Support the Southern Documentary Project

The mission of the Southern Documentary Project is to train the next generation of storytellers. To do that, SouthDocs employs professional filmmakers who teach and mentor students in the Southern Studies undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Contributions to the Southern Documentary Project support production expenses and student equipment purchases.

MAKE A GIFT ONLINE

If you wish to mail a gift, please indicate on the check that it is for the Southern Documentary Project and send it to

The University of Mississippi Foundation/SouthDocs
406 University Avenue
Oxford, MS 38655

Current initiatives which benefit from contributions:

MFA in Documentary Expression + Student Projects
Our undergraduate, MA, and MFA students create documentary projects (photography, film, audio, or multi-media) as part of their coursework. Visit the documentary studies page to learn more.

Mississippi Creates Film Series
The Southern Documentary Project partners with the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council on an annual basis to sponsor student-created documentary films that look at the humanities through the stories of local musicians who create work that is inspired by their lives and experiences in the state of Mississippi.

Mississippi Stories Film Series
The Southern Documentary Project feels a special responsibility to tell the stories of Mississippi, of its people and landscape. Some of these documentaries take the form of profiles of individuals, and others take a wider view of communities. SouthDocs hopes to continue to create advocacy-based projects that address the state’s range of socioeconomic issues.

Southern Punk Archive
The Southern Punk Archive is an ongoing effort to gather ephemera and contemporary stories related to the underground D.I.Y. music communities that create a cross-pollinated network across the Southern United States. This project works to preserve audio, video, photographs, and first-person oral histories that illustrate the life changing impact punk and hardcore music has had in this region.

Highway 61 Radio Show + Films
Highway 61 is a weekly radio program on the blues on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.  Produced by the Southern Documentary Project, the host is Scott Barretta, writer and researcher for the Mississippi Blues Trail, former editor of Living Blues magazine, and author of Mississippi: State of the Blues. Beginning with Shake ‘Em On Down: The Blues According to Fred McDowell, Highway 61 Films explore southern music and musicians. The Center for the Study of Southern Culture has long studied and documented music, and this SouthDocs initiative contributes to that scholarly legacy.