![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/not-guilty-2.1F.jpg\")
Handwritten “Not Guilty” verdict form from the trial of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant for the murder of Emmett Till. (FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives)\t\t<\/p>\n\t\tHandwritten “Not Guilty” verdict form from the trial of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant for the murder of Emmett Till. (FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives)\t\t<\/p>\n
Florida State University Libraries Special Collections & Archives<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0acquired\u00a0a collection of rare legal documents\u00a0donated by\u00a0independent\u00a0Emmett\u00a0Till researchers\u00a0Kevin Murphy and Colleen FitzPatrick.\u00a0The\u00a0collection<\/a>\u00a0expands public access to historical records tied to one of the most significant civil rights cases in American history.<\/p>\n The acquisition consists of copies of\u00a0records from the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where\u00a0J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant\u00a0were tried\u00a0for the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Till\u2019s murder and the\u00a0subsequent\u00a0trial\u00a0became pivotal events in the Civil Rights Movement. The collection strengthens FSU\u2019s extensive holdings in regional and Southern history.<\/p>\n \u201cPreserving primary sources from pivotal moments in our nation\u2019s history is at the very core of our mission. By making these rare courthouse records accessible digitally, FSU Libraries provides scholars and the public with resources to examine the legal landscape of the civil rights era and ensure these histories are never forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014\u00a0Katie McCormick, associate dean for Special Collections & Archives<\/p>\n Among the donated records are\u00a0Circuit Court case files for each charge against Milam and Bryant, including\u00a0records related\u00a0to\u00a0witnesses called to trial.\u00a0The documents provide\u00a0new resources\u00a0for scholars studying the 1955 murder case.<\/p>\n \u201cPreserving\u00a0primary sources from pivotal moments in our nation\u2019s history is at the very core of our mission,\u201d said Katie McCormick,\u00a0associate\u00a0dean for Special Collections & Archives. \u201cBy making these rare courthouse records accessible digitally, FSU Libraries provides scholars and the public with resources to examine the legal landscape of the civil rights era and ensure these histories are never forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n Recovering the records from the Mississippi courthouse required extensive preparation, including the use of K95 masks, protective gloves and portable lighting.<\/p>\n In\u00a0the\u00a0courthouse\u00a0basement,\u00a0researchers found the Emmett Till documents in varying states of preservation.\u00a0Some\u00a0remained in\u00a0relatively good\u00a0condition within leather-bound volumes,\u00a0while\u00a0others\u00a0showed\u00a0significant deterioration from decades of exposure to moisture,\u00a0mold\u00a0and rodents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe experienced emotions that ran the gamut from exhilaration in finding them to such deep sadness that the records, in the state that we found them, served as a metaphor for the burying of truth and justice in one of the worst moments in American history,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThe entire experience was profoundly moving; to rub our fingers over the actual signatures of Mose Wright, Willie Reed, Mandy Bradley, et al in the State Witness Fee Book, brought us right back to those days of 1955.\u201d<\/p>\n FitzPatrick and Murphy credited Tallahatchie County Circuit Court Clerk Daphane Neal and her assistant, Angie Clark, with\u00a0helping\u00a0facilitate\u00a0their\u00a0work in the Sumner Courthouse\u00a0archives. The research team spent\u00a0four days\u00a0examining\u00a0and digitizing records during visits\u00a0in June and August\u00a02025.<\/p>\n \u201cFinding these records was both a technical challenge and a profound historical responsibility,\u201d FitzPatrick said. \u201cBy digitizing this collection, we are preserving the tangible proof of a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, making sure these voices are never silenced by time.\u201d<\/p>\n FSU\u00a0College of Communication and Information<\/a>\u00a0Professor\u00a0Davis Houck<\/a>, the Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies whose\u00a0research\u00a0helped\u00a0establish\u00a0FSU\u2019s Emmett Till Archives,\u00a0said\u00a0the records \u201cadd to our understanding of\u00a0decision\u00a0making\u00a0in how the case was both prosecuted and defended. From the voir dire process to prospective witnesses, their discovery of these extremely rare documents helps round out our understanding of this grave\u00a0miscarriage of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n The digitized collection is\u00a0available\u00a0to the public through the FSU Libraries digital repository. Visit the Emmett Till Trial Collection\u00a0webpage<\/a>\u00a0to view the latest findings of this historic case.<\/p>\n For more information, visit the FSU Special Collections and Archives\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0or contact the department staff via email at\u00a0lib-specialcollections@fsu.edu<\/a>\u00a0or by phone at 850-644-3271.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Handwritten “Not Guilty” verdict form from the trial of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant for the murder of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[56743,128959,50913,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-309087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-college-of-communication-and-information","tag-emmett-till","tag-fsu-libraries","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Kevin-Murphy-1.1.jpg\")
Independent Emmett Till researcher Kevin Murphy reviews legal documents in the Tallahatchie County Courthouse basement.<\/p>\n