Papers of newspaperman Ira B. Harkey, Jr., a former editor of the Pascagoula (Miss.) Chronicle and winner of a 1963 Pulitzer Prize for his editorials critical of Gov. Ross Barnett's handling of the integration controversy surrounding the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi. The collection, which covers Harkey's career from his purchase of the Chronicle in 1949 to the present, focuses on the late 1950s and early '60s. Included is a selection of his editorials, reader and personal correspondence (mainly incoming), his FBI file (obtained by Harkey in 1991), speeches and lectures concerning his management of the Chronicle and concerning civil rights, clippings, and photographs. Correspondents include historian James W. Silver and anthropologist Robert L. Rand. There is also a file of ephemeral material on white supremacist Citizens' Councils.
