The Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission Papers

Biographical /Historical Sketch:

The states of Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas together make up the Mississippi River Delta. They also make up one of the most impoverished areas of the country. For decades hardship, poverty, and unemployment have ravaged it. The Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission (LMDDC) was a group created by Congress in 1989 with the soul purpose of discovering the problems that kept the Mississippi Delta from achieving any type of real status within the USA, and to come up with solutions to that end. They conducted their research by interviewing people who had spent their lives here, and had witnessed first hand what life in this area of the world is like, as well interest groups such as the Tennessee Valley Authority,
and the Valley Resource Center. The commission itself lasted eighteen months, and cost 3 million dollars to keep up and running, largely
due to the amount of paper required for press releases, especially with the release of its 186page final report that it presented to the White
House on May14, 1990. It also released 500 other copies within a very short time.

Scope and Content:

The collection is divided into three series:
1. Work Papers (Box 1-3)
2. Reports (Box 3-4)
3. News Clippings (Box 4)

The first series consists of a large variety of papers that were used and exchanged during the time of the commission’s duration. These papers contain memos, personal correspondence reports to superiors, and various other such working papers. Most of them deal with the inner workings of the commission.

The second series consists of reports that were prepared by the commission, and released to the public, as well as reports that were prepared for the LMDDC to read by other groups, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Valley Resource Center. These reports helped to give insight to the commissioners, and help them better understand what the people of this area really felt.

The final series consists of a variety of newspaper clippings of press releases that were periodically put into mainly local publication, but some even made it as high up as The Wall Street Journal. There were roughly five or six articles written over about a two-year period. These were mainly found in the Memphis Commercial appeal, and the Jackson Clarion Ledger. These articles contain mainly statistical information, and compliant ads.

Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission Papers Box Inventory
Box 1 Files
1. Alternative Crop Production & Marketing Strategies for Farmers in the LMD
2. Alternative Food and Sustainable Resources
3. Appendix II: The Plan of Work
4. Baton Rouge Hearings
5. Beverly Bowman
6. 1990 Bill/Options
7. Bob Hoppe USDA/ERS
8. “Body of a Nation”
9. Booker T. Washington Foundation Final Report
10. Commissioners and Alternates
11. Conference on LMD in Memphis Feb 21-23 1990
12. Confidential
13. Consolidated Federal Funds Report
14. CRS Report for Congress
15. Delta Delegation
16. Delta Initiatives Directory
17. Delta Initiatives
18. D-Base IV
19. Division Handbook 1 of 2
20. Division Handbook 2 of 2
21. Economic Development
22. Economic Minerals in the LMD Region
23. Economic Trends and Forecasts of the Western and MS subregions
24. Education and Economic Development
25. Education #215
26. The Effectiveness of Small Businesses and Resources in LMD
27. Enhancing Regional Value from MSD Primary Products
28. Entreprenuership and Small Business Development
29. Expanding Export Industry Employment in LMD
30. Expanding Export Industry Employment in LMD
31. Federal Agencies
32. Foundations
33. The Future Role of Utilities in Economic Development
34. Gov’t Affairs Intern
35. Higher Education and Economic Development in the Delta
36. Ideas
37. Illinois Public Hearing

Box 2 Files
38. Interstate Cooperation, Regionalism, Economic Development in the Delta
39. Kentucky Public Hearing
40. LA Human Resources
41. Labor Management Cooperation Model
42. LMD Economic Development Finance “A Proposal for a Delta Bank”
43. Louisiana Public Hearing 1 of 5
44. Louisiana Public Hearing
45. Louisiana Public Hearing
48. Louisiana Public Hearing
49. Louisiana Public Hearing
50. Master Calendar
51. Missouri Public Hearing
52. Monthly Work Plans
53. Morality Profile for LMD Region
54. Natural Resource Development
55. News Clippings
56. News Clips
57. Oversight Committees
58. Portfolio Managers
58. Preserving and Promoting our Heritage
59. Preserving and Promoting our Heritage
60. Proceedings from conference on: Economics, Energy, and Environment in LMD.
61. Program Summaries
62. Public Management Expertise in Delta & Delta Development
63. Race Relations
64. Re-Alignment 10/30/89
65. Recommendations from Public Hearings and Research Contacts 1 of 2
66. Recommendations from Public Hearings and Research Contacts 2 of 2
69. Regional Economic Development Policies and Programs in U.S.
70. Report to LMDDC by Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce
71. Report to LMDDC from Targeted Research Associates
72. Research Contracts

Box 3 Files
72. Resource Conservation Development Conversation
73. River Engineering on the Rhine, Experiences from Upstream
74. Role of the Church in Economic Development
75. Role of Delta State
76. Rural Housing Needs in LMD
77. Rural Solid Waste Crisis

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