamer Collection. 1966-1978. A major figure in Mississippi's civil rights movement, Hamer was a founding member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party created in 1966. One of her most ambitious projects was the Freedom Farm Cooperative, in existence between 1969-1974. The collection consists mainly of business records from the various organizations with which she was involved. 4 boxes.
Margaret Countiss Harbison Collection. 1958-1964. Contains material related to the 1962 integration of University of Mississippi. 2 boxes.
Sheldon Harris Collection. A significant portion of this collection features sheet music of minstrel songs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cover art and lyrics often represent the derogatory racial stereotypes of that era. 71 boxes. The sheet music is also available online as a digital collection.
Pat Harrison Collection. 1883-1943. Pat Harrison represented Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1918 and in the U.S. Senate from 1919 to 1942. Box 105 contains two files entitled "Negro Race Question." 116 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Armis Hawkins Collection. Armis Hawkins won election to the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1980, and he served as Chief Justice from 1993 until his retirement in 1995. Hawkins wrote the majority opinion which permitted the state to retry Byron de la Beckwith for the 1962 assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers. The collection consists of materials related to his tenure on the bench. 43 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Robert H. Herring III Scrapbooks. 1962. Scrapbooks of clippings maintained by Robert H. Herring III during the integration of UM (1 box). Available as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
Verner S. Holmes Collection. 1910-1989. Holmes served 24 years on Mississippi's Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (1956-1980), during the time in which integration occurred. His papers contain a complete set of minutes of the Board of Trustees during his term, as well as oral interviews with several board members, public officials, and James Silver (15 boxes). A few items from the collection are available online as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
James T. Jones Collection. 1861-1869. Includes letters from W.W. Miller written while in a Vicksburg prison for allegedly murdering a black man. (1 box) This item is included in the Civil War Archive (select "Browse by Original Collection").
Winthrop D. Jordan Collection. 1970-2007. Contains the files, personal and professional papers, and research notes of UM professor of history Winthrop D. Jordan whose subject area included race relations. 61 boxes.
Katallagete!/ James Y. Holloway Collection. 1945-1992. Correspondence to and from James Y. Holloway, editor of Katallagete! (1965-early 1990s), as well as manuscripts, clippings, photographs, cassette tapes and other material related to the liberal religious journal that often dealt with issues of race and civil rights. 37 boxes.
Ed King Collection. A native, white Mississippian became the Chaplain at Tougaloo College in the 1960s. Heavily involved in the state's civil rights movement, he played an especially significant role in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Contains clippings, correspondence, and publications of various key individuals and organizations. 7 boxes.
Ed King Manuscript. An unpublished draft of an autobiography by Ed King (see above). Location: Small Manuscripts 78-3.
Morton King Collection. 1955-1959. A Sociology professor at the University of Mississippi, King resigned in protest after Chancellor Williams rescinded the invitation of a liberal minister (Rev. Alvin L. Kershaw) to speak during the 1956 Religious Emphasis Week. Contains correspondence and clippings on the incident. 1 box.
Knox Collection. 1923-1979. A collection of assorted extremist literature including anti-Communist, anti-Semitic, radially conservative Christianity, and white supremacist. 12 boxes.
Ku Klux Klan Collection. 1950s-1970s. Contains broadsides, newsletters, and other KKK literature from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Maryland, Tennessee, and elsewhere. 2 boxes.
L.Q.C. Lamar Collection. 1860-1885. Prominent Mississippi statesman L.Q.C. Lamar served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1857 to 1860 and from 1873 to 1876. He sat in the U.S. Senate from 1877 to 1886, becoming Secretary of the Interior and then a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. This small collection consists primarily of photocopies of correspondence to his former Oxford, Mississippi law partner and includes descriptions of U.S. Senator Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi, the first African American to sit a full term in the U.S. Senate. Location: Small Manuscripts 76-6 (44 folders).
League of Women Voters of Mississippi Collection. 1947-1992. This collection contains correspondence, minutes, and literature from the national organization, the Mississippi Division, and individual branches within the state, including reports on busing and desegregation. 33 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material. Recordings and photographs from the collection are available in a digital collection.
Will Lewis Sr. Collection. 1949-1992. Contains several boxes of material related to the civil rights movement and the integration of the University of Mississippi. 6 boxes.
Dean L.L. Love Collection. 1962-1963. Love was the Dean of Students during the integration of the University of Mississippi. His papers contain correspondence he received from all over the country on the event, as well as extremist literature. 1 box. One item from the collection is available online as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
Gordon A. Martin Jr. Collection. A U.S. Department of Justice attorney during the 1960s, Gordon A. Martin Jr. participated in civil rights and voter registration litigation in Mississippi. Contains court documents as well as oral history with African American witnesses in the case Theron v. Lynd. 3 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Mary McGuire Manuscript. Circa 1950s. Typed manuscript for an unpublished book entitled "The Forgotten Negro Woman" by an African American woman born in Mississippi. Location: Small Manuscripts 2001-2 (Folder 17).
George McLean Collection. 1947-1982. George McLean purchased the Tupelo Journal (later renamed the Northeast Mississippi Daily News) in 1934 and ran the newspaper until his death in 1983. He is credited as a voice of reason and progress during the civil rights era, helping to integrate local public schools peaceably. 16 boxes.
Media and the Civil Rights Movement. 1987. The symposium, "Covering the South: A National Symposium on the Media and the Civil Rights Movement," jointly sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the departments of Journalism and Afro-American Studies, examined the Civil Rights Movement and the role the media played in both reporting and shaping the movement. Mr. Jack Nelson chaired the project and worked hard for two years to bring the symposium together. The collection contains audio and video of panel discussions and oral histories from participants such as Harry Ashmore, David Halberstam, Dorothy Gilliam, Haynes Johnson, Nick Katz, Bill Minor, Willie Morris, and Richard B. Stolley are available. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
James H. Meredith Collection. 1950-1997. James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi in 1962, sparking a riot on campus. In 1966, he initiated a "Walk Against Fear" from Memphis to Jackson. Shot on the second day of the march, civil rights leaders of the day stepped in to continue the action. In 1972, Meredith ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat, and in 1989 he joined the staff of North Carolina's arch-conservative senator Jesse Helms. James Meredith donated his personal papers to the university in 1997. 146 boxes. A small selection of material from the collection is available as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection.
James Meredith Small Manuscripts Collection. A myriad of items related to Meredith and the integration of Ole Miss- ranging from tear gas canisters, to campus literature, to scrapbooks about the events. 12 boxes.
Mississippi Economic Council Collection. 1955-1980. Includes the results of a 1966 study on how Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affected Mississippi employers. 1 box.
Mississippi Education Collection. 1944-present. Pamphlets, publications, and reports on education within the state. 1 box. Available online as a digital collection.
Mississippi Forestry Collection. 1928-1984. Includes material related to the 1971 Laurel Pulpwood Strike, a united action of black and white workers supported by NAACP director Charles Evers. 1 box.
Mississippi Highway Patrol Photograph Collection. 1962. A small collection of black and white images taken by the Mississippi Highway Patrol during the integration riot on the University of Mississippi campus on September 30th and October 1, 1962. 1 box. Available online as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
Mississippi Periodicals Collection. 1929-present. Contains magazines with articles on various Mississippi topics, including race relations and civil rights. 6 boxes.
Mississippi Politics Collection. 1930-present. A selection of miscellaneous campaign material, speeches, and political literature. 4 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Sidna Brower Mitchell Collection. 1959-2003. Sidna Brower served as editor of the campus newspaper Mississippian during the 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi. Contains letters, photographs, newspapers, and other printed material (10 boxes). The photographs and a scrapbook are available as a digital collection.
Willie Morris Collection. 1954-1993. Born in Mississippi in 1934, Morris edited the Texas Observer from 1960 until 1962. The following year he joined the staff at Harper's Magazine, serving as editor-in-chief from 1967-1971. Morris wrote a number of fictional and nonfiction works that explored his southern heritage, including Yazoo: Integration in a Deep Southern Town (1971) and The Ghosts of Medgar Evers (1996). The collection contains photographs, manuscripts, and a voluminous correspondence. 173 boxes.
Ed Movitz Integration Collection. September-October 1962. Photographs taken for use by various newspapers documenting the 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi. 1 box. Available online as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
William Murphy Collection. 1954-1978. Contains correspondence and clippings related to this University of Mississippi law professor's controversial support for civil rights. 1 box.
Mamie and Ellis Nassour Arts and Entertainment Collection. 1920-2009. Box 8 includes an information sheet entitled "A memory of Ole Miss in October 1962 on the occasion of the integration of the University of Mississippi by James Meredith by Ellis Nassour." 60 boxes.
Newspapers (Boxed). Collection includes a number of African American newspapers from Mississippi: Natchez City Bulletin (1961-1966) in Box 21; Bay St. Louis The Light (16 September 1942) in Box 61; Jackson Mississippi Free Press (16 December 1961) in Box 74; Mound Bayou Southern Advocate (1937-1940) in Box 14; and Vicksburg Citizens' Appeal (1956 and 1964) in Boxes 65 and 69. Collection also includes a number of white supremacist publications: Box 74 holds October 1955 issue of The Citizens' Council. May-July 1976 issues of The Thunderbolt published in Birmingham, Alabama; Box 75 contains 23 June 1945 issue of Greensboro, Alabama The Southern Watchman and May 1948 Jackson States' Righter. Civil rights publications include in in Box 74 Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Newsletter (April 1968) and Mississippi Free Press (16 December 1961) and Box 75 Revolution in the Delta (1964) and Greenville Mississippi Freelance (April 1969) (75 boxes).
Pauline Wright Nichols Collection. 1980. Manuscripts and editorial notes for Pauline Wright Nichols' book The Breath of God: Black Voices from the Thirties. 1 box.
Ken Oilschlager -- Juliette Derricotte Collection. 1924-1950. Papers and letters related to the life and death of Juliette Derricotte (1897-1931), an advocate of African American education and the first woman trustee of Talladega College. She died after a Georgia hospital denied treatment following a car accident. 4 boxes.
Victoria Oldham Sheet Music Collection. 1893-1936. Includes race parody sheet music. 4 boxes.
Open Doors Collection. 1962-2003. Contains oral histories from participants in the 1962 integration crisis at UM, as well as original material from 1962. 5 boxes. Available as an online Open Doors digital collection.
John Elon Phay Collection. Contains over 4,700 images documenting late 1940s and mid 1950s segregated primary and secondary schools in Mississippi, as well as the University of Mississippi. 42 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material. Available as a digital collection.
Clarence Pierce Collection. 1946-1995. Includes 1955 correspondence with University of Mississippi Chancellor J.D. Williams regarding controversy over campus speaking invitation to liberal Reverend Kershaw. 1 box. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Piney Woods Country Life Collection. 1945-1990. A rural, African-American boarding school outside of Jackson, Piney Woods was established in 1909. This small collection contains programs, broadsides, and clippings about the institution. 1 box.
Presidential Debate Collection. 2007-2009. Material related to the 26 September 2008 presidential debate between Barak Obama and John McCain on the campus of the University of Mississippi. 6 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material. Photographs and recordings are available in a digital collection.
Race Parody Sheet Music Collection. 1882-1945. This collection contains fifty-three pieces of "minstrel" sheet music from the genres typified by the derogatory portrayal of African-Americans. 1 box.
Race Relations Collection. 1948-1982. This collection contains publications, broadsides and ephemera relating to race relations in the South. It is organized by locale: Oxford/University, Mississippi, and non-Mississippi. 8 boxes. A portion is available online as part of the Integration of the University of Mississippi digital collection (select "Browse by Original Collection").
Ann Rayburn Collection of Paper Americana. 1858-1997. Series 5 contains a large collection of sheet music from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, including examples of race music depicting African Americans in lyrics and cover art (84 boxes).
Dorothye Quaye Chapman Reed Collection. 1968-2021. Reed graduated from UM in 1974 and subsequently served as the first African American Admissions Counselor at UM between 1974 and 1977. From 1977 to 1981, she was the Assistant Director of the Student Center at East Tennessee State University. Reed received recognition for raising black enrollment at UM and helping to start the Black Student Affairs organization at East Tennessee State University. She has worked to promote African American women's history with several publications and projects. Collection includes scrapbooks, correspondence, clippings, photographs, print material, and memorabilia. Clippings and other material document civil rights across Mississippi and the south. 31 boxes.
Jack Reed Collection. 1962-1987. A businessman from Tupelo, Mississippi, Reed served as chairman of the Mississippi Economic Council and president of the Mississippi Retail Merchants. He campaigned unsuccessfully for governor in 1987. The collection primarily houses his 1962-1963 correspondence with major Mississippi figure. 1 box.
Gus J. Requardt Paper. 1968. Requardt, a professor at the University of the South, typed an account of his 1968 trip across Mississippi. Location: Small Manuscripts 77-3 (1 folder). A selection of items are available in the Civil Rights digital collection (search "Browse by Original Collection").
Sarah Rice/Louise Westling Collection. Circa 1980s. Audio recordings and transcripts used by Louise Westling to edit He Included Me: The Autobiography of Sarah Rice. The book discusses the Rice's life as an African American woman in rural Alabama in the twentieth century. 1 box.
John C. Satterfield / American Bar Association Collection. 1928-1974. John C. Satterfield was the first Mississippian to serve as president of the American Bar Association (1961-1962). He represented Governor Ross Barnett during the University of Mississippi integration crisis in 1962 and later served as legal counsel for several public-school integration cases in Mississippi and across the South. 51 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material. Photographs from the collection are available in the John C. Satterfield/American Bar Association digital collection.
Ship Island Soldier's Newsletter. 1916-1918. Contains clippings on black migration out of the South. Location: Small Manuscripts 96-1 (1 folder).
James W. Silver Collection. 1935-1986. A history professor at Ole Miss, Silver published a bestseller during the civil rights era entitled, Mississippi: The Closed Society. His papers include correspondence, clippings, cassette tapes, and ephemera. 50 boxes. A selection of material from the collection is available as a digital collection.
Darwin A. Smalley Letterbook. 1867-1870. Prior to his service as a Union officer during the Civil War, Smalley was a Vermont lawyer. After the war he settled in Meridian, Mississippi where he received an appointment in 1867 to serve on Lauderdale County's three member Board of Registration which enrolled qualified voters. His letterbook primarily contains official material relevant to this Reconstruction office. 1 box.
LePoint Smith Collection. 1895-1961. Includes various materials on Mississippi's reaction to the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown decision. Location: Small Manuscripts 95-4 (1 folder). A selection of items are available in the Civil Rights Archive (search "Browse by Original Collection").
Reverend Wofford K. Smith Collection. 1962-1964. Contains the correspondence, ephemera, and publications relating to the 1962-1964 activities of the University of Mississippi's Episcopal Chaplain, Wofford K. Smith. 4 boxes.
Smithsonian Poster. Exhibit poster "We'll Never Turn Back" on civil rights photographs at the Smithsonian National Museum of History and Technology (1980). Location: Small Manuscripts Oversized 2014-2, Folder 8.
Speaker Ban Law Collection. 1961-1974. Material related to the approval and rejection of outside speakers on the University of Mississippi campus, including proposed visits by Robert J. Havinghurst, Martin Luther King Jr., John Roche, Norman Thomas, Robert Penn Warren, Charles Evers, and Tyrone Ettis. 6 boxes.
M.D.L. Stephens Collection. Typed manuscript entitled, "Yellow Rose of Schoona: A Historical Incident of the Pioneer Days of Calhoun County"- the story of a slave who masquerades as a white woman and marries a plantation owner. Location: Small Manuscripts 77-3.
Alfred H. Stone Collection. 1796-1944. A Mississippi cotton planter and lawyer who served as president of the Mississippi Historical Society, Stone wrote a number of articles on race. He also sat in the state legislature from 1916 to 1923 and on the State Tax Commission from 1932 until his death in 1955. Most of the collection relates to issue of race, including letters from African Americans, materials from the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, and clippings that date back to the eighteenth century (4 boxes). A selection of items are available in the Civil Rights Archive digital collection (search "Browse by Original Collection").
George M. Street Collection. 1914-1982. A native Mississippian, Street served in various administrative positions at the University of Mississippi from 1949 to 1982. A portion of this collection contains material related to the Meredith crisis, Robert F. Kennedy's campus address, and civil rights in general. 23 boxes.
Clark Hairston Taylor Collection. 1962-1963. Emma Clark Hairston was a student leader at UM in 1962 and graduated in 1963. The collection contains correspondence, periodicals, and campus newspapers related to the integration of UM. 2 boxes.
Lucy Turnbull Collection. Contains the University of Mississippi professor's correspondence and clippings, as well as literature from the Mississippi Council on Human Relations, the Oxford Council on Human Relations, the Southern Student Organizing Committee, the Congress on Racial Equality, Mississippi Council of Federated Organizations, and the American Association of University Professors. 2 boxes.
United States v. Mississippi Interrogatory Answers Collection. Consists of an excerpt (pages 387-1276) from the Record of Appeal in this 1962 voting rights suit. Provides detailed data and sources on the difficulties African American faced in exercising their rights to vote between 1890 and 1963. Since the subject of literacy was an important component, it also includes information on the segregated school systems in the state; the pages are available as a digital collection.
Western Union Telegram Collection. August-October 1962. Collection contains telegrams transmitted through the Oxford office during the 1962 integration crisis at the University of Mississippi. 5 boxes. A selection of items from this collection are available as a digital collection.
William Madison Whittington Collection. 1897-1962. A cotton planter and lawyer from Greenwood, Mississippi, Whittington served in the Mississippi Legislature until elected to Congress as Representative of Mississippi's third district in 1923 -- a seat he held for the next 25 years. Containing letters, legislation, publications, and speeches, a portion of the collection relates to race issues (anti-lynching bills, Fair Employment Practices Commission, Civil Rights). 316 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Murphey Wilds Collection. 1962-1963. Correspondence, news clippings, and ephemera collected by Rev. Murphey Wilds, a Presbyterian minister. Largely related to the 1962 riot at University of Mississippi and his "Day of Repentance" sermon on 7 October 1962 encouraging Mississippians to speak out against violence. 2 boxes.
J.D. Williams Collection. 1934-1974. Chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1946 to 1968, Williams was in office during the institution's integration in 1962. His papers include correspondence, clippings, and speeches. 34 boxes.
John Sharp Williams Collection. Contains letters (many copied from the John Sharp Williams Collection at the Library of Congress), photos, speeches, and clippings. With regards to issues of race, the collection includes correspondence with President Woodrow Wilson, Booker T. Washington, and others. 11 boxes. 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
Women of the Ku Klux Klan Collection. 1919-1938. Correspondence, published literature, and notes related to the female auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan. 1 box. Available as a digital collection.
Richard Wright Small Manuscripts. Contains letters, periodicals, and ephemera of the Mississippi-born author, including his written response to winning the Spingarn Award (the highest honor given by the NAACP for civil rights contributions). 3 boxes.
