Scope and Content Note
The papers of Jefferson Davis span the years 1795-1913, but are concentrated in the periods 1850-1859 and 1870-1906. The papers consist of correspondence to and from Davis and his wife Varina Howell Davis and others, supplemented by newspaper clippings, articles, speeches and highlights of speeches, notes of historian Nathaniel Wright Stephenson summarizing Davis's letters and writings which were printed in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, and drafts of military reports concerning the Battle of Monterrey, 1846, in the Mexican War. Subjects include admission of California as a state, Davis's capture at the end of the Civil War, Mississippi state politics, a southern transcontinental railroad, and other pre-Civil War issues. Varina Davis's correspondence, 1889-1906, relates chiefly to her husband's capture, to family and personal matters, and to the conversion of Beauvoir, Davis's home in Biloxi, Mississippi, to a home for Confederate veterans. Correspondents include Amos B. Corwine, Hamlet J. Harris, William Maynadier, Philip A. Roach, and Crafts J. Wright. A small addition dated 1795-1888, not filmed, consists of photocopies of land grants, speeches, and correspondence of Davis and his wife.