Charles Sullivan and the MGCCC Archives

Anyone who has walked through Heidelberg Hall and peered down the steps into the building’s catacombs, or who has seen the exhibits at the Alumni House on Homecoming Day, knows about the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Archives.  They may not know the history of the Archives, however, or the role Charles L. Sullivan has played in it.

The first professor emeritus and the first and only archivist at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Sullivan was instrumental in creating the MGCCC Archives in 1992 under the auspices of then-President Barry L. Mellinger.  The Archives’ mission was “to seek out, discover and find the remaining documentary and photographic evidence of the institution’s role and impact on its district and the state since its inception. (“Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College: A History.” 199)

Sullivan, who continued to teach history at the Perkinston Campus until 2006, also ran the Archives from 1992 onward.  After retiring from teaching, he began working at the Archives fulltime.  Over the years, he has helped amass tens of thousands of documents, newspaper articles, and photographs, along with a wide variety of memorabilia pertaining to the college and South Mississippi.  Providing photos and historical details on Athletic and Alumni Hall of Fame members each year and information used on historical markers at the college, the Archives play a crucial role in college events.

Alumni and friends of the college make donations to the Archives on a regular basis, allowing the collection to continue to grow.  Sullivan said one of the most memorable donations to the Archives was made by the late Don Massengale, alumnus and former MGCCC Board of Trustees member, who discovered the location of a missing trophy from the 1953 Lions Bowl and returned it to the college.  “It is a beautiful trophy with two lions rampant on it and all of the players’ names engraved on the front.  I still consider it a prize possession of the Archives.”

Another memorable donation to the Archives was almost 46,000 photographs from the C.C. “Tex” Hamill Down South Magazine and Dixie Press.  These photos depict life on the Gulf Coast from 1917 through 1980 and are probably the greatest archival collection of the 20^th century for South Mississippi. MGCCC archives staff spent 15 years captioning the photos.  This year, with permission from MGCCC President Dr. Mary S. Graham, the archives donated the photographs to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson as part of its Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Archives Collection.

“We received about half of the photographs before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, and I was very worried that the rest were lost, but they weren’t. Within several months after the hurricane, I went down to secure the remaining photographs and brought them to Perk.  It is just incredible that they survived.”

Using information stored in the Archives and from other sources, Sullivan wrote several books during his years at Gulf Coast, including “The Mississippi Gulf Coast: Portrait of a People” (1985), “Hurricanes of the Mississippi Gulf Coast” (1986), “Gathering at the River: South Mississippi’s Methodist Camp Meetings” (1990),  “Hurricanes of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Three Centuries of Destruction” (2009), “Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College: A History, 1911-2000” (2002), “Down South with the Dixie Press” (2006), and “Gulf Coast Album: A Journey in Historic Photographs 1899-2011 From New Orleans Across the Mississippi Gulf Coast to Mobile” (2011).  In collaboration with Bourbon Hughes, he produced “Valor Remembered: 20^th Century War Dead of the State of Mississippi” (1996).

Together with former publicity director Winfred Moncrief, and Jackson County Campus television instructor Doug Mansfield, Sullivan produced four video documentaries as part of the Magnolia Series.  They include “Henry Jetton Tudury: Mississippi’s Most Decorated Doughboy” (1988), “Gathering at the River: South Mississippi’s Methodist Camp Meetings” (1990), “Beauvoir: Memorial to the Lost Cause” (1991), and “No Greater Love: Roy Wheat in Vietnam (1992).

Named Biloxi Historian of the Year in 1987, Sullivan was also the recipient of the Director’s Award for Preservation of Mississippi Culture by the Mississippi Humanities Council (2008); the Dunbar Rowland Award from the Mississippi Historical Society in recognition of his lifelong contributions to the preservation, study, and interpretation of Mississippi history (2010); and the Mary Ellen Alexander Award from the Long Beach Historical Society (2013).  He was also named to the Benjamin L.C. Wailes President’s Society (2013) while serving as president of the Mississippi Historical Society.  He is the only two-year college professor to ever serve in that capacity with the Society.

A native of Natchez, Sullivan began teaching at Gulf Coast in August 1967.  His classes were very popular with students, who enjoyed his descriptions of history, which he often shared while in uniform.  They worked hard to be members of the Order of the Iron Cross with red ribbon for making an “A” for the semester. Each class had a field marshal, who received the highest grade in the class along with a cross adorned with a golden ribbon.

This year marks 53 years of service to MGCCC for Sullivan, who is 77 years old.  He has spent twice as much time at MGCCC than anywhere else in his life. Time well spent, according to him.

He is currently in the process of scanning information on every game in every sport since 1925 (when the junior college was born) to the present.

“I’m afraid I’m running out of time to get all of the things done that I wanted to accomplish at the Archives,” he said.  “I may have to tell St. Peter to hold the Pearly Gates until I finish.”

Those wishing to contribute to the MGCCC Archives may send donations made out to MGCCC Foundation: Sullivan’s Archives. Mail to MGCCC Foundation, Attention: Dena Hatten, P.O. Box 99, Perkinston, MS 39573. For more information or help with donations, contact dena.hatten@mgccc.edu or (601) 928-6344.

Note: Upon Sullivan’s retirement from the Archives, the remaining donations will go toward student scholarships for History majors.