The collection has been divided into three portions, “early” and “later” documents, and microfilmed papers and clippings mostly pre-dating the organization of FIS. The EARLY DOCUMENTS date from the mid-1960s, and reflect the civil rights orientation of FIS at that time. Most of the material consists of printed leaflets, booklets, handbooks, and similar items written and printed by FIS for wide-scale dissemination. Included are freedom primers, which discuss the freedom vote, the right to vote, and the convention and the Congressional challenge of the Freedom Democratic Party. Political handbooks concern county and municipal government, including those specifically written for people in Carroll, Madison, and Jackson counties. A file of leaflets and flyers contains mass-produced, simply-written papers on a variety of political, economic, and agricultural subjects. Other papers include a file of correspondence and printed form letters, sent by FIS staff to supporters. Some of the correspondence was written by Hillegas, then FIS treasurer, and others by Phil Lapsansky, who headed the FIS news and tape program. Also present are news releases and reports, the initial proposal for the establishment of FIS in 1965, a prospectus for expansion the following year, and voting and election statistics for 1966. There are also small files of papers created by the Freedom Democratic Party and SNCC. Also in this series is the tape made in August 1966 by Phil Lapsansky for FIS, entitled “A Visit to Sunflower County, Mississippi,” which was the home of Senator James O. Eastland.
LATER PAPERS of FIS date from the 1970s, and reflect the interests and work of Hillegas and Lawrence. Included are copies of Lawrence's paper on racism in the military and selective service, which was widely reproduced and distributed; other material and flyers written by both Lawrence and Hillegas including two publications from the American Friends Service Committee; and copies of a newsletter and flyers produced in 1974 by the United Farmworkers Support Group in Jackson. Two political discussion booklets apparently created by FIS include articles on American labor, the women's movement, Malcolm X, Zimbabwe liberation, the Blackstone Rangers, and memoirs of a Bolshevik (0. Piatnitsky). Papers of the Republic of New Afrika consist of press releases regarding the activities of the Republic, an organization which sought to turn Mississippi and four other southern states into an independent black nation, and the efforts of state and federal governments against eleven imprisoned Republic members. Several of the press releases bear Ken Lawrence's name as contact person. “Women's Monthly,” was produced in Jackson, Mississippi by the Women's Service Group; Jan Hillegas was a member and contributor to the newsletter. Several issues of the newsletter are in the collection.
The MICROFILMED RECORDS consist of papers and clippings which appear to have been originally assembled by COFO staff members and other groups and later deposited with FIS for use at its center. About half of this series is made up of Wide Area Telephone Service reports (WATS Reports), which were telephoned to the Atlanta office of SNCC by civil rights workers throughout the South, and which provide daily and sometimes even hourly pictures of events. Although the WATS reports extend from January 1964 to August 1965, there are several gaps in the sequence at both beginning and end. A section entitled “Incidents” includes clippings, statements, and news releases concerning, and arranged as, affidavits, beatings, bombings, and similar occurrences. Both the file entitled Clippings, and the one on Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman primarily concern the murder of three civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, in Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1964. The original telephone notes were taken from phone calls made and received at the time of the murders. A small group of miscellaneous reports and news releases completes the series. Although the microfilmed material has been arranged chronologically, it is somewhat difficult to use, as many of the smaller items were mounted on both printed and blank sides of COFO newsreleases, application forms, and other “scrap” paper. Consequently, while these backing sheets may be of interest to the researcher, their appearance in the midst of the actual FIS papers is confusing.
