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| Eighteen volunteers turned out June 14 to help NEARA celebrate Volunteer Day. |
POWHATAN – Eighteen
volunteers came out for Volunteer Day at the Northeast Arkansas Regional
Archives on June 14 and helped preserve pieces of the region’s history.
“The turnout was
incredible,” said Dr. Fatme Myuhtar-May, archival manager. “The community cares
deeply about learning and preserving its history.”
Volunteers came
from Paragould, Black Rock, Strawberry, Newport, Hoxie, Salem, Ash Flat,
Jonesboro, Pocahontas, Evening Shade, Horseshoe Bend, Charlotte, Smithville and
even Little Rock, which is about two hours away. Many volunteers arrived around
8:30 a.m. and stayed past 3 p.m. to work on Walnut Ridge court records.
Volunteers
carefully unfolded records, removed rusty staples, paperclips or stick pins,
and then placed the documents in folders and archival boxes. Once a cubic-foot
box was full of unfolded records, a volunteer labeled the folder with the box
number, folder number and name of the collection.
During Volunteer
Day, at least 12 cubic feet of material was unfolded and labeled. NEARA staff
will index the material before it is made available to researchers. Some
volunteers also worked on indexing records by typing the information into a
spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will allow patrons to search the information by
name or keyword.
Several attendees
said they intend to become regular NEARA volunteers. The Volunteer Day was so
successful, archives staff are considering holding another one. Volunteers help
preserve records and make them more accessible to the public, Dr. Myuhtar-May
said.
“Volunteer days
are very important for NEARA because it takes a lot of time to unfold and index
records,” she said. “With only two full-time staff members whose time can be
filled by reference tasks and administrative duties, having outside help to
process records is essential.”
Dr. Myuhtar-May
said she is grateful to each person who came to help NEARA. She was especially
moved by the presence of 91-year-old Jack Sloan from Powhatan, who came to help
unfold records with his daughter Lesia Sloan Phillips and his young
great-grandson.
“NEARA Volunteer
Day 2019 showed that there is a strong sense of community in Northeast
Arkansas, that the community cares about history and that residents are willing
to help make records available to researchers,” Dr. Myuhtar-May said.
For more
information on ways to volunteer at NEARA, contact Fatme Myuhtar-May at
870-878-6521 or fatme.myuhtar.may@arkansas.gov.
