Ross Alexander Collins (April 25, 1880 – July 14, 1968) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Missis ...

. Born in

Collinsville, Mississippi Collinsville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,984 at the 2020 census. Geography Collinsville is located in northwestern Lauderdale County at ( ...

, Collins attended the public schools of

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Meri ...

, and Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. He graduated from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's ...

at Lexington in 1900 and from the law department of the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

at Oxford in 1901. He was admitted to the bar in 1901 and commenced practice in

. He served as

Mississippi Attorney General The Attorney General of Mississippi is the chief legal officer of the state and serves as the state's lawyer. Only the Attorney General can bring or defend a lawsuit on behalf of the state. The Attorney General is elected statewide for a four-ye ...

from 1912 to 1920. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Mississippi in 1919. Collins was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-seventh and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1921 – January 3, 1935). In 1929, Collins successfully proposed the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

's $1.5 million purchase of Otto Vollbehr's collection of

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pr ...

, including one of four remaining perfect vellum copies of the

Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the " Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed ...

. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1934, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

. Collins was elected to the Seventy-fifth, Seventy-sixth, and Seventy-seventh Congresses (January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1943). In the late 1930s he was the chairman of the House Subcommittee on

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Appropriations; during his time in office, he cut spending on local DC funds for welfare and education stating that "my constituents wouldn't stand for spending money on

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cas ...

s".
Home Rule or House Rule? Congress and the Erosion of Local Governance in the District of Columbia
' by Michael K. Fauntroy,

University Press of America University Press of America is an academic publisher based in the United States. Part of the independent Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the ...

, 2003 at

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, page 94 He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

in 1941. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1942, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for

. He resumed the practice of law. He died in

, July 14, 1968. He was interred in Magnolia Cemetery.

External links

Ross Alexander Collins Collection (MUM00082)
owned by the University of Mississippi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Ross A 1880 births 1968 deaths Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi Politicians from Meridian, Mississippi Mississippi Attorneys General 20th-century American politicians People from Collinsville, Mississippi