The records of CORE's Southern Regional Office, spanning 1954 to 1966, consist of correspondence and subject files. They are arranged in three series; the Southern Regional Office; the Louisiana office; and the Research Office, with the series corresponding to those originally maintained by the offices involved. Within each series, the bulk of the correspondence is separated from subject files, and the arrangement is chronological by month. Often material on the same topic, such as the Mississippi summer project, can be found in several series.
Records of the SOUTHERN REGIONAL OFFICE:
The correspondence of 1961-1966 concerns finances, complaints to the Justice Department of violations of federal laws, the voter registration projects, and answers to requests for information about the work of the Southern Regional Office. It includes frequent letters from the following:
- Douglas and Elie Collins
- David J. Dennis
- Alan Gartner
- Richard Haley
- James McCain
- Ronnie Moore
- Carl Rachlin
- Marvin Rich
The subject file includes press releases; material on projects such as Head Start and voter registration; and three levels of reports--national, regional and state-wide. There are reports from 1) the regional office to national CORE; 2) reports relating to problems common to the entire Southern Region concerning finances, the lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee and the Southern CORE program; and 3) field reports from local chapters and workers to the Southern Regional Office grouped by states, For Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, the field reports are broken down by parish or county. The subject file also contains material on staff selection, training, assignments and performance.
Records of the LOUISIANA OFFICE in Baton Rouge:
In addition to the general correspondence, 1959-1966, the subject file includes material on the administration of this office, business, federal agencies and legislation, other organizations, press releases, projects reports and staff, When this office closed in 1965, its files were transferred to the New Orleans CORE chapter office; when the New Orleans office closed in 1967, its files and those of the Louisiana office not already donated to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin were shipped to national CORE.
Important correspondents include the following:
- Debbie Bernstein
- Benjamin A. Brown
- Gordon Carey
- Douglas and Elie Collins
- James Farmer
- Alan Gartner
- Richard Haley
- James McCain
- Floyd McKissick
- Ronnie Moore
- Marvin Rich
Records of the RESEARCH OFFICE:
The correspondence spans 1964-1966 and mainly concerns requests for information from state agricultural offices in Mississippi and Louisiana, It includes letters from the following important correspondents:
- Richard Haley
- Floyd McKissick
- Ronnie Moore
- Judith Nussbaum
- William Yates
The subject file includes general information on the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service as well as parish and county reports from Louisiana and Mississippi. Additional topics in the subject file are bibliographies of civil rights, other organizations, printed material, projects, and reports.
