January 2016 Issue of the Arkansas Archivist

Look inside the January 2016 Issue of the Arkansas Archivist for these and other features

Upcoming Symposium on Little Rock School Desegregation

Arkansas’s education system has been scarred by the legacy of segregation and the struggle to end it and provide equal opportunity for all students. Often, history books treat the desegregation struggle as settled and ended in the 1950s and 1960s. Many historians, however, argue that the legacy of segregation continues to be felt in the current educational climate. On February 6, the Black History Commission of Arkansas and the Arkansas History Commission will present a program titled, Little Rock School Desegregation: Then to Now at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock.

Newly Found J.H. Reynolds Correspondence Donated to the AHC

Last year, the Arkansas History Commission and State Archives celebrated its 110th birthday. Founded in 1905, the History Commission was the brainchild of J.H. Reynolds, a history professor who taught at both the University of Arkansas and Hendrix College during his career in education. Some of the collective history of the agency’s earliest years, including Reynolds involvement, is held in the archives’ vault. Recently, however, a collection of previously unknown correspondence connected to J.H. Reynolds and the agency’s earliest years was discovered.

Black History Commission News

One of the goals of the Arkansas History Commission is to collect and preserve the state’s African American history, and to share that history with the people of Arkansas. In February 2015, Tatyana Oyinloye, the AHC’s African American History Program Coordinator, was invited to Chicot Primary School and Early Childhood Center in Little Rock to speak to kindergarten classes about African American inventors and their inventions.

From the Director

The Arkansas History Commission got an early Christmas present last year during the last months of 2015. For years, our staff and commissioners have talked about the need for a support group for the agency. Earlier efforts to establish a “friends” group had yielded little or no results. Everyone knows that volunteer organizations, like friends groups, usually take a significant commitment of time, energy and dedication from their members — members whose only incentive and reward is the good feeling they get from helping an organization or cause that is important to them.

AHC Acquisitions and Accessions in January 2016

AHC Book Acquisitions

War Birds:  Diary of an Unknown Aviator, by John MacGavock Grider

Eight Nine Romeo Poppa:  The Story of Arkansas Aviation, by Dave Wallis

NEARA Periodical Acquisitions

Independence County "Bits of Bark from the Family Tree” Vol. 40 No. 4 December 2015

Lawrence County Historical Journal, 2015 No.  2

Lawrence County Historical Journal, 2015 No.  3

Lawrence County Historical Journal, 2015 No.  4

SARA Periodical Acquisitions

Field Notes:  Newsletter of the Arkansas Archeological Society, No. 387, November/December 2015.

High School and College Annuals:

The 1961 Bulldog (Texarkana College, Texarkana, TX)

The 1962 Bulldog

The 1963 Eagle (Emmet High School, Emmet, AR)

The 1964 Eagle

The 1965 Bears (Spring Hill High School, Spring Hill, AR)

The 1966 Bears

The 1967 Bears

The 1968 Bears

The 1971 Bears

The 1972 Bears

AHC Accessions

Henry Loewer collection, 3 cu. ft.

Benjamin Oliver Lewis Bible, 1 cu. ft.

Annie Parnell Dougherty Welch collection, 1 cu. ft.

John H. Reynolds Correspondence, 0.25 cu. ft.

Wednesday Wonderful Collection - Arkansas State Prison Board records, MS.000278

Cynthia Houchin Wolfe, who served as secretary/administrative assistant to the Arkansas State Prison Board, collected these records. Wolfe was employed as executive secretary to John Haley at the Rose Law Firm in 1967. She was the Assistant Commissioner for Program Planning for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, 1968-1972. These records cover some of the most turbulent times in Arkansas prisons, as the reforms of Governor Winthrop Rockefeller were being put into place and the federal courts ruled the Arkansas prison system unconstitutional, forcing the state legislature to appropriate sufficient funds for substantial prison reform.

This collection includes correspondence, notes, memos, reports, grant proposals, court rulings, government studies, newsclippings, and Arkansas Correction Board minutes from 1967 to 1971. Much of the material in the collection deals with the tenures of Thomas Murton, Bob Sarver, and the chairman of the Arkansas Correction Board, John Haley. Included in the papers are Cynthia Wolfe's notes explaining many of the different reports and folders she included in the collection.

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• 1. Correspondence and memos, 1967-1970 (Box 1)
• 2. Arkansas State Police report, 1968
• 3. Prison Industries Reorganization Board Report on Arkansas Prisons, 1936
• 4. Arkansas State Penitentiary Annual Report, 1962
• 5. Arkansas Department of Correction Annual Report, 1970
• 6. Statement of Robert Sarver to United States Senate, 1969
• 7. Arkansas Penitentiary Study Commission Probation and Parole Report, 1967
• 8. Arkansas Penitentiary Study Commission Report, 1968 January 1
• 9. Brozene, prison money
• 10. Long range planning, correspondence and memos, 1969-1970
• 11. Long range planning, "A Ten Year Action Plan for Arkansas Corrections," draft version, 1970
• 12. Long range planning, final report, "Where from Here?" 1970
• 13. Long range planning, notes, charts and work sheets
• 1. Miscellaneous newsclippings and articles (Box 2)
• 2. Grant proposals
• 3. Women's reformatory, prototypical design study, 1971 May
• 4. Carl Runyan, "Operation Challenge," final report, 1970 September 8
• 5. Board of Corrections meeting minutes, 1970-1971
• 6. "Arkansas Penitentiary System," article by John H. Haley, 1968
• 7. John Haley's notes, 1968
• 8. Notes on inmate interviews, undated
• 9. Prison humor
• 10. Constitutional issues, federal court rulings on Arkansas prisons, 1970 and additional rulings, 1969-1971
• 11. Arkansas Council on Human Relations, 1971
• 12. Marion Crank, 1968
• 13. Site plans
• 14. Personnel
• 15. Manuals
• 1. Project program report, Cummins Unit (Box 3)
• 2. Correctional standards, 1971
• 3. "Of Prisons and Men," (A Play)
• 4. Search audit, 1968
• 5. Legislative acts, 1968-1970
• 6. Newsclippings, 1967
• 1. Newsclippings, 1968 (Box 4)
• 2. Newsclippings, 1969
• 3. Newsclippings, 1970
• 1. Newsclippings, 1971 (Box 5)
• 2. Newsclippings, 1972-1973
• 3. Newsclippings, 1974-1976
• 4. Newsclippings, 1980
• 5. Newsclippings, undated
• 6. Winthrop Rockefeller memorabilia
• 7. Notes from Cynthia Wolfe, 1993
• 1. Prison tape recordings (Box 6)

History Commission Receives Donation

Last year, the Arkansas History Commission and State Archives celebrated its 110th birthday.  Founded in 1905, the History Commission was the brainchild of J.H. Reynolds, a history professor who taught at both the University of Arkansas and Hendrix College during his career in education.

Some of the collective history of the agency’s earliest years, including Reynolds involvement, is held in the archives’ vault. Recently, however, a collection of previously unknown correspondence connected to J.H. Reynolds’ and the agency’s earliest years was discovered. 

On Jan. 6, Doyle Walker donated two folders of material directly related to the founding of the History Commission.  Walker had recently purchased a house in Conway. After buying the home and exploring its attic, he discovered numerous boxes, pieces of furniture and even two antique gumball machines.  Amongst the boxes were loose folders containing what looked like old correspondence. 

After reading through them, Mr. Walker quickly realized the folders’ value.  “The material is clearly connected to J.H. Reynolds and the History Commission,” he said.

How the material ended up in the attic of the house in Conway isn’t known, but the home had originally been owned by Grover and Georgia Hulen, both of whom had worked at Hendrix, like J.H. Reynolds.  In fact, Georgia had been a longtime and very beloved dietician on campus.

“I’m not sure what the connection is between J.H. Reynolds and Hulen,” Mr. Walker shared. “The house was built in 1953, but I think Mrs. Hulen had been with Hendrix long before then. There’s even a building on campus named for her.” 

Regardless of how the material ended up in the Hulen house, the History Commission is thrilled with the donation.

“It’s not every day that someone walks in with hundred-year old records documenting the very earliest work of your organization,” said Director Lisa K. Speer.  “This donation not only contains letters from John Hugh Reynolds, but from some of the early major players in creating and growing the state archives, including first Director Dallas Herndon and long-time commissioner Clara B. Eno.”  Among the most interesting letters in the donation is Herndon’s original letter dated Aug. 26, 1911, accepting the position as director, and a Nov. 11, 1910 letter from Thomas M. Owen, the first archivist of the State of Alabama, advising John Hugh Reynolds on how to set up a properly functioning state archives for Arkansas.

Mr. Walker says he hasn’t gone through the rest of the boxes yet, but is looking forward to see what else he finds.  “It will be interesting to see what else is up there.”