Aug. 29 Symposium - "The Great War: Service on All Fronts"

The Arkansas History Commission and State Archives and the North Little Rock History Commission will be hosting a symposium on Saturday, August 29, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Patrick Henry Hays Senior Center, 401 West Pershing Boulevard, North Little Rock. 

The theme of the symposium, “The Great War: Service on All Fronts,” will feature presenters Bryan McGraw, Access Coordinator at the National Archives, St. Louis & Midwest region, Sandra Taylor Smith, Director of the North Little Rock History Commission,  Cary Bradburn, NLR History Commission Historian, author Elizabeth Hill, and Arkansas History Commission Archival Assistant Amanda L. Paige. 

Topics will include, The Personnel Records at the National Archives in St. Louis, Fort Roots and Camp Pike in World War I, Arkansas’s Women and the Great War, and World War I Records at the Arkansas History Commission.

The event will also feature a scanning booth.  Participants are invited to bring in material pertaining to Arkansas during World War I for digitization.  An AHC archivist will scan and save to CDs copies of scanned material for the participants, who will be asked to share the digital copies with the Arkansas History Commission and North Little Rock History Commission for research, exhibits and publication.  

The symposium is free and lunch will be provided. Teachers can earn up to four professional development hours through attendance. Registration is limited.  The deadline for registration will be Monday, August 24, so be sure to register soon. Check-in for registration will begin at 9:15 a.m. 

The Arkansas History Commission and State Archives, located in Little Rock, is the official state archives of Arkansas and maintains the largest collection of historical materials on Arkansas in the world. The North Little Rock History Commission’s mission is to collect, keep, and care for materials pertaining to the history of North Little Rock.

For more information about the symposium or to register, please call 501-682-6900 or email history.commission@arkansas.gov.

The event is funded in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Department of Arkansas Heritage.