Series 2806: Highway Commissioner S. T. Roebuck Files. 1933-1956.
Creator: Department of Transportation (RG 55).
Collection Summary: Correspondence and other papers of Sidney Theodore Roebuck (1901-1982), Highway Commissioner of the Central District from 1937 to 1952. Materials include letters, reports, photographs, maps, financial data, a scrapbook, newspaper clippings and other documents. The series covers an important time period in the history of transportation in Mississippi, from the beginning of construction of its first state highway system in 1936, through the lean years of World War II with its shortage of materials and manpower, to the postwar period and into the early 1950s. Roebuck was politically well-connected and knew all the important state politicians of his day, such as Thomas L. Baily, Hugh White, Ross Collins, Theodore Bilbo, Pat Harrison, Dennis Murphree, and James Eastland, as well as many other state and local officials. He was also acquainted with newspaper editors from around Mississippi. Roebuck’s files were not arranged consistently during his fifteen years in office, so the series has several different sets of files: runs of correspondence arranged (for the most part) alphabetically by name of correspondent over certain periods of time; correspondence arranged by highway number, road name, or municipality; correspondence with his engineers and department superintendents; topical files; and various other papers. This inconsistency can mean that material on certain subjects, or from certain correspondents, can be difficult to locate, so researchers are encouraged to check all possible files. Some of the correspondence belonged to Roebuck’s predecessor, Brown Williams, and a few documents antedate Roebuck’s time in office. While the vast majority of items in this series pertain to the work of the Highway Department, some items relate to Roebuck’s membership in civic organizations, clubs and charities. These included the Lions Clubs International, the Mississippi Traveler’s Association, the Boy Scouts, the Mid-Continent Gas and Oil Association, and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (March of Dimes). Many oversize items in this series – predominantly maps – have been relocated from their original locations to larger boxes. Relocation forms describing these items have been placed in their original locations. These forms also note the box number to which the oversize items have been relocated. Other oversize items which were not separated from other materials have also been relocated to larger boxes. A list of these items appears on the following pages. The popular “crossbones” railroad crossing photo can also be found in this series in Box 22879.
Access Restrictions: None.
Date(s): 1933-1956.
Volume: 19.00 Cubic Feet.
Finding Aid Created By: Shaun Stalzer in September 2025.
Related Materials: TBD.
Record Group History: The State Highway Commission was created in 1916, and consisted of 3 members from each of the supreme court districts, appointed by the governor, for terms of 6 years; one a chairman, one a secretary, and one a competent civil engineer. Under the director are a chief engineer, an engineer for construction, one for maintenance, one in charge of bridges, and additional engineers to serve as department heads. The commission acts only as a legal entity and speaks only through their minutes. Among the powers of the commission are the following: (1) obtain rights-of-way, by eminent domain if necessary; (2) make rules to protect the roadway, i.e., control weights of vehicles, type of tires, and location of poles, signs and fences at the roadside; (3) may require railroads to designate lights at crossings or to build over-or-under-passes, half at state expense.
- Collection Inventory
Box Content Box Number Correspondence, A-Z: 1936-1944 22930 Correspondence (arranged by highway number): 1936-1945 17321 Correspondence (by road or municipality), A-L: 1936-1947 22981 Correspondence (by road or municipality), L-Y: 1936-1947 23104 Correspondence with employees in armed forces: 1943-1946 6842 Correspondence, A-L: 1945-1947 22955 Correspondence, M-Y: 1945-1947 22963 Correspondence, A-Z: 1947-1949 18563 Correspondence, A-Z: 1950-1952 17320 Correspondence with engineers, superintendents, etc.: 1939-1951 17322 Jackson office, miscellaneous: 1947-1951 17321 Scrapbook: 1936-1942; undated 1563 Legislation and Legislature: 1933-1950 6851 Press releases: 1948-1951 6851 Overview of Highway Department: 1948 6851 Topical files, miscellaneous: 1938-1950 6851 Topical files, A-S: 1936-1956 22879 Topical files, S-W: 1936-1956 6854
Christmas correspondence: 1944-1951 22930
Secondary road system files, by county: 1945-1949 22963
Relocated oversize items 2495
Relocated oversize items 32291
Relocated oversize items 32292
Relocated oversize items 32293
Relocated oversize items 32294
Relocated oversize items 32295
Relocated oversize items 32296