OXFORD, Miss. – Letters from the time of the University of Mississippi’s historic integration are the newest additions to the Modern Political Archives collection at the J.D. Williams Library.
Letter to be featured in the UM Archives
Raymond Harshman, a 1958 Ole Miss graduate, recently donated the letters written to him by President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy. The Kennedys sent the letters to Harshman after the 1962 campus riot to thank him for serving as a U.S. Marshal during the university’s integration.
“These letters are a significant testimony to the bravery of men like Ray Harshman the night of that fateful riot on the University of Mississippi campus,” says Jennifer Ford, UM head of special collections and associate professor. “They add a lot to our understanding of the event.”
Harshman’s donations are housed in the Modern Political Archives, which is part of the Department of Archives and Special Collections at library. The Modern Political Archives was established in 2004 to acquire and preserve private papers documenting Mississippians and their government at both the national and state levels.
The Kennedy letters are among several collections, ranging from materials documenting the Mississippi Woman Suffrage Association to documents and photos from the 2008 presidential debate at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts.
To view the letters, call the Department of Archives and Special Collections at 662-915-7408.
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