Creator: Department of Education (RG 50)

Collection Summary: Two different sets of maps of Mississippi counties showing boundaries of school districts, with locations and types of schools. These maps show the White school district boundaries, locations of schools, and types of schools (elementary, four-year and less-than-four-year high schools, and agricultural high schools and junior colleges). Roads and road surface types are also shown. The maps were obtained from the Jackson office of the U. S. Social Security Administration, but nothing else is known about their origin. Two of the maps – those for Leflore and Warren counties – differ from the rest and are in fact maps of state-owned lands in those counties as of 1934. The 1944-1945 maps were prepared by the School Building Service of the State Department of Education for a school survey authorized by the Mississippi Legislature.  The base maps were traced from existing State Highway Department maps, and the school data was supplied by the county superintendents of education. The maps are contained in bound volumes and are arranged alphabetically by county. There are separate volumes for “White” and “Negro” schools. The White school district maps are fairly uniform, showing school district boundaries, roads and condition of roads, and locations of elementary schools, high schools, agricultural high schools and junior colleges. They are marked by township and range. There are two bound copies of the large maps and, in a separate box, reduced-size identical copies of these maps. The Black school district maps do not, in fact, typically show school district boundaries, but rather only the location of Black schools. The maps vary greatly as to the information they contain. Most of the maps show names and locations of schools, roads and their conditions, and whether the school buildings are publicly or privately owned. Other maps distinguish between elementary schools, high schools, and schools in churches; number of teachers and students at each school; condition of school buildings; schools to be discontinued; and proposed locations for new schools.

Access Restrictions: None.

Date(s): 1944-1945.

Volume: 1.5 Cubic Feet.

Finding Aid Created By: Shaun Stalzer in August 2024.

Related Materials: TBD

Record Group History: The first two state constitutions, 1817 and 1832, did not provide for a system of public education, and it was not until 1846 that the first common school law of the state was enacted. Prior to 1868, the establishment and funding of public schools rested with county officials. The state constitution of 1868 provided for the first Superintendent of Public Education, which specified that he shall be elected for a term of four years, at the same time and in the same manner as the governor. The Superintendent of Public Education was also to have general supervision of the common schools and educational interests of the state. The Department of Education in the modern era is charged with the execution of all laws relating to the administrative, supervisory and consultative services to the public schools, agricultural high schools, and junior colleges in the state. 

Collection Inventory:
Box Content 

Box Number

White school districts, Adams – Yazoo: ca. 1938

22512

Black school districts, Adams – Yazoo: 1944-1945

08308

White school districts, Adams - Yazoo (2 copies): 1944-1945

08308

White school districts, Adams - Yazoo (reduced size): 1944-1945

05699