Samuel Mortimer Lauderdale was born in Woodson, Pulaski County, Arkansas, on January 25, 1902. He was the son of Joseph David and Sarah Frances Ricketts Lauderdale. He attended the elementary and secondary schools of Stamps, Lafayette County, Arkansas. Lauderdale then attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, earning a bachelor of arts degree in 1925. He began working as general secretary for the Railroad and Industrial YMCA in Stamps, Arkansas. Two years later, Lauderdale became director of safety for Arkansas Power and Light Company, where he not only organized safety procedures for Arkansas power stations, but also for Mississippi Power and Light and Louisiana Power and Light companies. This job also required a great deal of public relations, and Lauderdale found himself speaking to church, civic, and school organizations served by those utilities. He completed a degree in personnel management from LaSalle Extension University, Chicago, Illinois, in 1929. For a brief time, he worked as an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

Lauderdale became director of safety for the Arkansas Civil Works Administration in 1933. A year later, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed him as national safety director of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a position he held until the CCC was disbanded in 1942. While with the CCC, he organized and directed employee compensation, fire, health, and safety programs. He also coordinated similar activities at the United States Agriculture, Army, Interior, and Labor departments and the Veterans Administration. He was commissioned as a major in the United States Army, serving in the Civilian Training Branch, Industrial Personnel Division, from 1942 to 1946. After the war, he became a safety consultant and a sales representative of industrial equipment, traveling to major cities between Chicago and Washington, D.C. He married Mildred McHaney of Fulton, Clark County, Alabama, in 1948, and they had no children. Lauderdale temporarily retired in order to travel with his wife throughout the United States and Mexico in 1959. The Lauderdales then built a home in Long Beach, Harrison County, Mississippi. He returned to work as a fire inspector and life-insurance agent in July of 1960. Thereafter, Lauderdale remained active in his community, advocating policies and programs benefiting senior citizens and promoting tourism.

During his years in Arkansas, Lauderdale was a member of the Civitan Club, Lions Club, and Masonic Order. He later became a member of the American Ordnance Association, American Society of Safety Engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers, and Disabled Officers Association. Lauderdale later affiliated with the Civitan Club in Long Beach, Mississippi, and he joined the American Association of Retired Persons, becoming president of the local chapter in the 1970s. For many years, he was active in the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. Lauderdale was presented a governor’s award for his legislative advocacy on behalf of the Mississippi Area Agency on Aging in 1979. He won the outstanding service award from the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce in 1982. Lauderdale was presented a governor’s award for distinguished service to the state of Mississippi in 1983. Lauderdale was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Pass Christian, Mississippi. He was still living in Long Beach as late as 1985.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), active from 1933 to 1942, was one of the earliest New Deal programs of the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The CCC primarily hired young, single, able-bodied men to work at fighting forest fires, flood control, land conservation, reforestation, road and bridge construction, and telephone-line installation during the Depression. The CCC also hired older men with families who needed financial support. Over three million men were enrolled in the CCC during the Depression. The CCC was organized along United States Army guidelines, with strict rules and uniform attire. Veterans were often hired to train enrollees. Regulations required that the majority of an employee’s paycheck be sent home to help support his family. The emphasis of the CCC on job safety significantly decreased accident rates. Many men in the CCC also completed their high-school education through on-site tutorials. Benefits of the CCC were a ready workforce for the World War II industrial buildup and a large number of disciplined recruits for the military. The CCC was disbanded in 1942, due to wartime budget cuts and the need for increased manpower in the armed forces.

Evidence of the CCC in Mississippi is perhaps most visible in the Vicksburg National Military Park where soil erosion was destroying Civil War battlefields. The CCC graded and sodded eroding hills, reconstructed original battlefield topography, and reforested the park. Other CCC projects included the construction of the Percy E. Quin, Roosevelt, and Tishomingo state parks, and the reforestation of lands that are now part of the DeSoto and Holly Springs national forests.

This collection contains materials from Samuel Mortimer Lauderdale’s years as national safety director of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), along with materials from reunions of the group. The CCC materials, all of which were generated from the national office in Washington, D.C., include originals, typewritten copies, or photocopies of correspondence, pamphlets, a photograph, posters, publications, and reports. Also included is Lauderdale’s correspondence regarding reunions of Mississippians who worked for the CCC.

1. Photograph. 1937. 1 folder.

   This series consists of a photograph of Samuel Mortimer Lauderdale in his Washington, D.C., office, pointing to CCC safety posters on his bulletin board.

   Box 1

2. Correspondence and Reports. 1934-1935; 1942; 1977-1983. 3 folders.

   This series contains originals, typewritten copies, and photocopies of incoming and outgoing correspondence regarding Lauderdale’s employment as CCC national safety director, CCC safety reports, and the disbanding of the CCC in 1942. This series also includes correspondence regarding various CCC reunions.

   Box 1

3. Printed Materials. 1934-1935; 1938. 0.43 cubic ft.

   This series contains booklets and safety-regulation posters published by the Safety Service of the CCC. There is also 1935 Directory of the Emergency Conservation Work Camps listing the names and locations of the CCC camps in each state, as well as two CCC newspapers.

   Boxes 1-3 (original CCC newspapers are restricted from photocopying; reference photocopies must be used instead)

4. Organizational Chart. 1933; n.d. 1 folder.

   This series consists of a photocopy of the CCC organizational chart that was sketched by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. Accompanying the chart is an explanatory note by Samuel Mortimer Lauderdale.

   Box 1

5. Posters. 1934-1937; 1939-1940; n.d.

   This series consists of original CCC safety posters of varying colors and sizes. The posters feature cartoons and slogans promoting safety rules.

   Box 3