Lewis Hyde papers, 1964-2015

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Summary

Creator:
Hyde, Lewis, 1945- and John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture
Abstract:
Lewis Hyde (1945- ) is a white American author and literature professor. This collection contains Hyde's original civil rights-era documents and his later drafts and research documenting his participation in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer as a volunteer with the Council of Federated Organizations. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.
Extent:
0.5 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.13064

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of Lewis Hyde's materials documenting his participation in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer as a volunteer with Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). Hyde worked in Laurel, Mississippi. Documents include correspondence, some photographs, notes about the work and other civil rights volunteers in the project, and printed ephemera from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the Laurel Freedom School. Civil rights-era materials are interspersed with Hyde's modern context, including notes, drafts of writings, and contemporary research (such as print-out maps indicating where certain events occurred). Also contains some media coverage from 1964, including issues of "The Student Voice" (Atlanta, Ga.), as well as WATS phone logs and COFO incident reports from Laurel.

A smaller segment of the collection documents Hyde's notes and research, correspondence, and media coverage of the Ku Klux Klan murders of Charles Dee and Henry Moore, including copies of the FBI files of the initial investigation.

Biographical / historical:

Lewis Hyde (1945- ) was born in Cambridge, Mass. and became interested in civil rights and anti-war projects while growing up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Following his first year at University of Minnesota, Hyde served as a volunteer with Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) in Laurel, Mississippi, as part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Mississippi Freedom Summer Project in 1964. Hyde worked to register African Americans to vote and to support campaigns by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

Today Hyde is a poet, creative writer, and literature professor; his works include The Gift (1983) and Trickster Makes this World (1998). His recent book, A Primer for Forgetting (2019), includes writings about his civil rights work.

Source cited: www.LewisHyde.com

Acquisition information:
The Lewis Hyde Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from Lewis Hyde in 2024.
Processing information:

Processed by Meghan Lyon, February 2024

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2024-0012

Arrangement:

Materials are arranged as donated by Hyde. Some folder titles have been edited for clarity and context by the library.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lewis Hyde Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1zm9k