It’s time for researchers to get
started on their manuscripts for our upcoming NEARA Award for Exemplary
Archival Research. The winner earns $1,000!
The award is open to anyone. We are happy to help researchers with
topics or delve into works in progress. Deadline for submissions is Feb. 1.
The winning paper gets a cash prize and will be kept on file at
our branch office and the Arkansas State Archives. The paper also will be
considered for publication in a statewide journal.
Entries must not have been submitted elsewhere or published
previously and must not exceed 35 pages. Papers must contain citations from
documents housed at NEARA to qualify. The award focuses on Lawrence County
territorial papers from 1815 to 1936, but other time periods will be
considered.
A three-person panel will decide the winner, who will be announced
this April.
The award honors Lawrence County Historical Society volunteers who
saved territorial records after the Powhatan County seat was abandoned in 1963.
Volunteers later lobbied for a regional archives, which was established in
2011.
The award is funded by the family of Eugene Sloan, a Jonesboro
lawyer who was born in Powhatan in 1892, and sponsored by the Arkansas
Historical Association. For more information, visit http://arkansashistoricalassociation.org/?page_id=19.
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| Historic documents filed at NEARA |
Besides the NEARA award, we also want to say “thank you” to volunteers
who participated Nov. 10 in Volunteer Day. Volunteers and staff processed more
than four boxes of material and created 75 new files indexed into our database.
Anyone can volunteer. We teach
volunteers how to handle archival materials and how to make those records more
accessible to the public. Currently, volunteers are unfolding and processing
court case files from the Walnut Ridge, Lawrence County Court Records
Collection. The goal is to have those cases searchable in our database within
the next year. For more information about volunteering, contact NEARA at northeast.archives@arkansas.govor 870-878-6521.
