Letters and papers of the family of James L. Alcorn (November 4, 1816–December 19, 1894) and a diary kept by him during the Civil War.

Alcorn moved from Kentucky to Coahoma County during the 1840s, to become the second largest planter in the state. As state legislator, he started the Mississippi levee system. When Mississippi seceded from the Union, he was appointed brigadier general to the State Confederate army, but shortly afterwards was excluded for his political views. His later public life included a term as governor (1870) from which he resigned in order to accept a chair in the U.S. Senate. His last years were spent primarily at his plantation home, Eagle's Nest. A large part of the papers collection is comprised of two versions of an unpublished biography of Alcorn: a typed manuscript signed by Alcorn's son-in-law, Charles Swift, and a handwritten, rough draft version which may have been written by Alcorn's daughter, Justina.

The manuscript is largely concerned with the public and private life of James Alcorn, but there are other important entries: a family history from 1721; a discussion of Mississippi's Reconstruction period with particular references to the Ku Klux Klan; a characterization of Colonel McClung, a letter from President Lincoln to Governor Hahn of Louisiana, and tributes to Governor Alcorn by Colonel M. C. Galloway and others.

Newspaper excerpts include one from the Hazlehurst Daily News carrying a tribute to Alcorn; one from the editorial page of the Mississippi Pilot which criticizes him, and the text of Alcorn's inaugural address and a partial galley proof of this.

Other items include: the legislative act concerning the Philadelphia International Exhibition of 1876; a letter to Governor Alcorn from L. H. Hall, Chief of the State Secret Service Department; a check of $500 to Alcorn from the Mississippi Appropriations Department; anonymous biographical notes (c1900); an anonymous description of Eagles' Nest; and a 1932 photograph of Rose Mount, Amelia Alcorn's home in Alabama.

Personal letters by Alcorn include such subjects as Alcorn's state legislative affairs, his political campaigning, his activities in the U.S. Senate, his plantation business, and his personal views of the Civil War.

Specifically the collection has 20 letters (June 5, 1850–September 23, 1889) written by Alcorn, 14 of them to his wife Amelia W. Alcorn; 4 letters (October 21, 1850–August 30,1850) from Mrs. Alcorn to her husband, and one to J. W. Garner (November 2, 1901). Two letters (October 20 and 26, 1901) are from Mr. Garner to Mrs. Alcorn concerning research for his history of Reconstruction in Mississippi. There is also one letter (March 23, 1900) from A. H. Longino to William McKinley.

The correspondence is distributed chronologically:

• undated, 4 pieces
• 1839, 1 piece
• 1850–1859, 17 pieces
• 1860–1869, 7 pieces
• 1870–1879, 11 pieces
• 1880–1889, 3 pieces
• 1890–1899, 3 pieces
• 1900–1906, 6 pieces