Melvin Thompson, the first person elected to the office of lieutenant governor of Georgia, served as the state's governor in 1947-48. He is best remembered for his fight with Herman Talmadge over the governorship after the death of Governor-elect Eugene Talmadge in 1946. The papers of M.E. Thompson consist primarily of correspondence relating to the Three Governors Controversy and Thompson’s subsequent campaign years.  The major correspondents include Jimmy Carter, Phil Landrum, Herman Talmadge, John Sammons Bell, Ellis Arnall, Mayor George B Glover, Judge Randall Evans, Georgia State Representative Clifford R Avera, Roy V Harris, Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr., and Attorney General Eugene Cook.  Other correspondents are Georgia State Senators G.W. Taylor, J. P Hogg, Ray Crow, and John L. Mavity. There is also correspondence from Jim Hinton, president of the NAACP.  The documents fall into a wide variety of categories including miscellaneous maps and photographs, letters, postcards, telegrams, newspaper clippings, and a play relating to the governors controversy.  Relating to Thompson’s campaign, the correspondence include mailing lists, voter solicitation lists, campaign literature, bills and receipts, and tax returns,    There are many lists incorporated in the papers including lists of hospitals in Georgia, Georgia high schools, locations of state highways in Georgia.  Thompson’s memoir on politics and the Democratic Party is included as well.  Finally, a book entitles Guide to Price Control from the Research Institute is in the collection.

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