Manuscripts Overview
The Manuscripts Division of the Special Collections Department of Mississippi State University Library contains more than 640 collections of the papers of individuals, families and organizations. MSU’s manuscript collection is the largest collection of historical manuscripts in a university in Mississippi. These collections primarily document Mississippi and the South from the early 19th century to the present. However, because many of the collections were deposited by the descendants of early settlers of Mississippi, the collection also contains much primary material on Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and other states of origin of these early settlers. More than one third of the collections contain Civil War materials such as diaries, letters, muster rolls and other original materials.
Included in the collection are 31 mass communications collections, including those of contemporary Mississippi journalists Bill Minor and Sid Salter, the papers of Turner Catledge, Hodding Carter, Clayton Rand, Kenneth Toler, Henry Meyer and others representing a variety of newspapers and time periods. Other major mass media collections include the records of WLBT-TV, the papers of Eugene Butler, founder of Progressive Farmer and Southern Living magazines, the records of the Godwin Advertising Agency of Jackson and the editorial cartoon collection of Mark Bolton. These mass communication collections provide excellent documentation of 19th and 20th century local, state, regional and national events and personalities.
Other collections held in the Division include the records of Mississippi organizations, including many records of organizations in Starkville and Oktibbeha county from the early twentieth century to the present. Organizational records such as the those of the Delta Ministry and the Tombigbee Council on Human Relations and contain important documentation on the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Business records such as the records of the Delta and Pine Land Company, the largest cotton plantation in the world, document economic conditions in Mississippi and the South. A growing number of records of Mississippi’s architectural firms, including the records of Mississippi’s first registered architect, MSU graduate N.W. Overstreet, document Mississippi’s built environment and the business of architecture.
Although literary materials have not been a collecting emphasis, the receipt of the papers of MSU alumnus John Grisham, received continuously since 1989 and now totaling some 34 cubic feet, have brought much attention to the library. Materials from the Grisham Papers are on display in the library’s John Grisham Room, opened in May of 1998. Other literary materials include manuscripts of Mississippi authors Beth Henley, Thomas Hal Phillips and Jack Kean.
The types of materials contained in the collections are as varied as the people, families and organizations that created them. Included are correspondence, political and campaign records, deeds, wills and other legal records, business and financial records, diaries and journals, photographs, sound recordings, videotapes, printed materials and family memorabilia.
The Manuscripts Division contains a diverse collection of primary materials to be used by students, faculty and other researchers for the production of papers, theses, dissertations, journal articles and other scholarly products. Manuscripts are not currently included in the library’s online catalog. Special catalogs, indexes and guides to MSU’s manuscript collections are found in the Special Collections Reading Room and are being added to the department’s website.
