James O. Eastland Collection

MUM00117

Subseries 1: Biography 

Scope and Content

Arranged sequentially, the folders in this one-box subseries contain biographical outlines of Eastland’s life. The senator or his staff composed some of these documents, while others are the work of outside sources like the annual reference work Who’s Who. In addition, the files contain correspondence relating to oral histories by Eastland, and in one case, the transcript of an interview conducted in 1971 that focuses primarily on the senator’s relationship with President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Container Listing

Subseries 2: Family Correspondence 

Scope and Content

The single box in this subseries contains Eastland’s family correspondence in an alphabetical arrangement. The bulk of the series is the personal correspondence of Eastland’s father, Woods C. Eastland. The family patriarch, Woods was a successful planter and lawyer. He was also a major political player in Mississippi. Elected as a district attorney from the eighth district in 1911, the elder Eastland made many connections in the political arena. He became particularly close to Paul B. Johnson, Sr., governor of Mississippi from 1940 to 1943. The Woods C. Eastland correspondence also indicates that he participated at a decision-making level in the federal and state job patronage system. Of particular interest is Woods C. Eastland’s correspondence from the year 1941, when Paul B. Johnson appointed James Eastland to serve the remaining term of the late U.S. Senator Pat Harrison. Congratulations poured in from friends around the country, and the correspondence includes instructions from father to son. Further correspondence from Woods C. Eastland discussing his son’s election campaigns appears in the Campaign Records subseries.

The Family Correspondence subseries also contains correspondence with Senator Eastland’s cousin, Oliver “Punk” Eastland; his cousin Woods Eastland and wife Lucille; another cousin named Woods and his wife, Bunny; his mother, Alma; his wife, Elizabeth; his granddaughter, Mary Elizabeth; his aunt, Ida Ormond; and his uncle William Lane Austin, who worked for the Census Bureau in Austin, Texas. Further correspondence with Ida Ormond (who served as postmistress of Forest, Mississippi) also appears in the State/Local subseries, “Forest, Mississippi -- Post Office” folder as well as in those files of the Patronage, Nominations, Employment, and School Recommendations subseries related to post office positions in Forest, Mississippi.

Container Listing

Subseries 3: Plantation Records 

Scope and Content

The three boxes that comprise the Plantation Records subseries contain the records of Eastland’s plantation outside of Doddsville in Sunflower County, Mississippi. The records are organized in chronologically from the 1930s through 1978. Most of the early materials are reports to Eastland in Washington on the daily running of the plantation, such as information on the weather and plantation supplies. The files also contain ledgers recording the plantation’s expenses, including monthly ledgers confirming workers’ wages on the plantation.

A compelling aspect of this subseries is its rarity. While several collections exist on plantations in the nineteenth century, records from the more recent past are less available to scholars. These files also provide an opportunity to trace changes in plantation operations from the late 1930s through the Civil Rights Era to the late 1970s.

At the end of the series is a large folder dedicated completely to correspondence and material on Charolais cattle, a particular interest of the senator’s.

Container Listing

Subseries 4: Law Firm Records 

Scope and Content

Before joining the U.S. Senate, James O. Eastland had a small law practice in Ruleville, Mississippi. As with most of Eastland’s career ventures, he was in business with his father, Woods C. Eastland. The four boxes of material in this subseries feature case files from Eastland’s law office in the 1930s and 1940s. The files are in alphabetical order by client or correspondent, and the folders retain the original subject headings of the law firm. Most of the practice dealt primarily with civil law and family law. In addition to strictly legal matters, the files also contain correspondence of a more political nature, such as requests for assistance in gaining government employment or receiving pardons or shortened sentences for imprisoned laborers.

Container Listing

Subseries 5: Financial Records 

Scope and Content

The four boxes in the Financial Records subseries contain records from 1924 through 1978, with the bulk of the material dating between the late 1930s and the 1950s. The documents include tax records, personal checks, and paid bills. During the latter years, gaps appear. Researchers interested in finances should also consult the Plantation subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 6: Donations 

Scope and Content

The files in the two boxes of the Donation subseries are arranged chronologically and contain letters and information related to Eastland’s charitable works. The bulk of the subseries concerns Eastland’s involvement in the CARE program that provided aid to Europe following World War II. Although the CARE program operated in several countries, the families that received Eastland’s packages all lived in Germany. Most of the documents from this period are letters from those families. Eastland also received Christmas and Easter cards from the families, which are located in the Holiday Cards subseries. Besides the CARE letters, this subseries includes appeals to Eastland from numerous charitable organizations, churches, and individuals for donations.

Container Listing

Subseries 7: Personal Correspondence 

Scope and Content

The two boxes in this subseries contain the personal correspondence of Senator Eastland during his tenure in office. The files are arranged chronologically. Contents are not related to Congress or financial matters. For example, the files contain letters received during Eastland’s stays in the hospital and congratulations upon the births of his children.

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 1. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will provide cross-referencing information for separated material.

Container Listing

Subseries 8: Holiday Cards 

Scope and Content

The four boxes in this subseries contain holiday cards and birthday greetings received by Eastland. Grouped first by holiday, files are then arranged chronologically. The last box, however, contains copies of correspondence from Eastland and his staff thanking givers of Christmas presents, lists of gifts presented by Eastland, and lists of cards sent or received by Eastland.

Container Listing

Subseries 9: Executive Secretary/Virginia Simmerman 

Scope and Content

At one time, Virginia Simmerman was a secretary in U.S. Senator Theodore G. Bilbo’s office. She then briefly worked at the War Department before taking a position as Eastland’s secretary in 1943. Simmerman remained with the senator until 1951. Most of the correspondence is personal in nature, with some requests for assistance with the government or discussions of Mississippi politics. Of particular note is one folder devoted to the christening of the steamship “Victory Pontotoc” in January 1945 at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland. A native of Pontotoc, Simmerman was chosen as the “Sponsor” for the occasion and thus assisted with the arrangements for the christening ceremony.

Container Listing

Subseries 10: Executive Secretary/Jean Allen 

Scope and Content

Employed as a secretary in the senator’s congressional office, Jean Allen worked for Eastland from 1945 until his retirement in 1978. The first box contains material related to the United States Senate Administrative Assistants and Secretaries Association from 1969 through 1978, in which Allen appears to have held the office of secretary. The association sponsored a number of social events and many of these functions included the attendance of senators. These files are arranged chronologically, as are the files of Allen’s personal documents contained in the second box. The exceptions to this chronological order are Folder 2-30 and the loose notebooks which contain handwritten, typed, and shorthand notes composed by or for Allen in the course of her office work.

Container Listing

Subseries 11: Guestbooks 

Scope and Content

The two boxes in this subseries contain the guest books signed by visitors to Senator Eastland’s congressional office in Washington, DC between 1953 and 1978.

Container Listing

Subseries 12: Invitations 

Scope and Content

Comprising twenty-one boxes of invitations received by Eastland, the files in this subseries are first arranged by the date of the event and then subdivided according to whether the senator accepted or declined the invitation or whether the material fails to indicate his response. Scattered invitations also appear in the Executive Branch Correspondence, Federal Correspondence, Congressional Correspondence, and Campaign subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 13: Schedules/Appointments 

Scope and Content

The three boxes in this subseries contain letters requesting appointments with the Eastland and scheduling calendars. The first part of the collection is a chronological arrangement of the correspondence; and the second part is a chronological arrangement of his calendars.

Container Listing

Subseries 14: Trips 

Scope and Content

Arranged chronologically, the files in this subseries contain correspondence, publications, and ephemera related to various excursions Eastland took to foreign destinations. Perhaps most noteworthy is the visit he made in 1945 with the Committee on Naval Affairs to view the aftermath of World War II. This trip inspired Eastland to urge the administration to adopt a more conciliatory reconstruction plan for Western Europe. In 1969, Eastland visited South Africa and Rhodesia, both under white control at the time. Larry Speakes, the senator’s press secretary, accompanied him, and Eastland actively publicized the trip.

Container Listing

Subseries 15: Telephone Memoranda 

Scope and Content

The single box of this subseries contains telephone memoranda from Eastland’s office. Most of the documents are undated and therefore reside in the last folder. Those few messages that do have dates are organized accordingly. Evidently, the office never adopted a formal message logging system, communicating telephone calls mainly through ad hoc typed and handwritten notes.

Container Listing

Subseries 16: Executive Branch Correspondence 

Scope and Content

The two boxes in this subseries contain correspondence between Senator Eastland (or his staff) and the executive branch of the federal government. Files are arranged sequentially by presidential administration, and then by the office of the correspondent. “White House Correspondence” folders include the exchange of letters with the president as well as with White House staff. These files also include separate folders containing White House press releases. Direct correspondence with presidents and vice-presidents after they have left office appear in folders at the end of their respective administration files. Copies replace all original documents signed by presidents and vice-presidents (originals reside in a VIP Restricted Access location).

The container list for this subseries contains a description of every document, including the names and titles of correspondents, dates, and a brief description of the content. Note that executive correspondence also appears in the subseries Patronage, Nominations, Employment, and School References, as well as in those of the Routine Requests subseries regarding appeals for Eastland’s assistance in gaining acceptance of invitations to various Mississippi events. Photographs of presidents and vice presidents reside in the Photographs subseries.

The contents of this subseries have been digitized in their entirety and are available as full-text documents in the James O. Eastland Collection Digital Collection.

Container Listing

Subseries 17: Federal Correspondence 

Scope and Content

The ten boxes in this subseries contain correspondence between Senator Eastland and various federal government departments, commissions, and agencies. The files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the department, commission, or agency. Reorganization of the government occurred several times in the course of Eastland’s career, so specific functional units might appear in various locations on the list and may have changed names.

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 3. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will provide cross-referencing information for separated material.

Container Listing

Subseries 18: Congressional Correspondence 

Scope and Content

The eleven boxes in this subseries contain Eastland’s correspondence with U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives, as well as various non-member congressional offices and agencies. Arranged alphabetically by the last name of the member of Congress, the inventory then provides a chronological, item-level description of each document. Eastland correspondence with congressional office and committee staff appears under the relevant member of Congress. Correspondence with no apparent date is placed at the end of each file.

The item-level description includes a brief summary of the topic under discussion. Subjects discussed range from routine birthday greetings; thank you notes for gifts; requests for signed photographs, surplus tickets, or publications; and discussions of committee assignments. Other letters may contain in-depth analysis of politics and legislation with attached memoranda and publications. Also present are drafts of tributes by Eastland honoring various colleagues.

Researchers should note that members of Congress often send letters addressed as “My dear Senator,” or “Dear Colleague” to either the entire Congress or to the membership of their respective legislative branch. However, those letters on the inventory designated as specifically addressed to Eastland were not necessarily sent to him alone. Also, note that Eastland occasionally received copies of correspondence between other members of Congress, as well as correspondence between other members of Congress and the executive branch or federal government agencies. Occasionally, correspondence between Eastland and constituents are filed in this subseries if the only topic under discussion is a particular member of Congress.

Several members of Congress may co-sign a letter. All correspondents are listed in the item-level description (if a typed name appears underneath the signature), but the relevant letter is filed under the individual whose name is on the letterhead (if that is unclear, the first name listed). Thus, researchers interested in a particular member of Congress should conduct a search throughout the entire subseries inventory, not just that individual’s file.

When apparent from the context of the correspondence, the item-level description provides the number of the senate (or house) bill (or resolution) under discussion, as well as the unofficial name of the legislation. Descriptive terms used are not consistent, so researchers should either read the entire subseries inventory or conduct numerous keyword searches on potential terms. The archivist made a concerted effort, however, to provide the specific name of the federal department/agency/office referenced in a piece of correspondence. In addition, the archivist avoided using government acronyms whenever possible, so conduct keyword searches on terms in the complete title of a government agency or program.

Correspondence between Eastland’s office and non-member congressional offices are at the end of the subseries. These files also appear in alphabetical order, but contain no item-level description as the majority of this correspondence is typically of a mundane, administrative nature.

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 3. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will provide cross-referencing information for separated material.

Most congressional correspondence pertaining to an individual employment application or nomination resides in the subseries Patronage, Nominations, Employment, and School References. Other congressional letters regarding constituent appeals for the senator’s assistance inviting a congressman to Mississippi events exist in the Routine Requests subseries. Letters co-signed by Eastland and other members of Congress are also in the Executive Branch Correspondence and the Federal Correspondence subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 19: Campaign Records 

Scope and Content

Senator James O. Eastland competed in six elections over the course of his career. These campaigns occurred in 1942, 1948, 1954, 1960, 1966, and 1972 (see chart below). The files in this subseries of forty-three boxes are arranged by election years, and this subseries is one of the few in the collection that preserves the original filing system of Eastland’s office. Within each campaign, the records are first organized alphabetically by counties, and these county files primarily contain letters of support to Eastland. The county files are followed by various subject folders such as newspaper clippings, mailing lists, voter’s lists, speaking engagements, policy statements, campaign literature, and form letters. The senator also prepared a campaign for 1978, and this subseries contains those files, as well as documents on his retirement announcement and subsequent public reaction.

The extensive time span covered by these files documents transformations in the conduct of political elections. Files from 1942, for instance, include logs from county managers reflecting a more personal and grassroots style. Also of interest is a letter from U.S. Senator Theodore Bilbo urging Eastland to join the armed forces during World War II and Eastland’s response that Bilbo’s motives were not patriotic but purely political as Eastland was then running against Bilbo’s handpicked candidate. With each successive campaign (except for the years 1948 and 1960 when Eastland ran unopposed), the amount of documentation increases. After the 1972 election, the Senate investigated Eastland’s campaign for taking an illegal contribution. Eastland’s letters of the time, however, state that all members of Congress were audited after the 1972 campaign, and although cleared, Eastland’s staff endeavored to ensure that similar accusations would not reoccur.

Examination of the campaign subseries would permit a researcher to determine the network of behind-the-scene power brokers that existed throughout the state of Mississippi from the 1940’s through the 1970’s. The subseries contains many letters from Eastland's political allies keeping him abreast of local political developments while allies and constituents probed Eastland for his stance on issues of the day, such as segregation, civil rights, and agricultural policies.

Favor files and oversized campaign items appear at the end of the subseries. In many cases, favor files are identical to constituent case files in which Eastland provided assistance for his constituents. Eastland’s staff preserved copies of case file letters (or, failing that, accumulated index cards retaining the pertinent information) in self-styled “favor files,” which were later used to compile campaign mailing lists. The relatively smaller size of the favor files, however, indicates that not every case file automatically became a favor file – thus, the preservation of these duplicate copies for interested researchers.

Eastland Elections

• 1942 – Eastland v. Wall Doxey in the Democratic primary (Until the 1960s, Mississippi was essentially a one-party state and Eastland’s serious opposition was in the party primary, not the general election).

• 1948 – Eastland ran unopposed

• 1954 – Eastland v. Carroll Gartin in the Democratic Primary

• 1960 – Eastland ran unopposed

• 1966 – Eastland (D) v. Prentiss Walker (R) in the general election

• 1972 – Eastland (D) v. Gil Carmichael (R) in the general election

• 1978 – Eastland chose not to run. Thad Cochran (R) won the election against Maurice Dantin (D)

Container Listing

Subseries 20: Politics 

Scope and Content

Arranged chronologically, the four boxes of files in this subseries contain correspondence, clippings, and other ephemera of a strictly political nature at both the state and national level. Please note that material related to Eastland’s own election campaigns as well as papers related to his decision to retire in 1978 are located in the Campaign Records subseries. Further material of a political nature also appears in the following subseries: Mississippi Office/C.B. Curlee and Wilburn Buckley Files; Executive Secretary/Virginia Simmerman Files; Congressional Correspondence; Executive Branch Correspondence; and Issue Correspondence. Newspaper and magazine clippings on political matters appear in the Clippings subseries.

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 5. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will cross-reference information on separated material.

Container Listing

Subseries 21: Mississippi Office/C.B. Curlee and Wilburn Buckley 

Scope and Content

Senator Eastland employed C.B. Curlee and Wilburn Buckley as his representatives within the state of Mississippi. As such, both men had occasion to relay political information and opinions in their correspondence to the senator. Curlee’s letters, in particular, contain lengthy and detailed observations on Mississippi campaigns and political maneuverings. Further Curlee correspondence is in the Campaign Files subseries. Both Curlee and Buckley also operated as case workers intermediating between individuals (or locales) and the federal government. Files in this one-box subseries are arranged chronologically.

Container Listing

Subseries 22: Patronage, Nominations, Employment and School References 

Scope and Content

This subseries contains fifty-nine boxes of documents related to employment and school admission. A broad category, these files include information on individuals ranging from aspirants to the U.S. Supreme Court to students seeking summer employment as manual laborers in the Forest Service. The jobs under consideration include federal and state positions as well as careers in private business. Students sought the senator’s assistance in their applications to colleges, graduate schools, medical schools, and law schools. The files also contain correspondence from individuals wanting a position on Eastland’s congressional and committee staffs. Note that appointments to military service academies such as West Point and Annapolis appear in the Academy Appointments subseries.

Files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the job applicant, and may contain resumes, correspondence with the applicant and interested parties, and constituents expressing endorsement or opposition to the candidate or nominee. The inventory identifies the prospective employer in the form of a named government agency/department or private business, and the time span of the documents in each file. Requests for government positions (either state or federal) within Mississippi include the name of the community.

The last five boxes possess documents not filed by an individual name, but by the position sought. This includes correspondence that discuss several individuals vying for the same job without endorsement of a specific applicant, as well as applicants for jobs with Eastland’s office or committees.

Senator Eastland formally held patronage appointments to the U.S. Capitol Police. Although the files indicate that he on rare occasions influenced the selection of constituent’s children as congressional pages, he typically replied to such requests that he did not possess that particular appointment patronage.

Between 1836 and 1969, the president appointed local postmasters nominated by that state and district’s U.S. Representative (if he or she belonged to the same political party) or a state committee composed of the president’s supporters. Even after civil service tests became a part of the process, an applicant would still seek the support of their senators who could essentially “veto” an appointment by delaying Senate confirmation indefinitely. Post office patronage files often contain significant discussions of a political nature that extend beyond the applicant’s party involvement. At times, a significant percentage of a community would write letters endorsing one or another competing job seeker, and a number of these letters provide quite lengthy commentary. For researchers interested in a particular community, post office patronage files can be a rich source of local history and the state’s political network.

In addition to postal positions, Eastland appeared to have considerable influence with regards to state and local Farmers Home Administration jobs and made U.S. Marshal appointments within Mississippi.

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 6. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will cross-reference information on separated material.

Container Listing

Subseries 23: Presidential Inagurations 

Scope and Content

Arranged sequentially, the files in this one-box subseries hold a range of material related to presidential inaugurations. These typically include engraved invitations addressed to the senator, requests from constituents for tickets to various inaugural events, correspondence with inaugural committees, and related publications.

Container Listing

Subseries 24: University of Mississippi 

Scope and Content

The University of Mississippi sponsored two receptions paying tribute to Senator Eastland and raising funds to establish law school scholarships in his honor. The first of these occurred on 8 March 1976 in Jackson, Mississippi. The second followed a year later on 20 April 1977 in Washington, DC. The four boxes in this subseries detail the planning of the dinners, as well as solicitations for donations to fund the Eastland Scholarship in Law. The subseries is organized first by event and concludes with information on the scholarship. Many of the files and documents in this collection originate with the university and not Eastland’s office. However, because the university stored the material together with the Eastland Collection and ownership remained unclear, the archivist made the decision to incorporate the university records within the auspices of the James O. Eastland Collection.

Container Listing

Subseries 1: Photographs, Negatives, and Slides 

Scope and Content

Twenty-seven boxes contain the photographs, negatives, and slides that comprise Subseries 1. The first twenty-two boxes hold photographs while Box 23 contains negatives and Box 24 stores two binders of slides and one microfiche.

Dating from the 1940s through 1978, the images contain portraits and candid shots of Senator Eastland and other noteworthy individuals; family; Mississippi constituents visiting the Washington, DC office; campaign activities; pictures of livestock, agriculture, and forestry; committee hearings; the signing of legislation; Joint Sessions of Congress; Eastland addressing and attending various events and functions; and trips abroad.

The container list for this particular subseries is presented in the form of a chart. Each row represents an image with column fields for box and folder numbers; descriptions (which include not only the image but also all attached documents and transcripts of all inscriptions); date; creator; image type (black and white, color, negative, etc.); size; and notes (information on condition and the quantity of duplicates available).

Photographs removed from manuscript files will carry information regarding the original location of the image (File Series, Subseries, Box, and Folder data). For cross reference purposes, each document file contains a removal sheet informing patrons of the existence of a photograph removed for preservation reasons and identifies the new locale in the Photographs subseries.

All images are in archival sleeves and folders. Boxes are located in a Cold Room which maintains temperature and humidity settings required by these formats. Patrons wishing access to these images must provide advance notice at least two business days prior to a visit so that curators may acclimate images to normal temperature and humidity settings before transporting boxes from a separate facility to the Special Collections Reading Room. There will be no exceptions to this policy.

The archives is currently digitizing all photographs in this subseries and slowly making them available online in the James O. Eastland Collection Photographs Digital Collection. This project will be completed by the end of 2015. In the mean time, researchers should examine the descriptions in the container list rather than relying exclusively on the digital collection.

Container Listing

Subseries 2: Audio Recordings 

Scope and Content

Audio recordings in the Eastland Collection include campaign jingles and advertisements, speeches, news interviews, oral histories, committee hearings, and unsolicited recordings sent to the senator by constituents and citizens across the nation. The James O. Eastland Collection possesses a total of thirty-four reel-to-reels, forty-three cassette tapes, and five 78 rpm discs.

In January 2007, the Modern Political Archives received a $1,000 grant from the University of Mississippi Provost’s Associates and Partners Grants Program to restore and create digital copies of eight audio reel-to-reels in the Eastland Collection. The audio laboratories at Cutting Corporation completed the work one month later.

In 2010, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded a $450,000 grant to the University of Mississippi to preserve and digitize all recordings in the Modern Political Archives. This grant permitted the archive to complete the digitization of all audio recordings in the collection by May 2011. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

For preservation reasons, the original recordings are stored in a climate-controlled facility, and access is restricted. However, digital counterparts are available as part of the James O. Eastland Digital Collection. Although descriptions of the recordings are available to anyone on the internet, not all of the recordings are accessible on the web due to copyright.  Researchers may only review restricted recordings via onsite computer terminals in the J.D. Williams Library. Access status is noted at the end of each recording’s description below.

The list of digital files below provides the unique identifier (comprised of a format and numerical/alphabetical sequence); title; date; brief description; time length of the recording; and an access statement. More information is available via the metadata provided in the James O. Eastland Collection Digital Collection.

Container Listing

Subseries 3: Audiovisual Recordings 

Scope and Content

Audiovisual recordings in the James O. Eastland Collection include government and special interest documentaries, campaign broadcasts, speeches, television interviews and appearances, public service announcements, and television programs on political issues. The collection has fifty-one 16mm films, twenty two-inch quad tapes, two umatic tapes, and one 35mm film.

For preservation reasons, the original recordings are stored in a climate-controlled facility, and access is restricted. However, digital counterparts are available to researchers in the James O. Eastland Collection Digital Collection.

In 2010, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded a $450,000 grant to the University of Mississippi to preserve and digitize all the recordings in the Modern Political Archives. This grant permitted the archives to completely digitize all audiovisual recordings in the Eastland Collection by May 2011. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Although descriptions of the recordings are available to anyone on the internet, not all of the recordings are accessible on the web due to copyright. Researchers may only review restricted recordings via onsite computer terminals in the J.D. Williams Library. Access status is noted at the end of each recording’s description below.

The list of digital files below provides the unique identifier (comprised of a format and numerical/alphabetical sequence); title; date; brief description; time length of the recording; and an access statement. More information is available via the metadata provided in the James O. Eastland Collection Digital Collection.

A number of the audiovisual recordings in the collection are duplicates, and the digital collection only makes available one of these copies.

Container Listing

Subseries 4: Clippings 

Scope and Content

This subseries contains twenty-four boxes of clippings from newspapers and journals dating between 1910 and 1978, with the bulk of the material from between 1941 and 1978. Many of these clippings are news stories that either feature or at least mention Senator Eastland. Other clippings are on subjects of interest to Eastland and his staff. In addition, this subseries includes clippings forwarded to the senator by constituents and other interested parties; however, most examples of this latter group reside in Issue Correspondence. Aside from direct coverage of Eastland, frequent topics are agriculture, civil rights, communism, the Internal Security Subcommittee, the Judiciary Committee, and politics. Researchers interested in Eastland speeches should be aware that press coverage often pre-dates and post-dates the month in which the event transpired.

Files are organized chronologically by month/year and then alphabetically by subject. Undated material appears at the end in Box 23. The very last item is a folder of printouts of Eastland news stories between 1969 and 1978 from the New York Times Information Bank. Oversized material resides in Box 24.

The quantity of clippings in Subseries 2 is not consistent across Eastland’s congressional tenure, and some years are quite simply sparse – in particular, 1950-1954, 1958-61, and 1963. The volume increased dramatically after 1968, and 1978 boasts the largest amount.

Further clippings are available in the Scrapbooks subseries. The Audio Recordings subseries also contains several recordings of Mississippi staff reading local papers aloud over the telephone to Washington, DC personnel.

Finally, archives staff photocopied all newsprint clippings onto archival bond paper to ensure preservation and decrease space requirements. To these copies, archives staff added bibliographic notations citing publication, date, and page number when the information was available and not apparent on the copy itself.

Container Listing

Subseries 5: Floor Speeches 

Scope and Content

The ten boxes of this subseries contain drafts of speeches and occasionally research material for speeches that Eastland delivered on the floor of the Senate. They are arranged chronologically and then by topic. Several of the speeches are marked “not delivered” when curators could not determine through comparison with the Congressional Record that Eastland had delivered the speech on the floor of the Senate. Undated material appears at the end. Most of the speeches are concerned with agriculture, communism, and civil rights. The number of speeches increased in the 1950s following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision when Eastland became a leading Senate proponent for segregation. As Eastland aged, he spoke less on the floor of the Senate, particularly after his 1972 election campaign. In fact, many of the speeches that Eastland gave in the years that followed were tributes to retiring and deceased colleagues. Similar tributes to colleagues also appear in the Congressional Correspondence and Speeches subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 6: Speeches 

Scope and Content

The nine boxes in this series contain copies of speeches given by James O. Eastland off the Senate floor. The senator delivered many of the speeches before various Farm Bureau and other agriculture-related groups, mostly in the state of Mississippi. Other common events at which Eastland spoke include Citizen Council meetings, Chamber of Commerce meetings, graduation and commencement ceremonies at high schools and colleges, building and monument dedications, and various festivals, mostly in Mississippi. Also included are transcripts of Eastland’s tributes to other political figures. Occasionally, a member of Eastland’s staff would deliver a speech when the senator could not fulfill his speaking obligations. Speech topics often included agriculture, race relations, and communism.

Files are arranged chronologically when the date of the speech is identifiable. The undated files are at the end of the series. The last folder contains a list of speeches delivered between 1969 and Eastland’s retirement in 1978. The number of speeches grew in the 1970s, especially during election years. Researchers interested in campaign speeches should also see the Campaign Records subseries. Newspaper accounts of Eastland’s speeches are found in the Clippings and Scrapbook subseries. Constituent reactions to some speeches are located in the Issue Correspondence subseries and requests for printed speeches in the Routine Requests subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 7: Scrapbooks 

Scope and Content

This subseries contains nineteen boxes holding thirty-one scrapbooks dating from 1945 through 1978. Although mostly consisting of newspaper clippings, the formats involved also include photographs and a variety of documents. Several of the scrapbooks document an array of topics, although many concentrate on themes that include the Internal Security Subcommittee; the Judiciary Committee; the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelters; Mississippi politics; and the integration of the University of Mississippi. These volumes also focus on specific aspects of Eastland’s career, such as his 1954 campaign, his position as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and his time as Acting Vice President of the United States. Two 1978 scrapbooks relate to “Jim Eastland Day” in Meridian, Mississippi.

Many of the scrapbook covers have been discarded due to mold. Curators made photocopies or digital images of any covers or spines containing textual information and placed these copies with the original scrapbook pages. In two cases, mold had infested the interior of the scrapbooks: for the scrapbook in Box 1, curators made photocopies of the entire scrapbook; and for scrapbook B in Box 6, a digital copy is available in the James O. Eastland Collection Digital Collection (only accessible via J.D. Williams Library Computer terminals).

Container Listing

Subseries 8: Original Political Cartoon Drawings 

Scope and Content

Like other politicians, Senator James O. Eastland occasionally received original drawings of the political cartoons featuring himself that had appeared in print. The newsprint versions of these and many other cartoons may be discovered throughout the Clippings subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 9: Press Releases 

Scope and Content

The five boxes in this subseries contain the press releases issued by Eastland’s congressional office. The releases are arranged chronologically and then alphabetically by subject. As the senator gained seniority, the media became more interested in his opinions, and the office produced more press releases. During the 1940s, the majority of the releases concerned agriculture, World War II, and veterans affairs. Agriculture continued to be a primary topic, but during the 1950s and 1960s, many of the releases dealt with civil rights. After becoming chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee, releases covered communism, the judiciary, law enforcement, and foreign policy. Many of the press releases intended for distribution to Mississippi newspapers publicize federal grants awarded within the state.

Container Listing

Subseries 10: Newsletters and Publications 

Scope and Content

This one-box subseries contains items that were printed at the request of, and distributed by Senator Eastland's office. During the early 1970s, Eastland followed the lead of several colleagues by producing a newsletter for his constituents entitled The Eastland Report. The office did not seem to keep a regular schedule for issuing this newsletter and efforts seem to have ceased after 1974. Other publications include pamphlets from Eastland's 1972 reelection campaign, printed speeches delivered by Eastland, and reprints of the Congressional Record. Two of the published speeches -- “The Barter of Our Heritage” and “The Miracle of Water” – were distributed during Eastland’s 1948 and 1954 election campaigns, respectively.

Container Listing

Subseries 11: Public Relations Correspondence 

Scope and Content

The two boxes in this subseries contain the correspondence of Senator Eastland or his office staff with various media outlets throughout the state and the nation between 1941 and 1978. This correspondence includes solicitations of media outlets to receive Eastland’s audio reports, requests for the senator to appear on television or radio, and requests for photographs of the senator for media files. The subseries is arranged chronologically by year.

Container Listing

Subseries 12: Published Writings and Interviews 

Scope and Content

The one box of this subseries contains manuscript drafts and copies of articles written by Eastland between 1946 and 1977. It also includes published interviews in which the senator participated. Topics tend to focus on agriculture, communism, law enforcement, civil rights, and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Articles and interviews are arranged together chronologically. It is possible that further articles by the senator appear in Clippings subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 1: Issue Correspondence 

Scope and Content

This subseries contains 166 boxes of letters on general policy and political subjects from Eastland’s Mississippi constituents as well as interested organizations and individuals from around the nation and the world. The correspondence dates from 1937 to 1978, with the bulk from 1941 to 1978. Frequent topics include agriculture and cotton, civil rights, communism, the economy, education, energy, the environment, foreign policy, health care, immigration, industry, labor, media, the military, natural resources, various individual political figures, Social Security, taxes, transportation, and veterans, as well as various government branches and institutions like the judiciary, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Researchers interested in constituent reaction to specific federal projects within the state of Mississippi should also examine the State/Local subseries.

Files are organized alphabetically by general subject followed by year and subcategory if necessary. Undated material appears at the chronological end of the general subject category. Researchers should check a variety of subject terms when searching the file lists. For instance, researchers interested in Mississippi’s water resources might try “Water” as well as “Department of the Interior,” “Natural Resources,” “Corps of Engineers,” “Civil Works,” and “Tennessee Valley Authority.” This subseries also includes files specifically about Eastland, including “Eastland Addresses” (constituent responses to speeches or interviews by Eastland) and “Eastland Profiles.”

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 7. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will cross-reference information on separated material.

Container Listing

Subseries 2: Academny Appointments 

Scope and Content

Members of Congress are authorized to nominate candidates for appointment to the four United States military service academies (U.S. Military Academy at West Point; U.S. Naval Academy; U.S. Air Force Academy; and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy). The twenty-one boxes in this subseries document requests for constituent appointments to these academies. Files are organized alphabetically by the name of the individual requesting appointment. Folder titles also indicate the specific academy involved as well as the year. Folders more generally related to an academy or a mix of academies are located at the end of the subseries.

Access Restrictions

Boxes 19, 20, and 21 are open to researchers. However, due to privacy and confidentiality concerns, the files of individuals will remain closed for seventy-five years after the last dated document for a specific file. Individuals may access their own files upon providing proof of identification, and the files of the deceased are also open to researchers.

Container Listing

Subseries 3: Routine Requests 

Scope and Content

This subseries contains sixteen boxes of routine matters involving Senator Eastland’s constituents. These transactions include a variety of requests such as the provision of basic information on government programs, agencies, or policies; biographical information about the senator; autographs; recipes; campaign buttons and bumperstickers; U.S. flags; copies of addresses or speeches made by Eastland; copies of government publications; letters of introduction; assistance with hotel reservations in Washington, DC; campaign memorabilia; and White House tour passes. Also included are routine correspondence between Eastland and his constituents to convey condolences, congratulations, thanks, greetings, get well wishes, and invitations.

Files are organized alphabetically by topic and then by year. Undated material appears at the chronological end of the general subject category.

Container Listing

Subseries 4: State/Local Files 

Scope and Content

The sixty boxes in the State/Local Files subseries are arranged in alphabetical order, primarily by community or county name, although bodies of water, organizations, institutions, and topical themes are also represented. Most of the files contain information and correspondence related to federal grants and constituent requests for the same, although the records also include requests for Eastland to intervene in the federal bureaucracy on behalf of a community or group. Consequently, this subseries holds files documenting the senator’s interaction with various branches of the state government.

File Series 3, Subseries 4 can provide a rich source of information for state and local historians. Researchers interested in a particular locale should check files under the community name, county name, nearby bodies of water, and scan the list of folders that begin with “Mississippi” for likely candidates. Curators placed documents related to more than one specific locale in a topical “Mississippi” folder.

To assist researchers interested in a specific subject, records for locales are also subdivided by a fairly standardized set of subcategories, such as Airport, Education, Flood Control, Heath Care, Highways and Roads, Post Office, and Sewage and Water. Folders for locales without a subcategory contain information that did not relate specifically to one of the standardized subcategories or that held data on more than one subcategory.

Researchers interested in flood control should also examine files related to “Agriculture” for information on watersheds and Soil and Conservation Districts. Other documents on the subject may appear in files on specific bodies of water.

A substantial amount of civil rights material also appears in general locale files as well as subcategories on “Education,”“Hospitals,” “Health Care,” and specific military facilities.

Disaster relief researchers may also find relevant information on agricultural disaster relief due to weather and flooding in “Agriculture” files.

Researchers interested in specific banks, hospitals, and community development programs should also check out the Corporate Case Files subseries.

Container Listing

Subseries 5: Case Files 

Scope and Content

This subseries consists of 296 boxes of case files. Congressional offices create case files when constituents and other individuals seek the assistance of congressional members in negotiating a benefit, ruling, or reimbursement for personal gain from the federal government (and occasionally from state governments and private businesses). Examples will include constituents having problems with the Social Security payments or Veterans benefits, employers wanting visas for workers to enter the country, and farmers wanting loans from the Farmers Home Administration.

Files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the individual seeking assistance. Additional descriptive information includes the name of the government department or agency involved as well as the dates on the files documents. The last eight boxes in the subseries hold loose and boxed index cards with individual case information.

Access Restrictions

Case files often contain data such as Social Security numbers, military service records, and detailed medical and financial information. For privacy and confidentiality concerns, the Modern Political Archives restricts access to case files for seventy-five years after the last dated document in each file. With proof of identity, individuals may access their own file prior to that release date. In addition, researchers may request the files of those individuals that are deceased.

Container Listing

Subseries 6: Immigration Case Files 

Scope and Content

The ten boxes in this subseries contain immigration case files maintained by Senator James O. Eastland’s staff. Files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the immigration sponsor and the folder description includes the date of the content followed by the name of the potential immigrants (if discernible). Since Eastland chaired the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration and Naturalization Subcommittee, many of the case files document investigations or legislation required to grant visas or citizenship.

Access Restrictions

Due to the presence of investigative content derived from the subcommittee in many of the files, access will follow congressional guidelines. By Senate rules, committee records are closed for twenty years and investigative records for fifty years. To abide by this rule, the Modern Political Archives will permit researcher access to all files whose last dated material is older than fifty years. As a consequence of these restrictions, researchers will not have access to the boxes in this subseries – only those folders where fifty years has lapsed.

Container Listing

Subseries 7: Corporate Case Files 

Scope and Content

The Corporate Case Files subseries consists of twenty-three boxes that record the actions of Senator James O. Eastland’s office on behalf of corporations, companies and small businesses (located largely in Mississippi or with interests in the state) requesting help and intersession with various federal agencies. Contents date from Eastland’s 1941 appointment to the Senate to his retirement in 1978 and includes requests for aid from family farms, agribusinesses, natural gas and oil companies, lumber companies, national corporations, and small businesses.

Files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the business entity. Folder descriptions include the government agency involved as well as the dates of the content. Many of the corporate cases are from World War II and its aftermath and concern matters with the War Production Board, Office of Price Administration, or the distribution of war surplus after the war. Others files document efforts to receive loans from the Small Business Administration or favorable action from the Farmers Home Administration.

Researchers should also examine the State/Local subseries for additional files with information on banks, public utilities, local telecommunication companies, hospitals, and development corporations.

Container Listing

Subseries 8: Displaced Persons Files 

Scope and Content

In 1946, President Harry S. Truman ordered that immigration preference with regards to restrictive quotas be given to displaced persons from World War II. The 1948 Displaced Persons Act authorized the admission of certain European displaced persons into the United States for permanent residence. Individuals and families helped by this act included victims of persecution by the German Nazi government or those who fled persecution and could not return to their country because of fear of persecution due to religion, race, or political opinions. Applicable locations were Germany, Austria, Italy, or Czechoslovakia. By 1952 when the Displaced Persons Commission oversight concluded, over 80,000 Jews had immigrated to the United States.

This subseries consists of one box of files maintained by Senator James O. Eastland’s office on the placement of displaced person in Mississippi. Files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the immigration sponsors, most of whom were farm and plantation owners (occasionally a manufacturer) in North Mississippi and the Mississippi Delta who sought replacement labor for the African American labor force that had moved out of the state during and after World War II. Folder descriptions also include the location of the sponsor as well as dates for the content. The time period covered ranges from 1948 to 1950.

This subseries preserves the original filing system adopted by Senator Eastland’s staff. However, it is possible that similar displaced person files appear in the Case Files and Immigration Case Files subseries. The following subseries contain additional material on the subject of displaced persons: Federal Correspondence; Congressional Correspondence; Photographs, Negatives, and Slides; Clippings; Floor Speeches; and Bills.

Container Listing

Subseries 9: Administrative Assistant/Courtney C. Page 

Scope and Content

A native of Pace, Mississippi, Courtney C. Pace was born in 1904. He attended the University of Mississippi Law School along with James O. Eastland, and the two men served together in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1928 to 1932. Pace returned home to Cleveland, Mississippi after his term ended and opened a small legal practice. In 1941, the newly appointed U.S. Senator Eastland asked Pace to join his staff. Pace returned to Washington DC when Eastland won election in 1943, remaining on staff until both men retired in 1978.

Pace was Eastland’s closest advisor and assumed the position of Administrative Assistant (a post created by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946). As Administrative Assistant, Pace was responsible for the management of constituent services. Box 1, Folder 10 contains several drafts of an article on the role of congressional Administrative Assistants that Pace submitted unsuccessfully to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950. The manuscript offers historical insight into the early years of Eastland’s office. The first few folders also hold several pieces of correspondence between Eastland and Pace regarding the 1942 campaign. Most of the files in the three boxes of this subseries are concerned with Pace’s personal and financial correspondence.

Pace’s correspondence on congressional subjects appears throughout the Eastland Collection. Researchers particularly interested in Pace should review recordings of his oral interview in the Audio Recordings subseries. The Clippings subseries also contains several folders on Pace.

Container Listing

Subseries 10: Nut Files 

Scope and Content

As with almost any public official, Senator James O. Eastland occasionally received correspondence from individuals who appeared to suffer from mental illnesses that caused paranoia and a compulsion to write at length on a wide array of subjects. Eastland’s staff often appended the term “Nut” or “Nut File” to such letters and the folders that contained them.

The single box in this subseries preserves this classification and organizes the correspondence by year with undated material at the end. The archives added correspondence of a similar nature uncovered during processing.

Container Listing

Subseries 1: Bills 

Scope and Content

The nine boxes in this subseries contain drafts of bills that were introduced during James O. Eastland’s tenure in the U.S. Senate. In addition to the printed bills, folders may also hold memorandums, correspondence, speeches or remarks about the bills, and miscellaneous material.

Note that some of the legislation found in this subseries will only refer to the congressional calendar, such as “90th congress, 1st session” while other bills will list a date. Every odd-numbered year on January 3rd, a new Congress begins that lasts for two years. The first year in each Congress is designated as “1st Session” while the next is “2d Session.” Bills are designated by the chamber in which they were introduced and by a number (therefore “H. 37” is the thirty-seventh bill introduced in the House during that particular Congress; “S.” corresponds to bills introduced in the Senate).

Files are organized alphabetically by general subject followed by year and occasionally a subcategory. Undated material appears at the chronological end of the general subject category. Many pieces of legislation that travel through Congress may have required more than one congressional term to develop. For this reason, researchers should examine years preceding the passage of a particular bill.

Box 9 contains lists of bills introduced by Senator Eastland or co-sponsored by him between 1941 and 1978.

Please note that bills and related material may be located in other subseries throughout the collection, particularly in the Congressional Correspondence subseries or in the various committee and subcommittee subseries: Agriculture; Claims; Education and Labor; Expenditures in the Executive Departments; Judiciary; Internal Security; Post Office and Post Roads; Territories and Insular Affairs.

Container Listing

Subseries 2: Voting Record 

Scope and Content

The six boxes in this subseries contain the voting record of James O. Eastland during his career in the U.S. Senate. It also includes ratings by outside groups of Eastland's voting record, comparisons to other Senators, days of absence, Congressional Quarterly weekly reports, excerpts from the Congressional Record, and correspondence concerning Eastland's voting record. Some of the material summarizes Eastland's voting record according to subject. Boxes one through five are arranged chronologically by a single year followed by voting records representing multiple years. Box six contains oversized voting records.

Container Listing

Subseries 3: Polls 

Scope and Content

This subseries, consisting of one box, contains poll data gathered from state, regional and national polls. The polling data is arranged chronologically and the sponsor included in the folder description.

Container Listing

Subseries 4: Subject Files 

Scope and Content

This subseries contains thirteen boxes of material acquired by Senator James O. Eastland’s office on a variety of subjects. Most of the files hold publications although some may include clippings and correspondence. The bulk of the files date from the 1940s to 1970s although some material predates his Senate tenure. Frequent topics include agriculture, civil rights, communism, foreign policy, the judicial system, labor, taxes, transportation, and youth organizations. There are also files focused on individuals or specific groups such as the Citizens Council, the Coordinating Committee on Fundamental American Freedoms, and the Federation for Constitutional Government.

Files are organized alphabetically by general subject followed by year and subcategory if necessary. Researchers should check a variety of subject terms when searching the file lists. For example, researchers interested in World War II might try “World War II” as well as “Military” and “Post-War Planning.”

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 8. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will cross-reference information on separated material.

Container Listing

Subseries 5: Agriculture and Forestry Committee 

Scope and Content

U.S. Senator James O. Eastland was a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry from 1951 until his retirement in 1978 (long before that time he had become the second highest ranking Democrat on the committee). He chaired the Environment, Soil Conservation, and Forestry Subcommittee and held membership on three other subcommittees: Agricultural Production, Marketing, and Stabilization; Agricultural Research and General Legislation; and Rural Development.

The files contain correspondence and other documents related to the transactions of the Agriculture Committee. Consisting of two boxes, files are arranged chronologically ending with several folders of undated material.

Sam Thompson served as Eastland’s long-time legislative assistant on agricultural matters, and some of the correspondence is addressed to Thompson instead of Eastland. Researchers may want to consult Sam Thompson subseries for related agricultural material.

Further agricultural documents and files are located throughout the collection, particularly in the following subseries: Plantation Records; Executive Branch Correspondence; Federal Correspondence; Congressional Correspondence; Photograph, Negatives, and Slides; Audio Recordings; Audiovisual Recordings; Clippings; Floor Speeches; Speeches; Press Releases; Newsletters and Publications; Published Writings and Interviews; Issue Correspondence; State/Local Files; Case Files; Bills; and Voting Record.

A few large items are stored separately in Eastland Oversized Box 1, Folder 9. A removal sheet included among the regular sized files will cross-reference information on separated material.

Container Listing

Subseries 6: Claims Committee 

Scope and Content

In 1944, U.S. Senator James O. Eastland received appointments to four committees: Claims, Education and Labor, Immigration, and Post Offices and Post Roads. The reorganization of Congress in 1946 decreased the number of Senate committees, and the Judiciary Committee absorbed the responsibilities of the Claims Committee with regards to the enactment of private laws. Private laws are for the relief of individuals, small groups of specific persons, corporations, and institutions.

This subseries is comprised of one box with papers related to private claims bills from 1943 and 1946.

Researchers interested in private bills should consult Judiciary Committee subseries for additional material.

Container Listing

Subseries 7: Education and Labor Committee 

Scope and Content

In 1944, Eastland received an appointment to Education & Labor. The following year he dropped his membership in that committee and added Judiciary, Naval Affairs, and Territories & Insular Affairs. This subseries on the Education and Labor Committee consists of one box. Few, if any, of the documents are from Eastland’s tenure on the committee. Most of the material dates from 1942.

Container Listing

Subseries 8: Expenditures in Executive Departments Committee 

Scope and Content

Dating from 1947 to 1951, this subseries consists of one box of files related to the Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments: membership lists, correspondence, bills referred to the committee, staff memoranda, miscellaneous material, press releases, clippings, transcripts of hearings, and galleys of committee publications.

Senator Eastland was a member of the Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments from 1946 until 1951, when he transferred to the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. According to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments considered all matters relating to the reorganization of the executive branch of government as well as all budget and accounting measures other than appropriations. It received reports from the Comptroller General and made recommendations to the Senate based upon these reports.

Much of the material in this subseries relates to the reorganization of the Executive Branch under President Harry S. Truman, an investigation into the disposal of surplus military property, and an investigation on homosexuality in the government.

Container Listing

Subseries 9: Judiciary Committee 

Scope and Content

U.S. Senator James O. Eastland joined the Judiciary Committee in 1945. He assumed the chairmanship in 1956 and retained leadership until his retirement in 1978. During Eastland’s tenure as chair, the jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary as outlined by Senate Rule XXV included the following:

• Judicial proceedings, civil and criminal, generally

• Constitutional amendments

• Federal courts and judges

• Local courts in territories and possessions

• Revision and codification of the statutes of the United States

• National penitentiaries

• Protection of trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies

• Holidays and celebrations

• Bankruptcy, mutiny, espionage, and counterfeiting

• State and territorial boundary lines

• Meetings of Congress, attendance of Members, and their acceptance of incompatible offices

• Civil liberties

• Patents, copyrights, and trademarks

• Patent Office

• Immigration and naturalization

• Apportionment of Representatives

• Measures relating to claims against the United States

• Interstate compacts generally.

Changes to Rule XXV in 1977 transferred jurisdiction over meetings of Congress, attendance of Members, and acceptance of incompatible offices to the Rules and Administration Committee.

Eastland chaired the following Judiciary subcommittees: Civil Rights, FBI Oversight, Internal Security, and Immigration and Naturalization. As chairman of the full committee, Eastland was an ex officio member of all subcommittees and a regular member of the Criminal Laws and Procedures, Separation of Powers, and Constitutional Amendments subcommittees.

The eighteen boxes in this subseries contain minutes, action sheets, correspondence, clippings, legislation, and other records related to the activities of the larger Judiciary Committee and its individual subcommittees. However, due to their size and scope, Internal Security Subcommittee records are located in a separate subseries. Although the files of the Judiciary Committee subseries possess separate folders on subcommittees, researchers should realize that documents related to these subcommittees will be found throughout general Judiciary Committee folders. Finally, immigration case files of the Immigration and Naturalization Subcommittee are located in a separate subseries, although other material related to the Immigration and Naturalization Subcommittee are available in the Judiciary Committee subseries.

Please note that the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives and Records Administration is responsible for the official committee records of the U.S. Senate and will maintain a more comprehensive set of papers than will be found in the Eastland Collection. By law, Congress retains ownership over committee records, and the Modern Political Archives has returned any items in this Eastland Collection subseries identified as official committee records, maintaining photocopies in their place.

Access Restrictions

By Senate rules, committee records are closed for twenty years and investigative records for fifty years. To abide by this rule, the Modern Political Archives will permit researcher access to all files whose last dated material is older than fifty years. Files related to investigations and confirmations will remain closed for fifty years; those not concerned with investigations or confirmations are open. The Political Papers archivist will transfer restricted files that have passed the fifty-year mark to open status once a year in January (i.e., in January 2015, researchers will have access to material in those files dated 1964 and earlier). As a consequence of these restrictions, researchers will not have access to several of the boxes in this subseries – only the folders. The access status of each folder in this subseries is identified in the list below. The Modern Political Archives has adopted a conservative approach and applied a 2028 open date for undated documents, not necessarily because the content dates from 1977.

The Modern Political Archives identified a number of classified documents within this subseries during processing. Those documents have been removed and sent to the Information Security Oversight Office (ISSO) of the National Archives and Records Administration for declassification review. Their removal is documented within relevant files with a form. When declassified and returned, the Modern Political Archives will replace said items in the appropriate file (ISSO has already returned a number of these documents which will be marked as “declassified”).

Container Listing

Subseries 10: Internal Security Subcommittee 

Scope and Content

The Internal Security Act of 1950 authorized the creation of the Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws. A subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, it was more commonly referred to as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS). The purpose of the subcommittee was to study and investigate (1) the administration, operation, and enforcement of the Internal Security Act of 1950 and other laws relating to espionage, sabotage, and the protection of the internal security of the United States and (2) the extent, nature, and effects of subversive activities in the United States “including, but not limited to, espionage, sabotage, and infiltration of persons who are or may be under the domination of the foreign government or organization controlling the world Communist movement or any movement seeking to overthrow the Government of the United States by force and violence.” Similar to the House Un-American Activities Committee in its mission, the Internal Security Subcommittee had the power to subpoena witnesses and documents.

Senator James O. Eastland joined the subcommittee at its inception in 1951 and became chair in 1955. He remained chair until the Senate abolished the subcommittee in 1977. Investigations during the 1950s focused on Soviet activity in the United States; communist subversion in the federal government (particularly in the Department of State and the Department of Defense); U.S. foreign policy in the Far East; and subversion in several industries (defense, telegraph, newspaper, television, radio, and entertainment) and organizations (civil rights groups, labor unions and education); and immigration. By the 1960s and 1970s the scope included illegal drugs, urban and campus riots, Latin America, and Cuba in particular.

The subseries consists of thirty-one boxes. Boxes 1 through 6 hold the administrative files of the subcommittee arranged chronologically by year and subdivided into the following categories: administration, legislation, financial records, press releases, publications, clippings, and personnel.

The subcommittee also maintained ongoing investigative files on subjects, organizations, and individuals. The contents of these files were often accumulated over a period of twenty years or more. Some of the data contained within the files may predate the formation of the committee. Content may include newspaper and journal clippings, intelligence reports from a variety of agencies as well as subcommittee staff, correspondence, staff memoranda, subcommittee correspondence, transcripts of hearings, and published subcommittee hearings and reports. Boxes 7 through 15 contain investigation files on individual people arranged alphabetically. Not all the individuals listed were under investigation. Some could be informants, witnesses, or subjects of queries from others outside the committee. The contents include publicly available information as well as data acquired through investigations. Boxes 15 through 31 hold the investigation files on organizations and specific subjects. These files are arranged alphabetically.

It is important to note that this arrangement has been imposed by the archives. Although some of the material arrived at the repository in preexisting subcommittee files which the archives preserved, many other documents allocated to this subseries were scattered throughout the papers in a disorganized state.

The separate Internal Security Subcommittee Library subseries provides a list of publications held in the library of the subcommittee as well as any documents discovered within these volumes.

Please note that the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives and Records Administration is responsible for the official committee records of the U.S. Senate and will maintain a more comprehensive set of the Internal Security Subcommittee’s papers than will be found in the Eastland Collection. By law, Congress retains ownership over committee records, and the Modern Political Archives has returned any items in this Eastland Collection subseries identified as official committee records, maintaining photocopies in their place.

Access Restrictions

By Senate rules, committee records are closed for 20 years and investigative records for 50 years. Due to the heavily investigative nature of the Internal Security Subcommittee, the Modern Political Archives will only permit researcher access to all files whose last dated material is older than 50 years. However, researchers will have access to all files labeled “Clippings,” “Financial Records,” “Legislation,” “Press Releases,” and “Publications,” regardless of age. The Political Papers archivist will review all restricted files once a year in January to transfer documents that have passed the fifty-year mark from “closed” to “open” files of the same name (i.e., in January 2015, researchers will have access to material in those files dated 1964 and earlier). As a consequence of these restrictions, researchers will not have access to many of the boxes in this subseries – only the folders. The access status of each folder in this subseries is identified in the list below. The Modern Political Archives has adopted a conservative approach and applied a 2028 open date for undated documents although the content may not necessarily date from 1977.

The Modern Political Archives identified a number of classified documents within this subseries during processing. Those documents have been removed and sent to the Information Security Oversight Office (ISSO) of the National Archives and Records Administration for declassification review. Their removal is documented within relevant files with a form. When declassified and returned, the Modern Political Archives will replace said items in the appropriate file (ISSO has already returned a number of these documents which will be marked as “declassified”).

Container Listing

Subseries 11: Internal Security Subcommittee Library 

Scope and Content

The U.S. Senate eliminated the Internal Security Subcommittee in 1977. In 1977-78, Senator James O. Eastland began transferring his congressional papers to the University of Mississippi. Among the items shipped were publications from the subcommittee’s library.

Due to storage space concerns and the wide availability of many titles, the volumes were not preserved in toto. However, this subseries provides a complete bibliographic listing of the publications received as well as descriptions of stamps, inscriptions, or enclosures. The archives did retain documents enclosed within the Internal Security Subcommittee’s library volumes and these appear in Box 1 of this subseries. The bibliographic citation that follows will indicate the appropriate folder number.

Call numbers and links to catalog records are provided when copies of the books are in the stacks of the J.D. Williams Library or Special Collections. Researchers should note that these are not necessarily the same copies that were in the Internal Security Subcommittee library or even the same editions. If the publications were previously held by the Internal Security Subcommittee, the library catalog record will note James O. Eastland’s name in the collector field.

Container Listing

Subseries 12: Correspondence with Judges 

Scope and Content

As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, James O. Eastland often corresponded with federal and state judges (particularly those from his home state of Mississippi). The two boxes in this subseries hold files organized alphabetically by the name of the judge. Further correspondence with judges and other files on individual judges may appear elsewhere in the collection, including the following subseries: Judiciary Committee; Patronage, Nominations, Employment, & School Recommendations; Issue Correspondence; Clippings; and Internal Security Subcommittee.

Container Listing

Subseries 13: Post Offices and Post Roads Committee 

Scope and Content

In 1944, Senator James O. Eastland received an appointment to the Post Offices and Post Roads Committee, and the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 eliminated the committee. Records of this committee in the Eastland Collection are scant, although researchers may locate documents and files related to the Post Office in the following subseries: Congressional Correspondence; Federal Correspondence; Patronage, Nominations, Employment, and School References (for postmaster appointments throughout Mississippi); Clippings; Press Releases; Issue Correspondence; State/Local Files; and Case Files.

Container Listing

Subseries 14: Territories and Insular Affairs Committee 

Scope and Content

U.S. Senator James O. Eastland was a member of the Committee on Territories and Insular Affairs for a brief period from 1945 to 1946. The committee’s jurisdiction covered the various territories of the United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands). The one box in this subseries holds a small amount of correspondence and transcripts of two committee hearings.

Container Listing

Subseries 15: Senate Democratic Policy Committee 

Scope and Content

The Senate Democratic Policy Committee serves as an advisory board for Democratic leadership in the Senate, providing research, communications, and policy formulation. Senator James O. Eastland joined the committee as an ex officio member when he became President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 1972. The one box in this subseries only holds copies of the “Senate Legislative Activity Index” distributed periodically by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

Container Listing

Subseries 16: Legislative Aide/Frank Barber 

Scope and Content

Raised in Hattiesburg and Laurel, Mississippi, Frank Barber worked on U.S. Senator James O. Eastland’s staff while attending Law School at George Washington University where he received his degree in 1957. After passing the bar in both the District of Columbia and Mississippi, he worked as counsel for the General Legislative Investigating Committee in Mississippi (1958-1959); served in the Mississippi State Senate (1960-1964); held the post of executive assistant to the Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr. (1964-1968); and acted as attorney for the Mississippi Agriculture and Industrial Board (1968-1972).

In 1972, Barber returned to Eastland’s staff as a legislative aide where he remained until the senator’s retirement in 1978. Subsequently, he served as general counsel to Mississippi’s Contractors Board (1981-1989); Secretary of the Mississippi State Senate (1989-1991); Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Mississippi (1992-1994); and a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals from 1995 until his death in 1997.

The one box in this subseries contains Barber’s correspondence from 1974 to 1978.

Container Listing

Subseries 17: Legislative Aide/Bill Simpson 

Scope and Content

In 1968, William G. “Bill” Simpson joined U.S. Senator James O. Eastland’s staff as a legislative aide. Prior to that time, Simpson served as a member and chair of the Mississippi Marine Conservation Commission; member of the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission; president of the State Port Authority at Gulfport, Mississippi; and special assistant to Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr.

Simpson graduated from St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, attended both Marion Military Institute and the University of Mississippi before graduating from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Port, New York. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy.

The one box in this subseries contains both personal and professional correspondence.

Container Listing

Subseries 18: Legislative Aide/Sam Thompson 

Scope and Content

Born in Attala County, Mississippi, Sam Thompson grew up on farms in Tallahatchie, Quitman, and Sunflower counties. He began farming in U.S. Senator James O. Eastland’s hometown of Ruleville in 1934 and bought a farm in Leflore County in 1938 producing cotton, soybean, grain, and cattle. Thompson organized the Leflore County Soil Conservation District in 1946 and served on its board for twenty-two years. He was Southeastern Area Vice President of the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts for 1952-1953.

For fourteen years, Thompson served as a Delta field man for the Mississippi Farm Bureau. In 1953, the Bureau assigned him to assist Eastland on the subject of acreage disputes in the West. Thompson joined the senator’s staff a year later as a legislative aide. His responsibilities focused on agriculture and natural resources that involved the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the public works of the Corps of Engineers. At various times, Thompson would serve as an employee of the Senate’s Agricultural and Forestry Committee.

In 1952, Thompson initiated the first water rights legislation in the state, chairing the Mississippi Interorganizational Committee for Water Resources. He served continuously on the Mississippi Board of Water Commissioners from 1956 to 1978. In 1957, he called a meeting in Jackson of water officials from twelve southern states, leading to the organization of the Southern Water Resources Conference which he chaired for five years. Thompson was also one of the organizers of the Interstate Conference on Water Problems of the Council of State Governments, and he chaired the Water Resources Council during the year it began to coordinate Federal Water Agency activities.

Recognized as one of the nation’s leading water and soil conservation authorities, Thompson addressed numerous local, state, regional, and national groups interested in water resources and water rights. He also appeared before congressional committees on these matters representing the state of Mississippi, the Delta Council, the Farm Bureau, and State Legislative Councils. He initiated the idea that led to the establishment of loans for rural water associations and small communities to provide potable water and sewage systems. Thompson also helped to develop disaster legislation that would provide financing for farmers with crop losses due to floods, droughts, tornadoes, and other natural disasters.

The one box in this subseries contains personal papers and professional correspondence dating from 1955 to 1978 that expands beyond Thompson’s work in the congressional office to include his broad activism in water and agriculture organizations. Researchers will find more of his correspondence in the Agriculture Committee and State/Local Files subseries.

For more information on the man, see In Honor of Sam Thompson: A Lifetime of Dedicated Service to Mississippi Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural America [1978]. Call Number: S484 I54 1978.

Container Listing

Subseries 19: President Pro Tempore 

Scope and Content

In 1972, the Senate elected Eastland as president pro tempore to fill the vacancy left by the death of Allen J. Ellender. In the absence of the vice president, the Constitution provides for a president pro tempore to preside over the Senate. Since World War II, tradition has dictated that the senior member of the majority party assumes the position.

The president pro tempore is third in the line of succession to the presidency, following the vice-president and the Speaker of the House. Twice, Eastland ascended a notch in the succession -- in 1973 when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned and again in 1974 after President Richard M. Nixon's resignation.

When the Democrats are in the majority, the president pro tempore is an ex officio member of that party's leadership, attending its conference, policy committee, and steering committee meetings. As president pro tempore, Eastland directed enforcement of rules governing the use of the Capitol and Senate office buildings and made appointments to an assortment of national commissions (usually acting upon the advice of the majority and minority leaders). During joint sessions of Congress, the president pro tempore shares presiding duties with the Speaker of the House. Eastland retained the title of president pro tempore until his retirement.

The single box in this subseries contains two large files of congratulatory letters Eastland received upon his election to the post, followed by a chronological arrangement by year. Many of the documents concern appointments to national commissions.

Container Listing