This page contains a list of collections in the Archives & Special Collections on the Mississippi Delta. Consider utilizing the following resources for additional material:
- Consult the Blues Subject Guide, the 1927 Mississippi River Flood Subject Guide, and the Criminal Justice & Parchman Penitentiary Subject Guide for collections on those topics.
- Mississippi Delta newspapers are included on the Journalism and Mass Media: Newspapers page.
- The J.D. Williams Library is both a Regional Federal Depository for government publications on Mississippi as well as a State Depository . Consult the guides for U.S. Federal Documents & Resources and Mississippi State Government.
Thomas G. Abernethy Collection. 1924-1975. Thomas G. Abernethy served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1943 to 1973, during which time his voting district consisted of parts of the Delta. Collection includes files on agriculture, civil rights, flood control, constituent correspondence, political & campaign files, and subject files among other subjects (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. Photographs and a recording are available online as a digital collection.
Allan Boyce Adams Collection. 1916-1955. Allan Boyce Adams was a native of Coahoma County, Mississippi and served in World War I in the 42nd Rainbow Division under General Douglas MacArthur (3 boxes).
Jennie and Lucia Adams Collection. 1845-1944. Papers of Jennie and Lucia Adams, owners of Cedar Mound Plantation outside Clarksdale, Coahoma County, Mississippi (13 boxes).
American Association of University Women Collection. 1899-2000. American Association of University Women (AAUW) promoted education and equality for all women. Contains material related to AAUW branches in the Mississippi Delta (122 boxes).
James E. (Jack) Bales Collection. 1950s-2004. Photocopies of items by and about author Willie Morris, a native of Yazoo City who wrote often about his hometown. Jack Bales is the author of several books about Morris (7 boxes).
Beckwith/Yerger Collection. 1869-1930. Includes the papers of the Yerger family of Greenwood, Mississippi as well as material related to the Morgan, Kimbrough, and Southworth families who were Mississippi Delta landowners. Includes business and legal papers as well as items related to Confederate commemorative activities (7 boxes).
Mrs. Emma Faser Birchett Collection. 1874-1988. Among other Vicksburg, Mississippi related material, the collection includes handwritten manuscript entitled "Life of Rev. James Angel Fox" (Episcopal rector of St. Alban's Church in or near Vicksburg (d. 1881) (2 boxes).
Blanton-Smith Collection. 1844-1988. Correspondence of the Blanton family who owned several plantations near Greenville, Mississippi (2 boxes).
Herschel Brickell Collection. 1911-1959. Herschel Brickell grew up in Yazoo City, Mississippi before becoming a literary editor for the New York Evening Post and general editor of the O. Henry Memorial Prize Short Stories. Finding aid available in Special Collections (61 boxes).
Virginia B. Callon Collection. 1917-1973. Documents (primarily financial and legal) related to the life of Virginia B. Callon of Shelby, Bolivar County, Mississippi (1 box).
Carroll County Cemetery Records. Records of information taken from gravestones in various cemeteries in Carroll County, Mississippi (2 boxes).
Hodding Carter Periodicals. 1948-1969. Assorted periodicals with articles by and about Hodding Carter, editor of the Greenville Delta-Democrat Times (1 box).
Citizens' Council Collection. 1947-1979. Material related to Citizens' Council, an organization devoted to maintaining segregation with a large membership in Greenwood and the Delta (3 boxes). This collection has been digitized in its entirety and 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. 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.
David L. Cohn Collection. 1937-1961. Born in Greenville, Mississippi, David L. Cohn wrote several memoirs [God Shakes Creation (1935) and Where I Was Born and Raised (1948)] as well as popular books on American history and culture (25 boxes).
David L. Cohn Periodicals. 1937-1959. Assorted periodicals with articles by and about David L. Cohn of Greenville, Mississippi. (1 box).
Miriam Adair Dabbs Collection. 1948-1955. Correspondence of Miriam Adair Dabbs of Clarksdale, Mississippi with Hodding Carter and Katherine Bellamann (1 box).
Joseph E. Davis Collection. 1865-1869. Correspondence and other documents of Joseph E. Davis (brother of Confederate President Jefferson Davis) and his former slave Benjamen Montgomery regarding Davis's plantations near Vicksburg, Mississippi (3 boxes).
Louis Dollarhide Collection. 1950-1973. Includes correspondence from Delta State College employees to Louis Dollarhide, an English professor at the University of Mississippi (47 boxes).
Ellen Douglas Small Manuscripts. 1961-2005. Material related to live and work of author Ellen Douglas who resided in Greenville, Mississippi for most of her life (1 box).
Tony Dunbar Manuscript. Circa 1990. Manuscript of Anthony P. Dunbar's book Delta Time: A Journey Through Mississippi. (1 box).
James O. Eastland Collection. 1930-1978. A resident of Sunflower County, Mississippi, James O. Eastland represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate briefly in 1941 and from 1943 to 1978. Among the collections are plantation records; law firm records; correspondence with federal, state, and local officials as well as constituents; political and campaign files; and state and local files on projects and grants. Portions of the James O. Eastland Collection remain closed to researchers while curators process the papers. However, File Series 1: Personal/Political, File Series 2: Public Relations, and portions of File Series 3: Constituent Files are now open to scholars. A small selection of items from the collection are available as a 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 Collections Reading Room. Please contact Special Collections at (662) 915-7408 to specify requested material.
James E. Edmonds Collection. 1886-1934. James E. Edmonds grew up in Rosedale, Mississippi (3 boxes).
Farm Security Administration Collection. 1935-1945. Mississippi photographs taken during the Great Depression by the Farm Security Administration, including several Mississippi communities and counties (2 boxes).
Shelby Foote Small Manuscripts. 1947-1999. Assorted items related to author Shelby Foote, a native of Greenville, Mississippi. (1 box).
Gage Family Collection. 1830-1937. Materials documenting the Gage family of Holmes County, Mississippi (3 boxes).
Dr. John T. Grantham Collection. 1934-1950s. Papers of Dr. John T. Grantham, a chiropractor in Yazoo City, Mississippi (2 boxes).
Sidney Graves Collection. 1936-2008. Personal and business papers of Sid Graves, director of the Carnegie Public Library in Clarksdale, Mississippi and founder of the Delta Blues Museum in that community. Graves was also instrumental in the formation of the Tennessee Williams Festival (25 boxes).
Fannie Lou Hamer Collection. 1965-1978. Fannie Lou Hamer worked on the Marlowe Plantation in Sunflower County, Mississippi where she was fired in 1962 after attempting to register to vote. She became a major figure in the civil rights movement and a founding member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (4 boxes).
William Franklin Hamilton Collection. 1859-1860. Autograph book kept by William Franklin Hamilton of Carrollton, Mississippi while a student at the University of Mississippi (1 box).
Pat Harrison Collection. 1883-1943. Personal and congressional records of Pat Harrison of Gulfport, Mississippi who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919 and in the U.S. Senate from 1919 to 1941. Collection includes public addresses, clippings, scrapbooks, press releases, legislation files, subject files, political & campaign files, and correspondence with federal, state, and private individuals (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.
J. Watson Henderson Collection. 1862-1864. J.W. Henderson owned a small plantation in Panola County, Mississippi and served in Company B of the 30th Mississippi Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers during the Civil War (1 box).
Mr. and Mrs. John B. Hood Collection. Circa 1920. Notebook and scrapbook related to Colonel John B. Hood and his wife. Hood lived at Matagorda Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi and commanded Hood's Texas Brigade in the Confederate Army (1 box).
Joseph M. Howorth Collection of James O. Eastland Correspondence. 1927-1941. Joseph M. Howorth practiced law in Greenville, Mississippi and James O. Eastland resided in a plantation outside Ruleville, Mississippi when not representing Mississippi in the United States Senate (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.
Felton M. Johnston Collection. 1925-1972. After growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Felton M. Johnston worked in various staff positions in Congress before serving as Secretary of the Senate from 1955 through 1964 (27 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.
James T. Jones Collection. 1861-1869. James T. Jones was a member of the 12th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, the "Sardis Blues," during the Civil War (1 box).
Ed King Collection. 1939-1983. Reverend Edwin King was an active figure in the Mississippi civil rights movement and a leader in the Mississippi Freedom Democrat Party. Collection includes material related to the Delta Ministry (2 boxes).
King and Anderson Plantation Collection. 1882-1982. King and Anderson Plantation was a 17,000-acre plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi founded circa 1830 and continuously operating well into the 20th century. Collection contains seventeen ledgers detailing operating expenses of the plantation and one ledger on the operations of the Yazoo Delta Mortgage Company (18 ledgers).