Mississippi Territory Administration Papers, 1769, 1788-1817... Series 0488

The Administration Papers are loose documents related to all aspects of the administration of the Mississippi Territory (1798-1817). The series has been referred to as the correspondence of the territorial governors, including Winthrop Sargent, William C. C. Claiborne, Robert Williams, and David Holmes, but the scope is larger. The papers pertain to the workings of the territorial government (i.e., the duties of the governor, the legislature, the military, and the courts, as well as early county governments and individuals' affairs), and touch upon most of the important themes in the government: Indian relations and lands, adjacent U.S. territories (particularly Louisiana), allegiance to the United States and duty to its service, and safe travel and trade for citizens.

Among these papers are messages to the legislature from the governor; proclamations, circulars, and publications of the governor; Legislative Council proceedings; resolutions and bills; reports of the auditor and treasurer; court papers (affidavits, depositions, and petitions for reconsideration or leniency); reports of county affairs; commissions, appointments, resignations, and oaths; military orders and lists of enrolled men; U.S. government directives; and correspondence. Most of the correspondence is incoming, that is, addressed to the governor. However, there is some outgoing correspondence, particularly regarding appointments and messages to the legislature.

The documents were originally collected into volumes and numbered in somewhat chronological order and are now arranged by size in archival boxes for preservation. There are several undated items that were assigned to the corresponding governor's administration. The document numbering is fairly consistent, with "a," "b," and so forth usually denoting a relationship between items; however, this is not always the case. Skipped document numbers frequently indicate assignment to another state government records series. Images of the papers are arranged in document- and page-number order.

A keyword search for names, dates, descriptions, and document numbers can be done for this series, using the box below. A search for a single word such as "Hutchins" or "1813" will yield more hits. More complicated queries such as "Anthony Hutchins" or "A. Hutchins" will probably have fewer or no results. Searches for partial words may be helpful. For example, searching for "Dinsmo" will show results for "Dinsmore" and "Dinsmoor". Alternate spellings such as "Chaktaw" for "Choctaw" may also provide results.