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Secret Societies & Fraternal Organizations (Archives): Manuscript Collections

Manuscript Collections

Aldrich Collection.  1798-1972.  Includes 1853 document of notification of rise to master mason for W.L. Treadwell (Box 4, Folder 7) (25 boxes).

Mrs. Emma Faser Birchett Collection.  1874-1988.  Includes two silk ribbons for Magnolia Commandry No. 2, Knights Templar of Vicksburg, Mississippi from 1874 and 1893 (2 boxes).

Henry Minor Faser Jr. Collection.  1923-1985.  Includes one mason ring (Box 1) (4 boxes).

Featherston Collection.  1824-1952.  Includes an 1880 certificate of membership in the Masonic Mutual Benefit Association of Mississippi for W.S. Featherston (Folder 1-45) and typed transcript of an 1850 letter from a University of Michigan student to his family discussing the Chi Psi secret society (Folder 9-14) (16 boxes).

Kenneth Goldstein Collection.  Includes 19th century Irish broadsides with ballads “Knights Templar,” “Sons of Levi,” “The Royal Robe.”  Available as part of the Kenneth Goldstein Broadsides digital collection.

Reverend Jesse L. Henderson Civil War Diary.  1864.  Diary includes a reference to a Mason meeting (1 box).

Howry Family Collection.  1838-1981.  Records of an Oxford, Mississippi and Washington, DC family that includes a journal with references to Masons (Box 2, Folder 39).

John Wesley Johnson Collection.  1853-1930.  Includes mention of a Masonic funeral in one of the diaries as well as an 1887 Mississippi Masons certificate (6 boxes).

Kelley Family Collection.  1839-1987.  Box 7 includes a number of Odd Fellows badges belonging to this Mississippi family (15 boxes).

Knights of Honor.  1878-1891.  Record book of Oxford, Mississippi Masonic Lodge (1 box).

W.T. Marshall Collection.  1833-1985.  Includes a Grand Lodge Ohio F. & A.M. Masons logo (Folder 2-26) (10 boxes).

McAlexander/Marshall County Collection.  1838-2009.  Includes a negative of an 1878 program benefit of Public Library in Mason Hall in Holly Springs, Mississippi (24 boxes).

James Howard Meredith Collection.  1950-1997.  James H. Meredith was the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi.  Includes a folder on “Orient Grand Chapter, Incorporated of the Eastern Star” (Box 12, Folder 7) (146 boxes).

Mississippi Organizations Collection.  1920-2003.  Includes a folder with miscellaneous material on Masons (2 boxes).

Franklin E. Moak Collection.  1943-1997.  Includes 1949 Couer de Lion Commander of Knights Templar Eye Foundation memos; 1969-70 mason documents; Grant Park Chapter No. 45 Royal Arch Masons documents from 1964-69; Scottish Rite, Lafayette County documents from 1969 and 1976 (Box 69) (85 boxes).

William Cowper Nelson Collection.  1843-1949.  Includes a 1901 letter from W.C. Nelson discussing his Knight’s Templar uniform (Box 5, Folder 1) (11 boxes).

Small Manuscripts.  Includes Order of the Eastern Star minutes 1872-1889 John Cain Lodge (1978-1, Folder 1); miscellaneous papers from 1925 related to the Order of the Eastern Star (1979-4, Folder 5)

William Forbes Stearns Collection.  1841-1866.  Papers of attorney and University of Mississippi law professor William Forbes Stearns.  Includes undated “Address to Worshipful Master and Brethren” (Box 1, Folder 20); undated letter from Stearns to the “Methodist Episcopal High Priest, King, and Scribe and Companion of Wilson Chapter No. 5, of R.A. Mason, Holly Springs” (Box 1, Folder 32); and an essay on masonry (Oversized Folder 1)  (2 boxes).

Vertical Files Collection.  Files of clippings on various topic, including "Masons," "Societies," "University of Mississippi -- Fraternities," and "University of Mississippi -- Sororities." 

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 9am - 4pm (except holidays)