Fall is the time of harvest, and in our state farmers are at work in fields of cotton and soybeans as they gather the fruit of their labor. Here at the Center we have been blessed with a bountiful harvest in receiving the Charles Frankel Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities, presented by President Bill Clinton, and an Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, presented by National Trust president Richard Moe. These awards recognize the Center's work as a national treasure and are a source of pride for all associated with our program.

Many hands make light work, and the success of the Center's wide-ranging projects that explore the culture of the American South is due to the tireless devotion of Center staff, faculty, and students and to the many friends who have supported our work over the years. Together we have built an edifice that will endure and enrich generations who follow in our footsteps. They will continue to study and to celebrate the rich cultural legacy of our writers, musicians, and artists. I am deeply grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities and to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for their recognition of our mission, and I congratulate all here at the Center who believe in our work and have labored hard over the years to build its programs.

One who has worked devotedly for the Center is our beloved friend Sue Hart, who retired this fall. A native of Canton, Mississippi, Sue pursued a career that led her to Yale University where she first worked as an editor on the Benjamin Franklin Papers. It was my good fortune to work with Sue, who was my assistant in the Afro-American Studies Program at Yale. When the University of Mississippi asked me to direct their newly created Center for the Study of Southern Culture, I agreed to accept if Sue could come with me. I relied heavily on her good judgment at Yale and knew she would be invaluable in building the Center s programs.

While still at Yale, Sue and I brainstormed about the rather daunting task of "studying the South," and she suggested we develop an encyclopedia of Southern culture. Such a project, she argued, would force us to define and explore every aspect of the region. We then met with Howard Lamar who gave us wise counsel based on his experience in editing the Encyclopedia of the American West. Sue then drew up a list of topics that were the seeds from which our Encyclopedia of Southern Culture grew over the next decade.

In his biography of James Joyce, Richard Ellman remarked that Joyce had the "eye of a hawk" for detail. Sue brings a hawklike eye to her work as an editor. In addition to serving as associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, she coedited with Brenda Eagles and Lisa Howorth Blues: A Bibliographic Guide, a 600-page compendium that is an invaluable research tool for the study of blues. Sue has also copyedited our Southern Register and many other Center publications. She has indexed our books and has done important research and writing for many of our proposals. And Sue has edited every article and book I have written over the past 20 years, offering thoughtful, detailed suggestions and corrections.

Sue Hart's courageous, dedicated commitment to the Center can never be fully acknowledged. Her spirit will always be an inspiration for our work, and as a token of our appreciation for her generous support, we are sending her on a week-long journey next year aboard the Delta Queen. I have no doubt she will find her way to the pilot house and give the captain as good advice on how to negotiate the river as she has given us on our journey through the waters of Southern culture. Sue, we all salute you and offer you heartfelt thanks for all you have done to enrich our lives.

William Ferris