OXFORD, Miss. – The Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics will observe Mississippi’s Election Day Tuesday (Nov. 8) with a program featuring a recent digitization project of the University of Mississippi’s Modern Political Archives.
A selection of audio and video recordings – ranging from a 1950 Mike Wallace CBS interview on civil rights with the late Sen. James O. Eastland to vintage campaign commercials – will be played during the hourlong event at 11 a.m. in the Overby Center Auditorium. The program is free to the public.
The showing of selected items from the archives will be accompanied by a discussion with three members of the Ole Miss faculty and staff who have been involved with the project: Leigh McWhite, political papers archivist at the library; Andy Harper, director of UM Media and Documentary Projects; and Micah Ginn, a former producer-director in Media and Documentary Projects and director of creative services for the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“Mississippi has no shortage of colorful and controversial politicians, so this program should be a lot of fun,” said Overby Fellow Curtis Wilkie. “So many of these characters have been gone from the scene for years, but they shouldn’t be forgotten. That’s why this archival project is so valuable.”
Established in 2004, the Modern Political Archives received a $450,000 grant last year from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to preserve and digitize more than 3,000 recordings in its holdings.
Researchers can access recordings in the collections of powerful 20th century politicians, including Eastland, Lt. Gov. Carroll Gartin, and U.S. Reps. Jamie Whitten and Thomas G. Abernethy. The project also digitized recordings in the collection of the League of Women Voters of Mississippi, a 1966 speech by Robert F. Kennedy at Ole Miss and oral interviews of important Southern political figures in the Southern Women Legislators Collection and the Nash/Taggart Collection.
For further information on the project and links to the collections involved, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/
(staff report)