This collection houses letters, news clippings, official papers, and other items documenting James Earl Ray's life between the Martin Luther King assassination in 1968 and Ray's death in 1998. They concern his attempts to prove his innocence and his life in prison. Among the letters are correspondence with James's brother Jerry Ray and a woman named Lori (with various last names); most concern Ray's attempts to prove his innocence in the assassination and his insistence that a conspiracy was responsible for the crime. Most of the news clippings were included in his correspondence and include editorials sympathetic to him and articles on his legal battles. Other documents include legal papers, Ray's death certificate, a wanted notice, and documents recording life at Brushy Mountain Prison. One of the articles in the collection discusses the life of Ray and mentions the different motives for the assassination plot, including a racial motive.