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 the items were recently discovered during preparations for a move to the agency’s new headquarters.
According to DPS, the materials include full Klan regalia and documents that were found inside a small blue suitcase. The inventory also contains charters, a spiral notebook with meeting minutes, a ledger book, a 1964 Imperial Executive Order and numerous pamphlets.
Officials said the collection includes Klan propaganda, including a pamphlet titled “The Ugly Truth about Martin Luther King,” published by United Klans of America.
The materials also include file folders containing news clippings about the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Mississippi 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 make sure future generations better understand that history.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History said the transfer is significant because it gives researchers broader access to records that can deepen public understanding of Ku Klux Klan activity in Mississippi during the 1960s.
Incoming MDAH Director Barry White said the materials are especially notable because they include both administrative records and propaganda from a local chapter of a secretive national organization.
MDAH said all of the materials will be processed and eventually made digitally accessible to the public, though that work could take several months. The process will include arranging, housing and describing the collection, along with preparing a catalog overview, item-level finding aid and metadata for scanned images.
