Collection Number: M356

Dates: ca. 1932 - 1995

Volume: ca. 11 cubic feet

Provenance: Donated by Minnie Fleming (daughter of Dale Fleming) via Paul Cartwright on August 29, 2002

Copyright: This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code).

Biographical/Historical Sketch:

Dale Sallis Fleming was born September 26, 1912 in Attala County, Mississippi.
In 1917, his family moved to St. Francis County, Arkansas. During his high school years there, he began to form interests in journalism and history.

In 1931, Fleming returned to Mississippi to pursue higher education. After graduating from Holmes County Junior College, he went on to the University of Mississippi in Oxford and obtained a master's degree from the College of Arts and Education in 1939. During or shortly after his college years, he married his first wife, Pearl. The two were married for thirty-five years and had one child, Minnie.

Before World War II, Mr. Fleming worked as a high school teacher in Bolivar and Jasper Counties until he enlisted in the Army. He served in the Philippine Islands and in the Occupation Army of Japan. Upon returning home, he was hired by the Veteran's Administration of Jackson, Mississippi, working in Medical Rehabilitation. He served twenty months of active duty in the Korean Conflict, spending some time in France. Mr. Fleming retired from the Mississippi National Guard following the service in France, but retained his duties at the Veteran's Administration for many years.

From December 1961 to May 1965, Mr. Fleming and his wife, Pearl, wrote a weekly column for The Clarion Ledger entitled "This Week". The column contained information about Mississippi's involvement in the Civil War, chronicling weekly events from one hundred years prior (1861 - 1865). It included not only encounters in Mississippi but also key figures from the state. The column was extensively researched using published and unpublished materials. Later, he compiled his research for a proposed book, but it was never published.

After Pearl's death in the early 1970s, Mr. Fleming continued his passion for the Civil War. He spoke several times at meetings of the Jackson Civil War Round Table, Inc., with topics ranging from "The Army of 1000" to "The Campaigns of Jackson". He also attended various Civil War dedications and presentations throughout the state.

Mr. Fleming married his second wife, Mary Dell Hearn from Holmes, Mississippi in the late 1970s. They lived together in Jackson until his death on July 31, 1997.

Sources:

Contents of the Collection
Social Security Death Index: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/main.htm

Scope and Content:

The Dale S. Fleming Papers are composed of newspaper clippings, notes, drafts and research dating from 1932 to 1995. The majority of the collection consists of research and drafts of the weekly newspaper column, "This Week", written by Mr. Fleming and his wife, Pearl, for the Jackson newspaper, The Clarion Ledger, from 1961 to 1965. The column "This Week" chronicles the Civil War by giving a weekly account of significant political, economic, and military occurrences in Mississippi from secession in December 1861 to the beginnings of Reconstruction in May 1865.

Earlier writings include college notes, essays, assignments, and Mr. Fleming's master's thesis, "The Development of the Elementary and Secondary Schools in Mississippi During the Reconstruction Period 1865-1875". Materials dated after 1965 are mainly drafts for speeches, notes, newspaper clippings, and other materials pertaining to the Civil War. Also included is a scrapbook containing a collection of newspaper articles from the late 1930s to the early 1940s on a variety of topics.

The collection is divided into the following series:

Series 1: Original Notes and Drafts of the article "This Week"
Series 2: Copies of "This Week" Articles
Series 3: Early Writings of Dale Fleming
Series 4: Research Files
Series 5: Mississippi in Civil War (1861 -1865)
Series 6: Photocopies and Original Documents from Scrapbook
Series 7: Photocopies of Civil War Military Documents
Oversized Materials in Map Case

Series 1 and 4 are arranged chronologically. Series 2 and 3 are arranged alphabetically according to the subject matter. Series 5, 6, and 7 are arranged in the order in which they arrived.

This collection contains a comprehensive and objective look at the Civil War in Mississippi. Anyone researching this time period in Mississippi's history would find ample information. Students of history and journalism would benefit from the writings of Mr. Fleming.

Other Finding Aids:

Box and Folder List

Created by: Yvonne Arnold
Prepared and maintained by
The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries Special Collections
http://www.lib.usm.edu/spcol/index.php
118 College Drive #5148   Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5148

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Revised: December 17, 2004