JACKSON — The Mississippi Department of Public Safety has transferred a collection of 1960s-era Ku Klux Klan materials to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History after workers recently discovered the items while preparing for a move to the agency’s new headquarters, officials said.
State officials said the collection contains full Klan regalia and documents found inside a small blue suitcase, including charters, a spiral notebook with meeting minutes, a ledger book, a 1964 Imperial Executive Order and numerous pamphlets. Officials identified one pamphlet as “The Ugly Truth about Martin Luther King,” published by the United Klans of America. File folders included news clippings about the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Department of Public Safety, former DPS Commissioner T.B. Birdsong and materials related to the Freedom Riders.
Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said preserving the artifacts will help document the activities of hate groups and ensure future generations better understand that history. Incoming Mississippi Department of Archives and History Director Barry White said the materials are notable because they include both administrative records and propaganda from a local chapter of a national organization.
MDAH said staff will arrange, describe and digitize the collection, and that processing could take several months. The agency said it will prepare a catalog overview, an item-level finding aid and metadata for scanned images to broaden researcher access. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
