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Finding Aids >> MUM00189

Finding-Aid for the Tim Ford Collection (MUM00189)

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This collection is stored at an off-site facility. Researchers interested in using this collection must contact Archives and Special Collections at least two business days in advance of their planned visit.


Descriptive Summary
PURL:
http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00189/
Creator:
Ford, Tim
Title:
Tim Ford Collection
Inclusive Dates:
1987-1996
Materials in:
English
Abstract:
Correspondence of Tim Ford while he served as Speaker of the House in the Mississippi House of Representatives.
Quantity:
4 boxes (1 1/3 linear feet).
Number:
MUM00189
Location:
Library Annex
Repository :
The University of Mississippi
J.D. Williams Library
Department of Archives and Special Collections
P.O. Box 1848, University, MS 38677-1848, USA
Phone: 662.915.7408
Fax: 662.915.5734
E-Mail: archive@olemiss.edu
URL: https://www.olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/archives/
Cite as:
Tim Ford Collection (MUM00189). The Department of Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, The University of Mississippi.

 Collection Outline
Correspondence. 1987-1990.
Correspondence. 1991-1996, undated.
Telecommunications Task Force. Undated.
Watkins versus Fordice Reapportionment Case. Undated.

Biographical Note
Tim Ford was born on 22 October 1951 in Winter Haven, Florida and grew up near Tupelo, Mississippi. He graduated from the University of Mississippi with a B.A. in 1973 and received a degree from its Law School in 1977. Afterwards, Ford clerked for the Presiding Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court for one year and then served as assistant district attorney for the First Judicial District of the state. In 1980, the eighteenth district, comprised of Lee, Prentiss, and Pontotoc counties, elected the young lawyer to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he remained for the next twenty-four years. In 1988, his peers elected him Speaker of the House, a post he retained until his retirement from public service in 2004.
A 2003 Mississippi Senate Concurrent Resolution commending the legislator described Ford as "viewed by colleagues in State Houses around America with a measure of respect and envy for his ability to hold the House together and resist the pressures of partisanship." Two years earlier, lawmakers and state government observers across the nation designated Ford the recipient of the prestigious "William M. Bulger Excellence in State Legislative Leadership Award" for making significant contributions to the performance, strengthening and operation of his legislative institution. Nationally, he served as Chairman of the Southern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments, President of the National Speakers Conference (1997), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation (2002), and Vice Chairman of the Southern Growth Policies Board.
Currently, Ford is a partner at the law firm of Balch& Bingham LLP in Jackson, Mississippi. He serves as general counsel to three legislative entities: the Mississippi Home Corporation, created to address the state's housing needs; the Mississippi Business Finance Corporation, which provides economic development incentives and tax benefits to new and expanding businesses; and the Mississippi Development Bank, designed to help local governments attract new and expanding businesses through tax exempt bonds for improving infrastructure. Ford is also the general counsel to Momentum Mississippi, an economic development advisory committee appointed by the governor and charged with developing legislation to attract businesses. He also acts as a government affairs consultant for local and national firms.

Scope and Contents Note
The Tim Ford Collection consists largely of Ford's correspondence during the years 1987-1996. The correspondence is arranged chronologically in boxes 1 and 2. Correspondents include constituents, employees of various state departments and institutions, federal employees, and civic leaders. Box 3 contains correspondence, publications, and videos related to the Telecommunications Task Force. Box 4 contains copies of correspondence and court pleadings pertaining to Watkins v. Fordice, a 1991 suit brought by black legislators and civil rights activists to enjoin the upcoming election and compel a new reapportionment plan of the state's electoral districts.

Restrictions
Access Restrictions
Open.
This collection is stored at an off-site facility. Researchers interested in using this collection must contact Archives and Special Collections at least two business days in advance of their planned visit.
phone: (662) 915-7408
e-mail: archive@olemiss.edu
Use Restriction
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Collection History
Source of Collection
Tim Ford donated the collection to the Archives& Special Collections in 1996.
Processing Information
DebbieLee Landi, Curator of the Mississippi Collection, processed and compiled a folder-level finding aid in 1996. EAD encoded finding-aid begun September 2005. Leigh McWhite, Political Papers Archivist, revised the introductory notes to the finding aid in 2006.

Box and Folder Listing

Correspondence. 1987-1990.
b1 f1
Correspondence and Clippings. May-December 1987.
b1 f2
Correspondence and Clippings. 1988.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: relations with China, education, and Optometric Treatment Bill.
b1 f3
Correspondence. January-July 1989.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: Optometric Treatment Bill, funding of the supercomputer, education.
b1 f4
Correspondence. August-December 1989.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: International Ballet Competition, Medicaid, University of Mississippi.
b1 f5
Correspondence. January-July 1990.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: education, drug control, farm credit system, labor.
b1 f6
Correspondence. August-December 1990.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: Mississippi Arts Commission, libraries, veterinary school, Department of Economic and Community Development.

Correspondence. 1991-1996, undated.
b2 f1
Correspondence. 1991.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: Highway Department, OSHA regulations.
b2 f2
Correspondence. 1992.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: Optometric Treatment Bill, Leadership Jackson Alumni, drug control.
b2 f3
Correspondence. March-September 1993.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: education.
b2 f4
Correspondence. March-September 1994.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence, re: telecommunications, state veterans homes.
b2 f5
Correspondence. 1995.
Scope Note: Includes correspondence re: Mississippi Bar Association, state veterans homes, education, medicine, telecommunications.
b2 f6
Correspondence. 1996.
b2 f7
Correspondence, publications, clippings. Undated.

Telecommunications Task Force. Undated.
b 3
Correspondence, Pamphlets, Articles, and videos..

Watkins versus Fordice Reapportionment Case. Undated.
b 4
Correspondence; Pleadings in District Court, Appeals Court, & the Supreme Court..