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Biography/History: None
Scope and Content:
This collection contains the correspondence, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, writings and public speeches of J. L. Power (March 1, 1834-September 24, 1901), journalist, historian, Civil War soldier, and Secretary of State of Mississippi. It also contains correspondence and newspaper articles of Col. Power's children, George Power, Kate Power and Anabel Power.
The correspondence of J. L. Power is dated from August 23, 1858, to August 13, 1901, and includes letters from Jefferson Davis, Frederic Speed, Franklin L. Riley, William J. Bok, H. S. Foote, Hernando Desoto Money, W. T. Ratliff, Ridgley C. Powers, Stephen D. Lee, Annie Coleman Peyton, Dunbar Rowland and others.
There are thirty-three scrapbooks covering a variety of subjects: rosters and records of Hinds County units in the Civil War; Jackson fire companies; Hinds County women in war time; Southern songs; claims of Civil War soldiers; Masonic ritual; notes on Mississippi history and fraternal organizations; the New Capitol and Governor's Mansion; Kate Power’s Red Cross Service in World War I; the burning of Jackson; a biography of Captain W. T. Ratliff; the Jackson Pioneer Club; the Round Table Club; early church history; Civil War photographs; and Confederate money.
The collection includes twenty-eight public speeches of Col. Power. Records, census, cards and pictures concerning Masonic history are present among the papers, as are J. L. Power "Recollections" and other writings concerning the state's history; and source material used by Anabel Power for "Mistresses of the Mansion" and "Pages from an Old Scrapbook."
Genealogical papers in the collection concern the Powers and related families such as the Wilkinson, Smylie, Bolls and McNair families. Historical research materials in the collection include original documents dating back to the early nineteenth century, such as an 1800 Adams County, Mississippi, jailer’s account signed by William Dunbar, and an 1825 Jefferson County, Mississippi, census return. In addition there are typescript copies of original sources and historical accounts gathered as research data, and drafts of articles on different subjects in Mississippi’s history. These include the history of Jackson and Hinds County. While some materials focus on general topics of the region’s history -- churches; families; feuds; city officials; buildings; saloons; the arsenal explosion; the Greenwood Cemetery; public schools; old homes; and fire companies -- others concern area military history, and include typescript copies of rosters of Hinds County military companies in the Mexican and Civil War, and drafts of manuscripts on various Civil War campaigns, such as the Battle of Baker's Creek.
J. L. Power’s papers document the history of Mississippi during the Civil War through a variety of original sources and historical accounts: a roster of members of the Secession Convention; typescript copies of rosters of military units; original letters, military orders, and prisoner certificates; reports of guard mounts; and research data collected on generals, the reminiscences of a slave, the battles of Vicksburg and Champion's Hill, flags borne by Hinds County troops; the Confederate Navy, and the surrender of Vicksburg.
A portion of the collection concerns the history of Mississippi after the Civil War. These papers include lists of state officials; a typescript copy of the agreement of General Ames and the citizens of Jackson; letters, notes, and research data on riots, including that at Clinton; the post-war organization of the Mississippi Rifles; and records and research data relating to the Confederate monument and association, among them typescript copies of the speech of J. F. Harris, a black lawyer from Washington County, in support of the monument. There are typescript copies of histories of Copiah County, and of the Biloxi lightouse, as well as research data on the Mississippi capitals, and research materials concerning Hinds County in the Spanish-American War and in World War I; and the work of Hinds County women in World War I. Among the original materials are correspondence concerning the first Decoration Day; letters of J. F. H. Claiborne concerning the writing and publication of his historical work; drafts of Secretary of State forms (1900); and certificates of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Series Identification: