Southern Punk Archive

Even before the founding of Special Collections, the University Libraries’ Mississippi Collection acquired a number of sound recordings of multiple genres from pop and country to classical and jazz. The Library began seriously collecting Blues in 1984 with the establishment of the Blues Archive (see Seymour Lawrence Room). In 2021 these genres were expanded with the establishment of the Southern Punk Archive created by John Rash as a collaboration of the Southern Documentary Project and Archives and Special Collections. This collection of physical and digital media includes photos, sound recordings, videos, fliers, clothing, and more, documenting various punk music scenes across the American South. Please contact our staff if you have materials you would like to donate to this growing collection.

Often embracing anti-authoritarian themes, punk music has mostly rebelled against the norms of mainstream music and culture. Anti-capitalist sentiments helped create a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) culture, where bands make their own posters and flyers, not relying on corporate marketing and distribution channels. Some even create pamphlets with advice and/or instructions on how to operate outside of capitalist systems.

Featured in this display:

• 7-inch recording. The Red Hell of Jupiter / Burn Witch Burn.
• Broadside for event at Duke Coffeehouse featuring Crimson Spectre, Deadthings, Feces for Warpaint
• Book. The Best Friends Day Yearbook / Shelley Briggs Callahan (2021)
• Zine. Razorcake #130
• Zine. Rational Inquirer #8
• Zine. The Kosmik Misadventures of @ktion K@t, #1 ("Rise of the Pig," June 2018)
• Cassette. Bone Spur / Judy and the Jerks
• DVD. Negro Terror, documentary film by John Rash
• Flyer. Punk Show, 4 Bands, Brother vs. Brother. July 2, Four Bones
• Poster. Siren with Heebie Jeebies, Spank Major Hijack. All-ages show, Tuesday, April 13 (year unknown)
• LP. Trouble with a Capital T: 1980s Punk and Underground from Florida's Capital City
• Zine. Poems for My Friends and Enemies / Erica S. Qualy (2022)
• Zine. Small Ways to Beat Big Brother / Erica Qualy
• Flyer. All-ages show at The Other Side (in Mobile, AL?) featuring Maggot Sandwich, Headless Marines, Crucial Change
• Sticker. Crimson Spectre
• Zine. Spare Change #21, "Since I Quit, Pt. 1"
• Clothing. Studded Collar.