Ole Miss Is in the Groove With Its Iconic Blues Archive

It’s common for universities to have archives, but at the University of Mississippi, stacks of files just won’t do.

The school’s J.D. Williams Library is home to the Ole Miss Blues Archive. It’s the largest collection in the world, and for the Rebels, #ItJustMeansMore opportunities to experience culture on campus.

The collection includes blues recordings, publications, memorabilia, and what we see as the showstopper — B.B. King’s personal record collection. If you ask curator and Associate Professor Greg Johnson, he’ll probably agree with us. He believes the archive gained significant momentum after King donated his records in the early 1980s. “That [led to] a lot of people donating materials to the university,” Johnson notes. “People thought, ‘If it is good enough for B.B. King, that sounds like a good place to give [their] materials.’”

Another special piece in the collection has to do with a different Johnson — Robert Leroy Johnson. When Robert Leroy died in 1938, he was a bluesman with little success to his name, but his work became popular after he passed away and his recordings continue to impact today’s music. Johnson (the blues curator, not the bluesman) said, “We have his death certificate. It’s a certified copy, [and] the original is on file in LeFlore County,” where he died of unknown causes at just 27 years old.

On its own, the certificate marks the death of a young man. But placed within the Blues Archive, it helps bring the big picture to life, the big picture being the music of Mississippi natives — a genre that grew out of enslaved men’s and women’s spiritual and work songs. And, not to mention, the gateway genre to rock ’n’ roll. (You’re welcome, Fats, Buddy, and Elvis.)

Ole Miss wants the community to enjoy and learn from its archive. As the university’s Department of Archives and Special Collections puts it, “It’s the history and culture of the state of Mississippi and the surrounding states. We save history before it is lost. We preserve it and make it available. Most important is to make it accessible to our patrons.”

That statement had us wondering…what kinds of things are accessible in the archive? What does the world’s largest blues collections look like? Well, we’ve got the numbers: more than 60,000 sound recordings; more than 20,000 photographs; more than 1,000 videos; and more than 34,000 books, periodicals, newsletters, manuscripts, and ephemera. Mind-blowing numbers, really. No wonder it’s a noncirculating collection.

So, what about the students? Are they benefiting from this collection? Well, we think they’re getting a bonus degree in music education. Ole Miss students have a deep appreciation for music. For example, Civil and Environmental Engineering major Jay Deeprao said: “Living in Mississippi is great because it’s the birthplace of American music: Rock ’n’ roll, blues, and rhythm and blues. It is really interesting to see artists who today still show us our roots.” Students are always welcome to visit the collection, and if you’re ever in the area, you can experience the blues yourself. The archive is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

Whether you’re a student, a music junkie, or a curious soul, there are thousands of artifacts to get you feeling “blue” at the archive. It’s an incredible collection of history, and for the University of Mississippi, #ItJustMeansMore opportunities to learn from the past and be inspired for the future.