 
hi I'd like to welcome everyone to the
brown bag today on women in politics the
archival record in Special Collections
my name is Jennifer Ford headed this
departments
before we get started out like to let
everyone know that the current
exhibition that's in this room
it's called hail to the chief an exhibit
on presidents
and Mississippi in presidential
elections we had to have a chance
after the talks a to be the history
mississippi in the presidency
in this round I'd also like to point out
the evaluation forms about program
on which are on your chairs we would
appreciate if you could complete the
forms about this experience
and place them in the box that we have
at next the doors you're leaving
if you need pencils me up when you visit
the front desk BTU's librarians always
have pencils
I would like to briefly introduce our
speakers today first about doctor lee me
quite she's held the post a political
papers archivist since 2005
she received her undergraduate degree
from Rhodes College in a master's it
doctor in History from the University
Mississippi friendly
our second panelist was born in
Washington DC she spent most of her
growing up time in Rockford Illinois
area
she graduated from Northern Illinois
University and taught school for three
years before moving to jackson
mississippi in 1968
because of her strong support public
schools and three boys
gushy mister been pretty busy man an
engine the Jackson school she became
very active in the integration of
schools there
she was present at the ESAA special
federal Title 1 program for math and
reading for the Jackson schools an
active in the PTA in schools where her
sons attended
she joined the League of Women Voters in
1969 and his
and as legislative director for the the
League of Women Voters mississippi was
very active in the education reform
during the 1980s
she now serves as president at the
league of women voters at Mississippi
doctor corman doctor corn or man a
former Ole Miss employees at the
University Extension office in a former
member the Oxford chapter did legal
Women Voters
she received an she graduated from a
mess with a master's degree in the
mid-nineteen sixties and received her
PhD
in higher education in 1975 she helped
establish the Oxford legal Women Voters
chapter and was involved throughout her
professional life in issues that
on that face women in the state she
retired as director the mississippi
Humanities Council
thank you again for John for coming
today and please join me in welcoming
our panel
the modern political archives is a
fairly new unit
is created in 2004 when the University
decide to consolidate all such
collections under the
mantle Special Collections among our
extensive holdings are the congressional
papers that pat harrison
Thomas G abernathy women Piddington
James
eastland up jamie whitten that cochran
trent lott in Roger wicker
we also have the judicial files at JP
Coleman or misspent
are miss hawkins and clawed at Clayton
these collections
are invaluable historical resources not
only do they provide researchers
insight into the careers a significant
public officials from this state
they also document the experiences and
grassroots opinions at Mississippi
residents
when the US Commission on Presidential
Debates
announced last November that the
University of Mississippi
would host the first 2008 presidential
debate between party nominees
Special Collections immediately began
planning
related activities including a small
series a brown bag programs
early on I decide to focus wanted these
programs
on three collections about women in
politics is finding aids were recently
revised in placed online
Billy Thompson collection the southern
women legislators collection
and the archive at the league of women
voters at Mississippi
I have to admit that I had no special
for knowledge as to the particular
relevance at this topic for the 2008
presidential campaign
my intention was to promote these three
collections to scholars
in the university community emphasizing
them as potential resources
for research before I begin that task I
would like to state that researchers
interested
in women in politics need not rely
simply on archival collections within
obvious concentration on that subject
material on that topic is scattered
through our throughout our holdings
and I'll show you a few items that that
women suffrage to demonstrate this point
from the plan Smith collection isn't
excerpt from 1896 letter
by Mary Eliza elisa curry Terry
mississippi
interspersed with other news she writes
her friend mark the plant in greenville
I have always taken interest in politics
the violently opposed to what
is known as women's rights i right all I
round the fireside in our children's
cradles
obviously curry is not a suffragist
however she proceeds to express your own
opinion on the current presidential
campaign
and the dominating topical currency
in the present present political model I
am a bolter
can't stand either McKinley or Brian at
the two like mckinley better because he
is for gold
or pretends to be I'm a warm friend
mister cleveland's I admire his
uprightness is for missing this courage
the things for which the mob be crowded
shouting so against him
are the very things I admire him for in
comparison with Brian
he is a pick me to a giant
in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries University mississippi
graduating seniors
had to complete a written thesis in
their field of study
a number of students read about politics
including a few
on the subject to voter franchise in
1892
SC gardeners debated the merits and
women suffrage in the state
finally the papers up at person who
represented mississippi in the US senate
between 1919 in 1941
includes a file labeled women suffrage
as with the previous example
opposition to the issues arose in part
because african-american women with also
attained
that in this car been letter from the
senator to another state politician
here simple poses an amendment two
mississippis Constitution
which is insulting and believes might
eliminate the perceived problem
let me turn now to the collections this
brownback is intended to showcase
beginning with the brief lesson on what
finding aids are
finding aids provide researchers me
click on
this one on
finding aids provide researchers with
descriptive information about a
collection including biographical
or historical accounts
and say you see here it's got all sorts
is introductory notes
before it gets down to box in folder
listings
and in some cases as with this
particular collection we go down to the
item level describing
every single document
in the past several years Special
Collections has made a major effort to
place many %uh this finding aids online
this objective increases the likelihood
that scholars from
anywhere in the world will discover
collections in our holdings
that might assist their research and to
determine whether it might be worthwhile
to make a special trip here Oxford
a course it also said assist those in
our community
up in making the same discoveries at
home or in their office without having
to make a special trip
to JD Williams library in case
anyone hears interested in conducting
further research on the material
described in this talk
I provided a green handout which lists
the web mail addresses for the finding
aids
the collections that are discussed today
missus doing Morgan vs the city donated
the lily Thompson collection to the
University in 1958
it contains papers related to the
Mississippi woman suffrage association
and equity League Jackson Lee Thompson
was an active member of both
organizations
created in 1897 the Mississippi woman
suffrage association
elected that year nearly Nugent
Somerville's president
bill Pierre knee is vice president and
Thompson the secretary
Thompson along with other members
prepared and distributed the group
literature in press releases
to state newspapers a superintendent
press work she stated original articles
are the myths about mississippi people
are interested in what mississippi
men and women think on the questions
rather than what is being done
elsewhere in 1912 Thompson became
president
at the Great she also served in several
leadership post for the equity legal
Jackson a local suffrage organization
this collection is relatively small
consisting of three boxes
and you can see that the finding a goes
down to the item level
the material dates from 1897 to 1938
includes correspondents manuscripts the
organization's publications including
annual reports and constitutions
newspaper clippings hand-written letters
with the minutes at the equity
and a scrapbook in here a few selections
from it
in April 19
