author
Dunbar Rowland
1864–1937
A lawyer turned historian and archivist, he spent decades building the institutions that preserved Mississippi’s public records and historical memory. His work helped shape how the state’s past was collected, published, and studied.
1 Audiobook
A Mississippi View of Race Relations in the South
by Dunbar Rowland
About the author
Born in Oakland, Mississippi, in 1864, Dunbar Rowland studied at Mississippi A&M and later earned a law degree from the University of Mississippi. Although trained as an attorney, he became best known for historical and archival work.
Rowland served as the first director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History from its founding in 1902 until his death in 1937. In that role, he helped organize and preserve official records and historical materials, and he became a leading figure in state archival work in the South.
He also wrote and edited major historical publications, including documentary collections and reference works on Mississippi history. Remembered as a key early archivist and historian, he devoted much of his career to making the state’s past available to future scholars and readers.