Criminal Justice & Parchman Penitentiary (Archives): Manuscript Collections

Thomas G. Abernethy Collection. Abernethy represented Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1943 and 1973. The collection includes several files on crime, the law, and law enforcement (454 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.  A small portion of the collection is available online

Academic Program Reviews Collection. Contains accreditation reviews of academic programs at the University of Mississippi. Box 4 holds reports from 1983 associated with studies in criminal justice, paralegal, law enforcement, and public administration in corrections (15 boxes).

American Family Association Collection. The American Family Association is a lobbying organization with a conservative Christian political and social agenda. The collection includes the group’s journals and circular letters, several of which concern crime (2 boxes).

Marge Baroni Collection. Includes four issues of Southern Coalition Report on Jails & Prisons from between 1976 and 1980 (Oversized Box 1) (20 boxes).

Cassette Tape and Reel Tape Collection. Includes a circa 1980s recording of a Mississippi NAACP meeting “Overcoming Crime and Providing Remedies.”

Citizens’ Council Collection. Includes two publications from this segregationist organization on crime (3 boxes).  The collection is available online.

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 (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.

Louis Cochran Collection.  Mississippi author Louis Cochran became an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935, working in DC, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. During World War II, Cochran served in the intelligence sections of first the Army Air Corps and later the Air Force. In the midst of his various careers, Cochran also produced a number of novels, and in 1966 he published his memoir FBI Man: A Personal History. The collection contains Cochran's correspondence between 1931-1932 and 1962-1965 which primarily focus on William Faulkner, although several letters also discuss Bilbo and fellow FBI agent Drane Lester. / (1 box).

David Cohn Collection. The papers of Mississippi author David Cohn (1897-1960) includes the subject folder "Parchman" with correspondence and song lyrics (Box 4, Folder 8) (25 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 files (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.

Conference Collection. Includes programs from law enforcement and criminal justice conferences held on the campus of the University of Mississippi (2 boxes).

Charles Dean Collection. Contains one letter from a Parchman prison inmate (Box 8, Folder 53). Finding aid available in Special Collections (32 boxes).

Detective Agencies Broadsides. Three early twentieth-century broadsides of detective agencies regarding pursuit and capture of criminals in Mississippi. Location: Small Manuscripts 2003-1.

James O. Eastland Collection. U.S. Senator from Mississippi for a few months in 1941 and from 1943 to 1978. Since Eastland chaired the Judiciary Committee, the collection documents criminal justice legislation and oversight of the Justice Department. File Series 3, Subseries 4 State/Local contains a large file on Parchman Penitentiary (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.  A small selection of items are available as a digital collection.

Porter L. Fortune Collection. Fortune served as chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1968 to 1984. Includes folders on “Crime Control Act, 1968 Study Committee” and “Criminal Justice Committee” (Box 194) (208 boxes).

Percy E. Foxworth Collection. Foxworth began working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1932. He served as Administrative Assistant to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover between 1935 and 1939 before becoming Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the FBI. He served as Assistant Director of the FBI from 1940 to 1941. He died in the line of duty in 1943 when his plane crashed in Surinam, Dutch Guiana. Collection consists of correspondence, photographs, a scrapbook, and a medal (4 boxes).

Percy E. Foxworth/Chambers Collection. Additional material on FBI agent Percy E. Foxworth. Contains correspondence, documents, photographs, diaries, and newspaper clippings (9 boxes).

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.

Graduating/Senior Theses Collection. Dating from 1878 to 1937, several of these handwritten and typed University of Mississippi senior theses focus on criminal law and criminal justice (8 boxes).

Evans Harrington Collection. Mississippi author Evans Harrington's father had served as chaplain at Parchman Penitentiary. Harrington later wrote the novel 1956 The Prisoners based upon his personal knowledge of the prison. The collection contains material related to this novel (42 boxes).

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.  The collection consists of materials related to his tenure on the bench (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. 

J.D. Henderson Collection. Henderson served as Justice of the Peace in Yazoo County, Mississippi from 1895-1926. This small collection an assortment of documents related to his official duties. Location: Small Manuscripts 79-4.

Katallagete/James Y. Holloway Collection. A 1972 issue of Katallagete (a publication of the Committee of Southern Churchmen) concentrated on prisons. The correspondence of editor James Y. Holloway and contributors during that period references the subject as well as law in relation to civil rights protests (37 boxes).

Knox Collection of Extremist Literature. This collection of extremist literature includes the Truth Seeker pamphlet “The Bible and Crime.” Finding aid available in Special Collections (12 boxes).

Lafayette County Records. Includes the District Attorney's Docket for 1925-1927.

“The Last Public Hanging in Oxford [Mississippi].” Copy of a manuscript on a 1901 crime and the 1902 trial. Location: Small Manuscripts 2006-1.

League of Women Voters of Mississippi Collection. Includes folder “Jackson League, Mayor’s Commission on Crime, 1982-1984” (Box 3). Location: Library Annex (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.  A small portion of the collection is available online.

H.L. Drane Lester Collection. A graduate of the University of Mississippi and its Law School, Drane Lester joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1932. He became the author of a radio program about the FBI, traveled frequently on speaking engagements, and contributed the Latin motto for the agency. At the time of his death in 1943, Lester held the position of Director of Public Relations at the FBI. The collection consists of eight scrapbooks. 

"Listing of Executions and Lynchings in the State of Mississippi, 1882-1959." Location: Small Manuscripts 2001-2.

McAlexander/Marshall County Collection.  1838-2009.  Includes research folder on the judiciary in Holly Springs and Marshall County, Mississippi (23 boxes).

Memories of Mississippi Essay Collection. Includes reminiscences of George D. Rives Jr. entitled "Christmas Day at Parchman." (1 box).

James H. Meredith Collection. Includes a 1981 letter from Yussef Malik Ali to Meredith concerns racially motivated attacks at Parchman Prison (Box 49, Folder 1); a folder “Youth Crime Prevention League of America – 1969” (Box 17, Folder 11); and a 1973 typed manuscript copy of the program for the State and National Conference of the Youth Crime Prevention League of America. (Box 23, Folder 6); type manuscript by William Thomas Henderson and Starkey Hudson “Deceitfulness and Infidelity among Black Lovers: A Major Cause of Crime and Mental Illness” (Box 23, Folder 8); includes 1990s open letter by Meredith entitled “The Solution to Our Domestic Crime Problem” (Box 81, Folder 5) (146 boxes).  A small portion of the collection is available online in the Integration Correspondence digital collection.

Mississippi Author Small Manuscripts. Among the items in this collection are two typed drafts of Louis Cochran's Hallelujah, Mississippi. A novelist, Cochran also served as an FBI agent in the 1930s (9 boxes).

Mississippi Economic Council Collection. Includes the 1955 publication Why the Justice of the Peace System Should Be Abolished and How to Do It and a 1956 piece A Short Discussion of the Mississippi Economic Council's Proposal for Abolition of the Office of the Justice of the Peace and Creation of a System of Magistrate Courts (1 box).

Mississippi Law Collection. One box of miscellaneous materials on the state’s legal system and law enforcement, including issues of Southern Coalition Report on Jails & Prisons (1 box).

Mississippi Periodicals Collection. Includes copy of Time (23 January 1950) with article “Shooter’s Chance” on Mississippi crime and criminals (6 boxes).

Mississippi State Penitentiary Lease.  Handwritten document dated 1868 granting the lease of the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Jackson, Mississippi to Edmund Richardson.  Location:  Small Manuscripts 92-1 (1 folder).  

Willie Morris Collection. Includes a photocopy of a 1990 letter from Abraham Reed at Parchman Penitentiary to Billy Brewer (Box 35, Folder 16) (173 boxes).

Sterling Plumpp Collection. The papers of the blues poet include a manuscript for a Chicago address entitled “Black on Black Crime” (Box 6). 

Mrs. R.E. Price Collection. Includes article by Mrs. R.E. Price entitled "Black Annie Laid to Rest at Parchman" for the 29 February 1972 issue of the Daily Corinthian (3 boxes).

John C. Satterfield/American Bar Association Collection. Satterfield served as the president of the American Bar Association between 1961-62. The collection contains several ABA files related to criminal law. Location: Library Annex (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.

Small Manuscripts 76-3.  Folder 9 holds biographical information and eulogies for Dr. Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929) who conducted original research in everything from trematode parasites to epidemics. He also proved that pellagra was a dietary deficiency disease after conducting research at Mississippi State Penitentiary.

Small Manuscripts 2001-2.  Folder 20 holds three photo postcards of the 1912 Mississippi River flood, including on entitled "Convicts Jacking Levee, Riverton, Miss. 4/13/12."

Small Manuscripts 2003-1.  1871 letter from Z.A. Philips, Superintendent of Mississippi Penitentiary in Jackson.

Small Manuscripts (Oversized) 95-7.  Among a series of publicity releases by the Mississippi Agricultural and Industry Board is "New Programs at Parchman Pays off in Men and Money."

Small Manuscripts Oversized Broadsheets & Broadsides.  Includes an 1886 Jackson, Mississippi wanted poster for Myer H. Levy, an escaped convict "of Jewish nativity"; and a 1968 Federal Bureau of Investigations broadsheet "Wanted by the FBI:  Interstate Flight -- Assault with Intent to Commit Murder:  Leroy Eldridge Cleaver."

Southern Coalition Report on Jails & Prisons Material. One folder containing various newsletters and articles on prisons in the South including “Mississippi’s Women Prisoners”; issues of Southern Coalition Report on Jails & Prisons dating from 1977 to 1979; and “Report of Penitentiary Committee on Inspection Tour of State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi, January 17 and 18, 1958.” Location: Small Manuscripts (Oversized) 95-7.

St. Michael's Farm for Boys Newsletter. Summer 1958 issue of publication from a Picayune, Mississippi facility for juvenile delinquents. Location: Small Manuscripts 95-1.

Martha Alice Stewart:  Time on Parchman Farm Collection.  1895-1939.  Martha Alice Stewart was head nurse at Mississippi State Penitentiary in the 1930s.  Collection contains documents related to the prison as well as personal and professional documents of Stewart's, and 210 photographs (2 boxes and 1 oversized item).  Photographs available as a digital collection. 

Alfred H. Stone Collection. Includes an 1849 Daily Delta clipping on negro crime and a reprint of Ulrich B. Phillips’ 1915 American Historical Review article “Slave Crime in Virginia (4 boxes).

Vertical File. Includes files on "Crime," “Crime and Criminals,” “Crime Prevention,” "Judiciary," "Law Enforcement," and “Prisons.”

J.D. Williams Collection. Contains 23 August 1954 correspondence from Chancellor J.D. Williams to Professor Stoke of the University of Washington about Professor Schur’s aborted attempt to investigate practices at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Box 4, Folder 5) (36 boxes).

Yalobusha County Justice Docket.  1910-1916.  1 box.

Yazoo County Justice Dockets.  2 boxes.