Delta Blues Museum

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.