Dates: 1922 - 1970.

Scope and Content Note:

Letters, papers, pictures, certificates, scrapbooks, awards and memorabilia of Tom Q. Ellis, (1890–1971), Clerk of Mississippi Supreme Court, 1931–1964. Ellis was born near Goodman, worked for the Illinois Central Railroad, and was elected Clerk of the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1931. Ellis was active in state, nation, and international Masonic work, serving as presiding officer of all Masonic orders of the state. He served as General High Priest of Royal Arch, the highest honor of Freemasonry with a membership of over 800,000 members.

Among the papers there are letters from Harry S. Truman, J. Edgar Hoover, and various members of the Mississippi Congressional Delegation. The pictures include those of J. Edgar Hoover, and Charles Coburn, the actor. Of interest is a scrapbook of the 1941 senatorial campaign, in which Ellis ran second in a field of five, being defeated by Theodore G. Bilbo. There are family pictures and scrapbooks, and several scrapbooks of a weekly column written by Ellis, "Tom Q-Riosities." which appeared in the North Mississippi Herald, Water Valley.