Next time you are visiting the Special Collections Reading Room please take a look at the display case featuring items from the Jesse H. Bankston Papers collection.

Jesse Homer Bankston (1907-2010) was born to Allie Magee and Leon V. Bankston of Washington Parish, Louisiana. He attended local schools and received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from Louisiana State University in 1933 and 1936, respectively. Bankston began his career in government as an appointee of Governor Sam Houston Jones. He continued under the administrations of Jimmie Davis and Earl K. Long. After being dismissed by Long in 1959, he returned to his healthcare consulting firm. Bankston joined the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee in 1960, serving fifty-one years until his death in 2010. He also served on the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from 1968-1996.

Correspondence, political files, printed items, and photographs reflect Jesse H. Bankston's involvement in Louisiana state government and Louisiana politics. Correspondence discusses political campaigns and candidates. Political files pertain to the activities of the Louisiana State Democratic Central Committee, the Democratic Party of Louisiana, politicians, the Louisiana Department of Institutions, and the State Hospital Board. Political files also document Earl K. Long's confinement to a psychiatric hospital in the summer of 1959. Printed items relate to state and national campaigns, the National Democratic Convention of 1976, and Louisiana Mardi Gras festivities in Washington, D. C.