Z 1871.000 S
CAMPBELL (CLARICE T.) PAPERS, ACCRETION


Biography/History:

A native of California, Clarice T. Campbell was born in 1907. She taught English and history in the Pasadena public schools. After the death of her husband in 1959, Campbell took a leave of absence to be a guest instructor at two Methodist schools--Claflin College in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She then returned to California just long enough to sell her home and prepare for a permanent move to Mississippi.

Dr. Campbell taught at Tougaloo College, near Jackson, until 1965. With the help of a Southern Fellowships Fund grant, she began work on a doctorate in history at the University of Mississippi. Her dissertation dealt with the history of Tougaloo College. Co-authored with Dr. Oscar Rogers, Jr., of Jackson State University, Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo, is a revision of this dissertation, with two additional chapters to complete the first century of Tougaloo College.

From 1969 until her retirement in 1978, Dr. Campbell was chairman of the history department of Rust College. She then became historian-in-residence at Mississippi Industrial College in Holly Springs. Her book, Civil Rights Chronicle: Letters from the South, was published in 1997.

Dr. Campbell was chairman of the Asbury United Methodist Church Commission on Social Concerns. Its extensive program supported civil rights; anti-Vietnam War efforts; amnesty for men who resisted the draft; safe and renewable forms of energy; and the repeal of state sales taxes on food. Unsuccessful in the latter, she and Robert Walker of Vicksburg directed another campaign for sales-tax repeal during the 1980 legislative session. Dr. Campbell also expressed her concern for social justice as a member of the American Association of University Women; the American Civil Liberties Union, in which she served as a state board member; and Common Cause.

Clarice Campbell died on October 23, 2000. She was the mother of three married children.

Scope and Content:

The Clarice T. Campbell papers include her incoming and outgoing correspondence and clippings from 1947 to 1989. Her letters to Congressman Jamie Whitten and newspaper and magazine editors reflect such political interests as the Vietnam War, United States involvement in Nicaragua, and racism. Campbell's letters also indicate that she provided financial aid to foreign-exchange students living in the United States and to students in foreign countries. Her correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service concerns the non-payment of federal taxes as an act of civil disobedience in protest of United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Campbell's Federal Bureau of Investigation file documents her association with suspected communists. Her papers also chronicle her career at Rust College and her involvement in Delta Kappa Gamma, a national honor society of educators. Other subjects include her book, Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo, and her travels to other countries.

Series Identification:

  1. Correspondence (Foreign Students). 1947-1985; n.d.

    This series contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Clarice T. Campbell with foreign-exchange students living in the United States and foreign students who received financial aid from Campbell. The arrangement of each folder in this series is chronological.

    Box 1, folders 1-4

  2. Correspondence (Magazine and Newspaper Editors). 1974-1989; n.d.

    3. This series contains letters of Clarice T. Campbell to the editors of Newsweek, The Commercial Appeal, The Clarion-Ledger, The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, and The Tri-State Defender. The letters reflect her views regarding United States involvement in Vietnam and Nicaragua and the need for a new Mississippi state constitution. The arrangement of each folder in this series is chronological.

    Box 1, folders 5-6

  3. Correspondence (Civil Disobedience). 1970-1987; n.d.

    4. This series contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Clarice T. Campbell with South Central Bell Telephone Company and the Internal Revenue Service regarding the non-payment of federal taxes on her telephone bill to protest United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The arrangement of each folder in this series is chronological.

    Box 1, folders 7-8
  4. Correspondence (Congressman Jamie Whitten). 1966-1989; n.d.

    This series contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Clarice T. Campbell with United States Congressman Jamie Whitten regarding the Vietnam War, United States involvement in Nicaragua in the early 1980s, aid to the Contras, and President Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" defense program. The arrangement of this series is chronological.

    Box 2, folder 1

  5. Correspondence (Federal Bureau of Investigation). 1951-1989; n.d.

    6. This series contains copies of correspondence and other records from Federal Bureau of Investigation files documenting Clarice T. Campbell's attendance at meetings where suspected communists such as Anna Louise Strong spoke. The arrangement of this series is chronological.

    Box 2, folder 2

  6. Correspondence (Family and Friends). 1968-1988; n.d.

    7. This series contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Clarice T. Campbell with friends and family. Subjects ranging from her book, Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo, to segregation in Mississippi and her non-payment of federal telephone taxes in protest of United States involvement in the Vietnam War are included. The arrangement of this series is chronological.

    Box 2, folder 3

  7. Correspondence (Rust College). 1969-1979; n.d.

    8. This series contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Clarice T. Campbell with Dr. W. A. McMillan, president of Rust College, regarding her involvement in what McMillan considered an underground campus publication and her termination from the college. This series also contains a warranty deed and an agreement concerning Campbell's life estate in her home on the Rust College campus. The arrangement of this series is chronological.

    Box 2, folder 4

  8. Correspondence (Delta Kappa Gamma). 1964-1989; n.d.

    9. This series contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence regarding Clarice T. Campbell's membership in Delta Kappa Gamma, a national honor society of educators. The arrangement of this series is chronological.

    Box 2, folder 5

  9. Clippings. 1967-1989; n.d.

    10. This series contains clippings that reveal Clarice T. Campbell's views on Methodist Church integration; racism; nuclear power; the right of the elderly to die; her years at Rust College; her book, Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo; and her travels to other countries. The arrangement of each folder in this series is chronological.

    Box 3, folders 1-5