OXFORD, Miss. – The Mississippi Encyclopedia, an
interdisciplinary reference book produced by the University
of Mississippi Center for the Study of Southern Culture, is
in the final production stage and should be released late
next year.
The encyclopedia of everything Mississippi is to feature
1,600 to 1,700 entries on 30 topic areas ranging from civil
rights and the Civil War to visual arts, environment and
folk life, officials said.
“It’s going to be the most authoritative, reliable and
comprehensive guide we have to the state of Mississippi,”
said Charles Reagan Wilson, co-editor of the encyclopedia
and Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Chair of History. “It explores the
history of the state, shows the diversity of our culture,
examines the cultural achievements and provides easy access
for students and teachers and anybody interested in the
state.”
Ted Ownby, interim director of CSSC, is co-editor of the
encyclopedia. Ann Abadie, associate director of the center,
has acted as the consulting director and chose the
encyclopedia’s name.
“We really have extraordinary entries on a number of
crucial topics,” Ownby said. “The goal is a thorough
accounting, lots of detail and a scholarly approach to the
range of topics that come up in thinking about Mississippi
past and present.”
The publication has relied on 30 associate editors,
including UM faculty members Charles Ross, associate
professor of history and African-American studies; David
Sansing, professor emeritus of history; Michael Dean,
associate dean emeritus of liberal arts and associate
professor emeritus of English; John T. Edge, director of
the center’s Southern Foodways Alliance; and Jay Johnson,
professor of anthropology and director of archaeological
research.
Ownby said the book will “have a kind of an edge to it.”
“I think most of us would agree, a state encyclopedia on
Mississippi has possibilities for loving and hating that a
lot of other state encyclopedias might not have,” he said.
“We will give as full treatment as we know how to a range
of particularly harsh problems in Mississippi, and we will
also show the range of ways that people have resisted,
fought, worked around and created in response to some of
those problems.”
The idea for the Mississippi Encyclopedia was proposed in
2002 by the University Press of Mississippi, which will
publish the book. The project was assigned to CSSC based on
its publication of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture and
New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture volumes. Work on the
encyclopedia began in 2003.
Odie Lindsey, the encyclopedia’s research assistant, said
that after years of research and writing, they are now in
the process of editing the book’s content, with about 1,400
entries already completed. Other state agencies involved in
the work are the Mississippi Department of Archives and
History, the Mississippi Humanities Council and scores of
entry authors, many of whom are the most recognized
scholars on a topic.
The book’s music section is the longest of the 30 topic
areas and Ownby said the civil rights section is probably
the “fullest.” The publication also features a section on
myths and representations of the state.
“I think this is going to revise the world’s image of
Mississippi because it gets past the stereotypes about
Mississippi,” Wilson said. “We have such a world class
culture, and I think this book is going to showcase that
culture and help to change the attitudes about
Mississippi.”
The Mississippi Encyclopedia will be the first of its kind
in recent years, with the last state reference book
published in the early 1900s.
For more information, call 662-915-5993.