Since the mid-1970s, when the Center was established, Lynn Crosby Gammill and her husband, Stewart, have championed Center initiatives and assisted in resource development efforts on its behalf. Virtually every significant undertaking the Center has made over the past 25 years has benefitted from Lynn Gammill’s vision of what the Center might achieve at the University of Mississippi. From the beginning, both Gammills envisioned the Center as a regional resource of the first order, with the study of the South and all things Southern central to their vision of its long-term role. 

   Gammill family support has been critical to the Center’s Piney Woods publication and historical work, as well as to ongoing library improvements and challenge grant efforts. Additionally, the Center’s Mississippi Writers: Reflections of Childhood anthologies and its award-winning Encyclopedia of Southern Culture drew support early from the Gammills and other members of their family, including Lynn’s mother, Dorothy Crosby. Indeed, restoration of the Center’s home in historic Barnard Observatory would not have been possible without the sustained support of the Gammills and their family.      

   Lynn Crosby Gammill has served on the Center’s Advisory Committee since its inception. 

Ann Abadie, the Center’s Associate Director, says, “It was Lynn’s idea in the first place to create a Center advisory group, to promote awareness of the Center and its goal of furthering understanding of the South through study, celebration, and historical documentation. The Center would not be what it is today without the vision and commitment of Lynn Crosby Gammill.”

   In April 2001, the Center will honor Lynn and Stewart Gammill by dedicating its gallery to them. As part of the University’s Celebration Weekend, on Friday, April 27, 2001, at 1:30 p.m., University Chancellor Dr. Robert C. Khayat, former Mississippi Governor William Winter, and Center Director Dr. Charles Reagan Wilson will host a program dedicating the Lynn and Stewart Gammill Gallery at Barnard Observatory. The Center will use this opportunity to welcome the Gammills’ family and friends, as well as Center alumni, parents, friends, and donors. 

   Southern Register friends are invited to join us in Oxford on Friday, April 27, for a reception that will precede the Gammill Gallery dedication. The reception will be held in the courtyard garden behind Barnard Observatory, from noon until 1:30 p.m. At 2:00 p.m., following the dedication ceremony, in the lecture hall of Barnard Observatory, Provost Emeritus Gerald W. Walton and Professor T. J. Ray will present slides and comments on early campus buildings. 

   Plan to meet with you Southern Studies friends and family again after the slide presentation, at 4:00 p.m., for the rededication of the Lyceum. The best-known, well-loved landmark building at Ole Miss has recently undergone a $11 million restoration and will be open for tours following the program. Come and see how the only remaining structure of the University’s original five campus buildings has been preserved and made ready for the 21st century!