International Conference on Elvis Presley

The arrival of Elvis Presley on the American music scene in the mid-1950s and the resulting cultural earthquake meant neither popular music nor society would ever be the same. From his leap to stardom to his death in 1977, the King of Rock and Roll s influence over the nation s mores and customs was phenomenal, as his life and music exposed tensions and contradictions in Southern culture to the seemingly unending fascination of the world.

Scholars, music lovers, and Elvis fans will seriously study the impact the musician s career had and continues to have on American culture during the first-ever conference on Elvis. The event, set for August 6-11, will be sponsored by the Center and the Department of English at the University of Mississippi; Graceland Inc., a division of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc.; Oxford Tourism Council; Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau; and the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation in Tupelo.

Participating in a recent press conference announcing the creation of an annual conference on Elvis Presley are (from left) Todd Morgan, director of creative resources at Graceland; Vernon Chadwick, an English professor and conference codirector; Bill Ferris, Center director and conference codirector; Gerald Walton, acting chancellor of the University of Mississippi.

The 1995 conference will present an overview of Elvis's life and career. Organizers of the five-day conference plan to offer lectures, panel discussions, films, slide presentations, readings, guided tours, oral histories, and other activities to help scholars and nonscholars understand factors that influenced the musician, and how those influences made an impact on America and the world.

William Ferris, director of the Center, and Vernon Chadwick, assistant professor of English, will codirect the event. "Elvis is the single most important popular music figure of the 20th century", Ferris said. "His relationship to modern music and the American South makes the conference especially important for our Center. Up to this point, there has been no concerted effort to take a scholarly look at the effect Elvis has had on our culture."

In addition to tours of Memphis and Tupelo, and musical presentations, the conference will feature panel discussions, readings, and lectures. For more information or to register, contact Marcie Ferris at the University's Center for Public Service and Continuing Studies; telephone 601-232-7282.

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