Dr. John D.W. Guice Papers

A native of Biloxi, Dr. Guice served on the Southern Miss faculty from 1969 until his retirement in 2000, and continued to teach at the university part-time from 2001-2013. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master’s degree from the University of Texas-El Paso, and a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he was valedictorian of his Cryptographic School class at Fort Gordon, Ga. and afterward served as a cryptographic specialist with NATO forces stationed in Fontainbleau, France.

At USM, Dr. Guice taught courses in American history, served as director of its American Studies program and as president of the university’s Faculty Senate. His research expertise included the history of Mississippi and the Old Southwest.

Dr. Guice's publications include The Rocky Mountain Bench: The Territorial Supreme Courts of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, 1861-1890 (1972), The Old Southwest, 1795-1830: Frontiers in Conflict (1989, 1996), and Forrest County General Hospital: The Evolution of a Regional Medical Center, A Prophecy Fulfilled (2002); in 1979, he won the Colorado Historical Society Leroy B. Hagen Award for the best article in Colorado Magazine.

During his career, Dr. Guice received grants form the American Council of Learned Societies, American Philosophical Society, and the National Endowment for the Humanities and served as President of the Mississippi Historical Society (1993) and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Hattiesburg, Petal, and Forrest County. In 2011, Dr. Guice was awarded the Mississippi Historical Society's Dunbar Rowland Award for his lifelong contributions to the preservation, study, and interpretation of Mississippi history.