Reference photocopies must be used for some items.

 

Biography:

Clarice T. Campbell

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 Note:

This collection provides primary and secondary historical source material for the civil rights movement in Mississippi. The majority of the papers are centered around Rust College and Holly Springs. Of interest are Dr. Campbells letters describing her impressions as a newcomer to Mississippi as a newcomer. The papers relating to Rust College provide a brief history of the school. There are also several articles that describe Rust College faculty and student life during the civil rights movement and the late 1970s. There are also materials documenting Dr. Campbell's associations with Claflin, Mississippi Industrial, and Tougaloo colleges.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence. 1943; 1960-1981.

Box 1, folders 1-5

 

Series 2: Rust College. 1969-1979.
Rust College history; Rust College handbook (1972-1973); Rust College History Club (1969; 1975); Rust College modular system evaluation (1975-1977); official notices and publications (1975); "An Outlined Document of Problems and Solutions Encountered as Faculty Members, Which Involves the Total Rust College Program…" (1977); source material for "Voices" (1978); "Voices"; audit report (1979); correspondence of Bill Law (1978); American Association of University Professors; student work.

Box 1, folders 6-10
Box 2, folders 11-23

 

Series 3: Asbury United Methodist Church Commission on Social Concerns. 1971-1978.
Minutes (1971-1978); "News Sheet" (1974-1978); goals (1976-1977); accomplishments (1975-1976); humanities (1974-1976); summary of Dr. Campbell's work (1972-1977); finances (1973-1978); advocacy; church programs; correspondence; news releases.

Box 3, folders 24-38
Box 4, folders 39-41

 

Series 4: Southern Conference Educational Fund. 1963-1972.
Minutes; correspondence; board reports; resolutions; court cases.

Box 4, folder 42

 

Series 5: Termination of Dr. Campbell from Rust College. 1977-1978.
Correspondence with John Booth Farese and Lou Meyers.

Box 4, folders 43-44

 

Series 6: Federal Bureau of Investigation Files. 1961-1967.
Correspondence; surveillance files.

Box 4, folder 45
Box 5, folders 46-48

 

Series 7: Newspaper Clippings. 1961-1979.
Civil rights movement; Methodist church; Rust College.

Box 5, folder 49

 

Series 8: Photograph. ca. 1970.
Dr. Campbell and Mississippi history students at Rust College.

Box 4, folder 50

 

Series 9: Subject Files. 1970-1978.
Mississippi history (1970-1976); Holly Springs city services survey--National Association of Colored People (1974); United League (1978); untitled--miscellaneous publications.

Box 5, folders 51-54