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New Virtual Exhibit on Will D. Campbell



**Please excuse the cross-posting**

NEW VIRTUAL EXHIBIT:

Will D. Campbell: A Man of the Word
http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/campbell

USM Libraries' Special Collections presents a virtual exhibit based on the
Will D. Campbell Papers held at the McCain Library & Archives. Will D.
Campbell: A Man of the Word emphasizes Campbell's work as a preacher,
writer, and public speaker with digital reproductions of manuscript
materials and photographs, audio excerpts from the Will D. Campbell oral
history interview, narrative text, and video clips from the PBS Documentary
God's Will. Mr. Campbell donated his papers to USM in 1999, and the exhibit
links to the online finding aid. Word also links to the transcript of the
Will Campbell oral history.

Born in Amite County, Mississippi in 1924, Will Campbell was ordained as a
Baptist minister at the young age of seventeen. Campbell served in WWII and
attended Wake Forest, Tulane, and Yale Universities before receiving his
first pastorate at a Baptist church in Taylor, Louisiana. Will's social
activism in regard to racial justice and human rights made him ill suited
for the confines of the small-town Southern pulpit, and he left in 1954 to
become Director of Religious Life and Chaplain at the University of
Mississippi. Again, his views proved too controversial, and he left his
post after only two years.

Will proclaimed his "radical Christianity" through civil and human rights
movements, religious organizations such as the National Council of Churches
and the Committee for Southern Churchmen, sermons, speeches and books. The
only white present at the first meeting of Martin Luther King's Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, Will Campbell became a behind-the-scenes
operator for the Movement. He could be relied on to show up in a crisis and
do what needed to be done, like walking beside black schoolchildren through
a mob in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Probably best known for his writing, Campbell's autobiographical work,
Brother to a Dragonfly, was a finalist for the National Book Award and won
the Lillian Smith Prize and the Christopher Award in 1978. He is the author
of seventeen works of fiction and non-fiction, including two children's
books.

Campbell's lectures present themes on the commonness of all mankind and the
importance of relationships with God, the land, and one another. His talks
sparkle with Southern humor and a distinct voice known to mention rednecks,
the evil of institutions, and racial reconciliation.

Sometimes described as a "bootleg" preacher, Will Campbell professes a
great love and affection for Country Music. Will was close friends with the
late Waylon Jennings, even traveling along on Jenning's tour bus. Campbell
currently resides near the "Country Music Capital of the World" of
Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Brenda. They have three children.

Explore original manuscript materials, complete with hand-written
notations, from Will Campbell's books and speeches. Listen and watch Will
Campbell discuss his views on life in media clips, and browse photographs
from the Will D. Campbell Papers in the virtual exhibit Will D. Campbell: A
Man of the Word at http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/campbell.





**************************************
Peggy M. Price
Special Collections Librarian
Peggy.Price@usm.edu

The University of Southern Mississippi
McCain Library & Archives
Box 5148
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5148

Phone   601.266.4347
Fax     601.266.6269
Web     Http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol
***************************************

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