When B. B. King departed from the University of Mississippi after his February 27 performance as part of the second annual Blues Today Symposium, he did so as an honorary professor of Southern Studies. The honor was conferred upon the blues legend by Center director Charles Wilson at a special ceremony during the February 26-28 symposium.

“Clearly recognized as a world treasure, B. B. King has brought distinction to his home state as well as to the University of Mississippi,” Chancellor Robert Khayat said in a statement released before the ceremony.

The University is especially indebted to King for his generosity regarding the Blues Archive. “His donation was one of the key collections that started the archive,” said Greg Johnson, curator of the facility. “It was really a cornerstone.”

A primary resource for the Center, the Blues Archive is the largest public collection of blues recordings and memorabilia in the world, thanks in large part to the 1983 donation by King. The gift included 8,000 LPs, 78s, and 45s from his personal collection.

At the ceremony honoring King, which took place just hours before his sellout show at the University’s Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Johnson asked the blues legend about specific records in the collection. A full house of Blues Today participants, students, faculty, staff, and local fans laughed as King answered Johnson’s questions, joking about his life and travels as a musician.

Jennifer Southall

B. B. King shows off his guitar
photos courtesy of Kevin Bain/University of Mississippi

 

Work Continues on the Mississippi Encyclopedia This summer will be an important time for the Mississippi Encyclopedia, one of the large reference works underway at the Center. Hundreds of authors have a June 1 deadline for their entries, and Managing Editor Andrea Odom and Consulting Editor Ted Ownby plan to spend much of the summer editing and organizing those entries. Authors have already sent over 300 entries, and by the end of the summer the editors hope to have well over 1,000 entries. The lists of topics compiled by 30 associate editors are virtually complete and available for view at www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/ms_encyclopedia/index.htm. Potential authors still have plenty of time to volunteer to write entries or to suggest new topics that should be on the list. The Mississippi Encyclopedia is a joint project of the Center, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Humanities Council, and the University Press of Mississippi.