FERRIS, William (R.)

FERRIS, William (R.). American, b. 1942. Genres: Local history/Rural topics, Cultural/Ethnic topics, Mythology/Folklore, Bibliography. Career: Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, assistant professor of English, 1970-72; Yale University, New Haven, CT, associate professor of American and Afro-American studies, 1972-79; University of Mississippi, Oxford, professor of anthropology and director of Center for the Study of Southern Culture, 1979-97; National Endowment for the Humanities, chairman, 1997-; writer. Stanford University, Stanford Humanities Center, visiting fellow, 1989-90; lecturer at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. Worked on documentary films; Center for Southern Folklore, cofounder and president, 1972-84; The Blues (documentary), Mississippi Authority for Educational Television, producer and host, 1972; guest on television and radio programs; film consultant. Photographer with exhibitions throughout the United States and Germany. Publications: Blues from the Delta, 1970, rev. ed., 1978; Mississippi Black Folklore: A Research Bibliography and Discography, 1971; Black Prose Narrative from the Mississippi Delta, 1974-75; Images of the South: Visits with Eudora Welty and Walker Evans, 1978; Local Color, 1982; Ray Lum: Mule Trader and Storyteller, 1992. EDITOR: Afro-American Folk Arts and Crafts, 2 vols, 1978, rev. ed., 1983; (with S. Hart) Folk Music and Modern Sound, 1982; (with C.R. Wilson) Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, 1989. Address: The Wendy Weil Agency Inc, 232 Madison Ave., Suite 1300, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A.