The Mississippi Department of Public Safety announced on March 24, 2026, that it had uncovered a blue suitcase filled with 1960s-era Ku Klux Klan materials, which officials say likely came from decades-old investigations. MDPS transferred the items to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for Preservation.

Here are photos of some of the materials officials found.

A white hooded mask sits on top of A sealed handwritten document titled 'The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of the Sovereign Realm of Mississippi'
A Ku Klux Klan mask recovered amid a trove of 1960s-era Klan materials sits atop a charter for the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. It was one of the items that the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said it found in a blue suitcase in an announcement on March 24, 2026. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety
An open ledger filled with handwritten names in blue ink
A ledger from April 1964 lists the names of members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, along with dues paid and dues owed. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety
A sealed handwritten document titled 'The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of the Sovereign Realm of Mississippi'
Among the materials that Mississippi Department of Public Safety officials announced finding on March 24, 2026, was this White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of the Sovereign Realm of Mississippi charter, which dates to May 21, 1963. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety
A diagram labeled 'The official Klavern For with the Stations and Positions Indicated'
A page from a White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan handbook includes a diagram showing how meetings should be conducted. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety
A handwritten page of a ledger in red and blue inks
One spiral-bound notebook includes notes from White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan meetings held in April 1964 and May 1964. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety
Two open ledgers filled with hand written notes in blue ink
The 1960s-era Klan materials that the Mississippi Department of Public Safety announced finding on March 24, 2026, include ledgers with names of members and written notes from meetings. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety
An open ledger filled with hand written notes in blue ink
Among the items that Mississippi Department of Public Safety staff uncovered in the old briefcase were notebooks with notes on meetings of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held in 1964. The notebooks usually referred to members using numbers instead of their names. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety
An open ledger filled with hand written notes in blue ink, a date reading 'May 28, 1964' visible at the end
Among the items that Mississippi Department of Public Safety staff uncovered in the old briefcase were notebooks with notes on meetings of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held in 1964. The notebooks usually referred to members using numbers instead of their names. Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Public Safety

Award-winning News Editor Ashton Pittman, a native of the South Mississippi Pine Belt, studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously the state reporter at the Jackson Free Press, he drove national headlines and conversations with award-winning reporting about segregation academies. He has won numerous awards, including Outstanding New Journalist in the South, for his work covering immigration raids, abortion battles and even former Gov. Phil Bryant’s unusual work with “The Bad Boys of Brexit" at the Jackson Free Press. In 2021, as a Mississippi Free Press reporter, he was named the Diamond Journalist of the Year for seven southern U.S. states in the Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. A trained photojournalist, Ashton lives in South Mississippi with his husband, William, and their two pit bulls, Dorothy and Dru.