University of Mississippi eGrove Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids Library November 2020 Finding Aid for the Thomas G. Abernethy Collection (MUM00001) Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/finding_aids Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the American Politics Commons Recommended Citation Thomas G. Abernethy Collection, Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, The University of Mississippi This Finding Aid is brought to you for free and open access by the Library at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Finding Aid for the Thomas G. Abernethy Collection (MUM00001) Questions? Contact us! The Thomas G. Abernethy Collection is open for research. This collection is stored at an off-site facility. Researchers interested in using this collection must contact Archives and Special Collections at least two business days in advance of their planned visit. Finding Aid for the Thomas G. Abernethy Collection Table of Contents Descriptive Summary Administrative Information Subject Terms Biographical Note Bibliography Scope and Content Note User Information Related Material Separated Material Arrangement Container List Descriptive Summary Title: Thomas G. Abernethy Collection Dates: 1924-1975 (1943-1972 bulk) Collector: Abernethy, Thomas Gerstle, 1903-1998 Physical Extent: 454 boxes, 38 steel index card drawers, 17 framed items, and 21 publications (237 linear feet) Repository: University of Mississippi. Department of Archives and Special Collections. University, MS 38677, USA Identification: MUM00001 Location: Modern Political Archive Language of Material: English Abstract: Thomas G. Abernethy represented Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1943 and 1973. The 454 boxes in this collection contain files created during Abernethy's tenure in office. Administrative Information Acquisition Information In 1972, the University of Mississippi announced that Abernethy had agreed to donate his congressional papers to the university. In 2007, the Abernethy family agreed to donate items previously held by the Webster County Public Library in Eupona, MS to the Thomas G. Abernethy Collection at the University of Mississippi. Processing Information Special Collections compiled a handwritten, folder-level inventory of the papers in 1977, and archives personnel completed a typed, digital version in 2005. In April 2006, Leigh McWhite, the Political Papers Archivist, wrote the text for the introductory bibliographic fields and created an intellectual arrangement version of the finding aid which groups together on the inventory boxes containing like documents, while preserving the original physical arrangement in boxes and folders. EAD encoded finding-aid begun March 29, 2007 by Chatham Ewing. Processing of the 2007 accretion and necessary revisions to the finding aid ended in December of 2007. Finding aid revised by Jason Kovari, 18 April 2011 and updated by Abigail Norris, March 2020. In 2010-2011, a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services enabled the archive to digitize the collection’s lone recording and the archive revised the finding aid accordingly. Additions No further additions are expected to this collection. Alternative Formats Photographs and a description of one recording are available online. Subject Terms Abernethy, Thomas Gerstle, 1903-1998 Politicians -- Mississippi. Political campaigns -- Mississippi. Southern States -- Politics and government -- 1951- United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989. United States--Politics and government--20th century. Practice of law -- Mississippi. Civil rights -- Mississippi. Agriculture -- Mississippi. Legislation--United States. Abernethy, Thomas Gerstle, 1903-1998 -- Archives. United States. Congress. House. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Departmental Oversight. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Fertilizer and Farm Machinery. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Cotton. United States. Congress. House. Committee on District of Columbia. United States. Congress. House -- Constituent communication. United States. Congress. House -- Contested elections. United States. Dept. of Agriculture. Agricultural machinery -- Government policy -- United States. Agriculture and state -- United States. Americans -- Travel -- Africa. Americans -- Travel -- Suriname. Civil rights -- United States. Cotton -- Government policy -- United States. Elections -- Mississippi. Fertilizers -- Government policy -- United States. Flood control -- Tombigbee River (Miss. and Ala.) Legislators -- United States -- Travel -- Africa. Legislators -- United States -- Travel -- Suriname. Postal service -- Mississippi. Africa -- Description and travel. Camp Shelby (Miss.) Mississippi -- Politics and government -- 20th century. Natchez Trace Parkway. Suriname -- Description and travel. Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (Ala. and Miss.) Tombigbee River (Miss. and Ala.) United States -- Politics and government -- 20th century. United States -- Race relations. Washington (D.C.) -- Politics and government -- 20th century. Legislators -- United States. Biographical Note Thomas Gerstle Abernethy was born on 16 May 1903 in Eupora, Webster County, Mississippi. He attended the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and the University of Mississippi Law School. He graduated from the law school of Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1924. Abernethy began practicing law in his hometown the following year, and he served as mayor of Eupora from 1927 to 1929. He opened another law practice after moving to Okolona in 1929. From 1936 to 1942, Abernethy was the district attorney for the third judicial district of Mississippi. In 1942, Abernethy won election as a Democrat from the northeastern fourth district of Mississippi to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1943-1944, he chaired the Committee on Elections No. 1 which judges the elections, returns, and qualifications of House members and deals with contested elections. The only serious reelection contest Abernethy faced occurred in 1952 after Mississippi underwent reapportionment following the loss of a congressional seat. Abernethy successfully campaigned against fellow Democratic colleague John Rankin (in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1920) to win the seat for the first district which encompassed the central portions of the state from the Delta counties along the Mississippi River to the hill counties along the Alabama border. Abernethy served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1948, 1956, and 1960. In 1972, he announced his decision not to run for reelection. When Abernethy retired on 3 January 1973, he had the third highest seniority on the Agriculture Committee, chaired its Cotton Subcommittee, and served on its Department Operations Subcommittee. Tom Abernethy, Jr. once explained that his father was "tied into the farming community of Mississippi...If he had not cared so much about those issues, Dad probably would have been chairman of a committee long before he left Congress. But he wanted to stay on the Agriculture Committee. He wanted to be the farmers' representative. He loved the farmer." His former colleague, G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery called Abernethy "a crusader in the development of agriculture programs in Congress." Abernethy also attained the second highest ranking on the District of Columbia Committee which governs the capitol city. He served on its Business, Commerce and Fiscal Affairs Subcommittee, and chaired its Education Subcommittee as well as its Judiciary Subcommittee. A conservative Democrat during his political career, Abernethy increasingly endorsed and voted for Republicans after his retirement. He died of heart failure in a Jackson, Mississippi nursing home on 11 June 1998. In a tribute on the floor of the U.S. Senate the following day, Thad Cochran lauded Abernethy as "a close friend and an advisor...I always found his advice and counsel very valuable and helpful." Abernethy was a Methodist and a member of the Freemasons, the Shriners, the Exchange Club, and the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He married the former Alice Margaret Lamb on 5 July 1936. All three of their children graduated from the University of Mississippi: Gail Abernethy Doty (Class of 1961), Tom Abernethy, Jr. (Class of 1964, Law School 1970), and Kay Abernethy Martin (Class of 1967). In 1962, Abernethy received the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation's award for "outstanding and meritorious service to agriculture." In 1964, the Disabled American Veterans presented him with the National Commander's Award for "his long years of dedicated service in behalf of America's war disabled veterans." In a 1974 letter, however, Abernethy claimed that the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway would "undoubtedly to be my greatest service to Northeast Mississippi and the mid-south area." A federal building in Aberdeen, Mississippi is named after the former congressman. Bibliography The following sources were used to prepare the Biographical Note on Abernethy: "Abernethy Papers" University of Mississippi Precept (Summer 1972): 1. "Abernethy Papers Given to UM" University of Mississippi Mississippian (17 April 1972). Michael Barone, Grant Ujifusa, & Douglas Matthews. The Almanac