The Delta Blues Museum is dedicated to creating a welcoming
place where visitors find meaning, value, and perspective by
exploring the history and heritage of the unique American musical
art form of the blues.
The City of Clarksdale, located at the intersection of Highways
61 and 49 (“the crossroads”), and the surrounding
Delta region are known as ”the land where the blues began”.
Since its creation, the Delta Blues Museum has preserved, interpreted,
and encouraged a deep interest in the story of the blues. Established
in 1979 by the Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees and
re-organized as a stand-alone museum in 1999, the Delta Blues
Museum is the state’s oldest music museum. A five-member
board appointed by the Mayor and Board of Commissioners of Clarksdale
governs the museum. Funded by the City of Clarksdale, admissions,
memberships, gift shop revenue, granting agencies and donations,
the museum uses public and private funds to carry out its mission.
Since 1999, the Delta Blues Museum has been housed in the historic
Clarksdale freight depot, built in 1918 for the Yazoo and Mississippi
Valley Railroad. The building was designated a Mississippi Landmark
Property in 1996. The former freight area- about five thousand
square feet of ground floor space – is devoted to permanent
and traveling exhibits.
The Delta Blues Museum Stage is adjacent to the museum classroom,
which hosts a year-round music education program as well as
lectures and symposia. The Delta Blues Museum Stage serves as
the main venue for local festivals such as the Sunflower River
Blues and Gospel Festival in August and the Juke Joint Festival
in April.
In 2005, the Delta Blues Museum was granted programming oversight
of the historic Greyhound Bus Station, from which many local
residents departed for Chicago and points north during The Great
Migration in the first half of the 20th century. The building
was designated a Mississippi Landmark Property in 2001. The
Station hosts exhibits and the Greyhound Speaker Series, a brown
bag lunch program held at noon on the third Friday of every
month. The series is funded through a grant from the Mississippi
Humanities Council. The station is also available for rent for
special events; contact the Delta Blues Museum office for details.
Shelley Ritter, Director
shelley@deltabluesmuseum.org
Maie Smith, Group Tour Manager
maie@deltabluesmuseum.org
Christopher Coleman, Gift Shop Manager
chris@deltabluesmuseum.org
Shelley Ricker, Administrative Assistant
membership@deltabluesmuseum.org
