This collection documents the activities of Berch W. Henry, who served as the Officer-in-Charge of Southern Institute of Forest Genetics, located in Gulfport, Mississippi, from 1954 to 1964. After his tenure with the institute he became the Assistant Director of the Southern Forest Experiment Station, a position he held until his retirement in 1973. It contains personal correspondence between Henry and various businessmen and politicians throughout Mississippi from 1953 to 1974. Most of the material in this collection deals with the funding and construction of a modern forestry research laboratory in Gulfport. The project was completed in 1960, and housed scientists who studied plant genetics, entomology, and pathology. This series also includes letters from Henry to timber companies like the Dantzler Lumber Company and Newton’s Naval Stores Company, as well as letters and telegrams between Berch Henry and United States Senator John C. Stennis. Stennis proved instrumental in securing federal dollars for the southern Mississippi forestry laboratory. This collection also has several articles written by or about Berch Henry and pictures from the 1960 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Gulfport lab. There is also a copy of a speech given by Senator Stennis before the Department of Interior Appropriations Subcommittee in support of forestry appropriations, along with three illustrated books in this collection by various plant pathologists that are illustrated guides to fungi.