December 2017 ASA Accessions

Below is list of our new accessions for the month of December

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, 2014-2015; 2015-2016, 2 booklets

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, 2014-2015; 2015-2016, 1 book

Preservation of African American Cemeteries Junior Preservation Society final grant report, 3 spiral bound reports

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism records, 106 cu.ft.

Attorney Generals Opinions, 2 envelopes

William Richard Bullard buttons, 2 buttons

State Expenditure Records, 1950-1956; 1959-1979, 4 cu.ft.

Davis and Allied Families Collection, 2 cu.ft.

Richard Bullard collection, 15 cds

Index of Phillips County Death Certificates, 1917-1922, 1 disc

Arkansas Secretary of State Statements of Financial Interest, 40 cu.ft.

Arkansas State Medical Board records, 5 cu.ft.

Apsa M. Bransford scrapbook, 1885-1890

Cromwell Architects Engineers Slides, 5 metal cases

Confederate Widows Pension, Union County, Arkansas, 1 box

Wednesday’s Wonderful Collection - Soul Institute records, MS.000783

The Soul Institute School was established in 1970 in Earle, Arkansas, by African American citizens to counter the racial discrimination in the local public schools. Their concerns grew out of protests earlier in September of 1970 which had been met by violent retaliations from groups of armed whites. Several unarmed African Americans had been wounded and jailed in what became known as the Earle race riot of 1970. Reverend Ezra Greer and his wife Jackie Greer, local civil right activists, had earlier in the year organized the Crittenden County Improvement Association to organize protests in the county for better schools and better race relations. Despite having only a population of about 3,350 people, Earle still maintained a black high school and a separate white high school. The Soul Institute School was established and began holding classes on October 5th, at the offices of the Crittenden County Improvement Association. The school remained open until June of 1971 and had an enrollment of about 390 students.

Additional materials related to the school can be found in the Arkansas State Archives general microfilm, roll MG08925, Soul Institute School records, 1971. This roll contains a school register book, 2 newspaper articles, and one brochure.

The Soul Institute records contain papers concerning the Soul Institute school at Earle, Arkansas, from 1970 through 1972. The records include school registers from grades 1 through 12, event programs, and newspaper clippings. The collection was donated to the Arkansas State Archives by Carla Coleman, on April 12, 2017.

·         MS000783 School Register Books 1970-1972 (Box 1)

o    1st Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    2nd Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    3rd Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    4th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    5th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    6th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    7th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    8th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    9th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    10th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    11th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

o    12th Grade, October 1970 - June 1971

·         Programs

o    P.T.A. Meeting Program, Soul Institute, Earle, Arkansas, May 18, 1971

o    Commencement Exercises, Soul Institute School, Lincoln Street Church of God, Earle, Arkansas, June 13, 1971.

o    Arkansas Council on Human Relations, 19th Annual Meeting, January 28-29, 1972. Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Arkansas.

·         Newspaper clippings

ASA Announces January Pen to Podium Lecture

Author and journalist Janis Kearney will be the featured speaker at the Arkansas State Archives’ (ASA) 2018 Pen to Podium lecture series on Tuesday, Jan. 23, from 7 – 8 p.m. in the Diamond Room at the Department of Arkansas Heritage (DAH), 1100 North Street, Little Rock.

The topic will be her 2014 memoir, “Sundays with TJ: 100 Years of Memories on Varner Road,” which focuses on her late father, T.J. Kearney, and his experiences growing up in southeast Arkansas.

There will be a reception at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby of DAH, hosted by the Friends of the Arkansas State Archives, a nonprofit organization that supports ASA’s events. The event is free and open to the public, but guests must register online by Friday, Jan. 19: http://kearneypentopodium.eventbrite.com.

The event is the first of four lectures in ASA’s 2018 Pen to Podium: Arkansas Historical Writers’ Lecture Series.

Janis F. Kearney is an author, publisher and presidential historian. She served under civil rights legend Daisy Bates as managing editor of the historic Arkansas State Press Newspaper. In 1988, she became publisher and owner of the newspaper. In 1992, Janis worked on the Clinton-Gore Campaign, and joined the Clinton Administration in 1993, where she served as a media specialist in the White House Media Affairs Office, director of public communications for the US Small Business Administration, and for five years, served as the country’s first Personal Diarist to a President. In 2001, Janis and her husband, Bob J. Nash, founded Writing our World Publishing in Chicago. In 2015, she established the Read.Write.Share Writers Group, an umbrella company serving new and emerging writers.

The Arkansas State Archives is a division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and is responsible for collecting and maintaining the largest collection of historical materials on Arkansas in the world. The State Archives has two branch locations; the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives is located in Powhatan and the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives is located in Washington.

Other divisions of the Department of Arkansas Heritage include the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and the Historic Arkansas Museum.

Arkansas State Archives Holiday Closings

The Arkansas State Archives and its branch archives, the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives and the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives, will be closed on Sat., Dec. 23, Mon., Dec. 25 and Tues., Dec. 26 in observance of Christmas.

Wednesday’s Wonderful Collection - John Buchanan notebooks, SMC.36.4

John Buchanan, minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, was a leader of the Presbyterian church in Arkansas for over 40 years. His family moved to Arkansas from Tennessee and were some of the first settlers of Washington County. He served as a circuit minister at White Church in Cane Hill, Fayetteville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and other churches in the area. He also served as a Bible agent for the regional circuit. John and his wife Ellen had seven children. In 1835, Buchanan was a founder of the Cane Hill School, formed to prepare men for the ministry.

These notebooks contain records of Buchanan's circuit travels in northwest Arkansas, personal diary entries, accounts of Bible distribution, journal of preaching dates and topics, contributions to the Arkansas presbytery by parishioners, and other items relating to his ministry.

·         Circuit memoirs, 1835-1870 (Reel MG00220)

·         Circuit memoirs, 1847-1860 (Reel MG00220)

Wednesday's Wonderful Collection - Robert Ragsdale papers, SMC.0170.0002

Robert Arthur Ragsdale was born in Polk County, Arkansas, on May 28, 1884, to Lewis and Alleen Ragsdale. He served as a Seaman Second Class in the United States Navy during World War I until his discharge on December 2, 1918. Robert was stationed in Newport News, Virginia, with the Intelligence section of the Fifth Naval District. He traveled between Newport News and Norfolk during the influenza epidemic of 1918. The state of Virginia estimated 200,000 cases of influenza by October 15, 1918, and a number of those cases were sailors traveling the coastline. Robert was one of those sailors that contracted the flu in Newport News. This collection contains material related to Ragsdale’s military service and a typed account of his personal struggle with influenza while on duty in Virginia.

Donated by Nancy Ragsdale Gilien and Anna Ragsdale Gentile, 2015.

·         1918 June 5: Navy identification card

·         1918 July 9: Note directing Robert Ragsdale to be examined for transfer

·         1918 July 10: Orders to report for duty

·         1918 December 2: Discharge Orders

·         1918 December 3: Insurance premium upon discharge

·         1918 December 11: Statement of Account

·         1918 December 11: Correspondence to Robert Ragsdale from Navy disbursing officer William Miffin

·         Circa 1930: Statement by Robert Ragsdale about his case of influenza while on duty in Virginia

AHC announces quarterly meeting

The Arkansas History Commission will hold its quarterly meeting at 10 a.m., on Thurs., Dec. 7, 2017. They will meet in the Arkansas State Archives conference room, located on the second floor of the Multi-Agency Complex at One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, Arkansas.  This meeting is open to the public. 

The Arkansas History Commission is an advisory body to the Arkansas State Archives. 

For questions and comments, please contact the Arkansas State Archives at 501-682-6900.

Wednesday’s Wonderful Collection - Otis Patten papers, MS.000328

Otis Patten, 1821-1893, served as superintendent of the Arkansas School for the Blind in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1859 to 1885.

The Otis Patten papers contain letterbooks, loose correspondence, legal papers, and published materials related to his tenure as the superintendent of the Arkansas School for the Blind from 1859 to 1885. It includes the annual reports of the board of trustees and materials that concern Mr. Patten's forced resignation from the office of superintendent in 1885.

·         1. Correspondence, 1866-1879 (Box 1)

·         2. Correspondence, 1880-1888

·         3. Liberty Bartlett speech, 1871

·         4. Arkansas School for the Blind account book, 1884-1885

·         5. Arkansas School for the Blind annual reports, 1860-1880 6 volumes

·         6. Papers, reports and petitions regarding 1885 resignation, 1885-1887

·         7. Business and legal papers

·         8. Receipts

·         9. Otis Patten writings

·         10. Letterbooks (Box 2)

o    1. Letterbook, 1869-1870

o    2. Letterbook, 1872-1874

o    3. Letterbook, 1874-1875

o    4. Letterbook, 1875-1879

o    5. Letterbook, 1879-1882

o    6. Letterbook, 1885-1886

o    7. Newsclippings, 1885

o    8. Prize essays, 1877

Wednesday's Wonderful Collection - John N. Jabine and Harriet Woodruff papers, MS.000383

John Nicholas Jabine was born June 23, 1829, the son of Charles and Eliza Reel Jabine of Louisville, Kentucky. He operated a drug store in Louisville and met Harriet M. Woodruff, who was visiting the town. Harriet was born January 31, 1836, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the daughter of Arkansas Gazette founder William E. Woodruff and Jane Mills Woodruff. John and Harriet were married November 13, 1855, at her family home in Little Rock. They lived in Louisville for a short time before moving to Little Rock, where Woodruff built them a home at 910 East Eighth Street. They had seven children, two daughters and five sons: Harriet Sneed Jabine (Mrs. Claude) Sayle, Lila Jabine (Mrs. H.C.) Rather, C.W. Jabine, Tom Jabine, Shelby Jabine, Lucian Jabine, and Daniel Jabine. John Jabine operated a ferry business between Little Rock and Argenta, Arkansas. Harriet was active in clubs including the Aesthetic Club, the Pulaski County Association of Arkansas Pioneers, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. John N. Jabine died May 14, 1911, and Harriet M. Woodruff Jabine died January 17, 1918.

C.W. (Charles Woodruff) Jabine was born in 1857, the oldest son of John and Harriett Jabine. As a young man he worked at his grandfather's printing press, then ran his own mercantile business. He died March 8, 1942.

This collection contains letters of John Nicholas Jabine and Harriet Woodruff Jabine, and C.W. (Charles Woodruff) Jabine's business ledgers.

·         Letters to Harriet Woodruff Jabine

o    1. 1856 (Box 1)

o    2. 1864, 1866

o    3. 1894, 1895

o    4. 1897 April-October

o    5. 1897 November-December

o    6. 1898

o    7. 1899-1900

o    8. undated

·         Letters to John N. Jabine

o    9. 1858

o    10. 1859

o    11. 1861

o    12. 1863-1864

o    13. 1865-1866

o    14. 1867

o    15. 1869

o    16. 1870-1871

o    17. 1872

o    18. 1874

o    19. 1876

o    20. 1887-1889, undated

·         Miscellaneous

o    21. Statements regarding Charles Jabine's estate, 1855-1860

o    22. Service discharge, Eugene Jabine, 1862

o    23. Promissory note, 1860s

o    24. Newspaper clipping, 1897

·         C.W. (Charles Woodruff) Jabine mercantile ledgers

o    Business names, merchandise, and method of payment, 1892-1901 (Box 2)

o    Cash paid out, 1897-1902 (Box 3)

o    Names and merchandise, 1900-1902

o    Merchandise, 1901-1902 (Box 4)

Holiday Closings

The Arkansas State Archives and its regional branches, the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives and the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives, will be closed Thurs., Nov. 23, Fri., Nov. 24, and Sat., Nov. 25 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Wednesday’s Wonderful Collection - Tuckerman African American school registers, MS.000599

East Side, Tuckerman Elementary and Junior High, and Post Oak are African American schools located in the Tuckerman Special School District, Jackson County, in the northeast Arkansas Delta region.

The records were donated to the Black History Advisory Committee (now the Black History Commission of Arkansas) of the Arkansas History Commission.

This collection includes student enrollment, attendance, class subjects, names of teachers and classroom statistical information, 1945-1963.

·         1. Tuckerman School, first through fourth grades, 1945 July 16-1946 May 24

·         2. Post Oak School, fifth through eighth grades, 1950 July 17-1950 September 8

·         3. Unidentified school, fifth and sixth grades, 1950-1951

·         4. Tuckerman Junior High School, eighth through tenth grades, 1950 July 17-1951

·         5. Tuckerman Elementary School, second grade, 1951 July 23-1952

·         6. East Side Junior High School, second and third grades, 1960 July 18-1961 May 19

·         7. East Side High School, fourth and fifth grades, 1960 July 18-1961 May

·         8. East Side High School, sixth and seventh grades, 1960 July 18-1961 May 19

·         9. East Side High School, eighth grade, 1960 July 18-1961

·         10. East Side High School, tenth grade, 1960 July 18-1961

·         11. East Side High School, twelfth grade, 1962 July 16-1963 May 24

·         12. East Side High School, twelfth grade, 1962 July 16- 1963

Friends of the Arkansas State Archives elect new board member

At a general meeting held on Nov. 4, 2017, members of Friends of the Arkansas State Archives elected new and returning board members. Elected for a one-year term ending in 2018 are Russell Baker, Ken Bridges, Richard Butler, Tom Dillard, Sondra Gordy, Joan Gould, Tim Nutt, and Jeanne Rollberg.

Those elected to a two-year term ending in 2019 are Jajuan Johnson, Gary W. Jones, Tamela Tenpenny Lewis, Glen Mosenthin, Blake Perkins, Frances Ross, Lynda Suffridge, Gary Walker, and Blake Wintory.

The Board will elect officers at its first meeting in early 2018.

For more information about our Friends group or to join, you can visit their Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/ARArchivesFriends/?ref=br_rs

Wednesday's Wonderful Collection - Baring Cross Baptist Church records, SMC.2.1a

On October 20, 1903, Baring Cross Baptist Church was established as a small congregation of 29 members dedicated to ministering to the railroad families in the area of the Baring Cross Bridge. The church grew and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with 2,576 members in 1953. After several new buildings and additions, an elevator fire escape was built in the 1950s to ensure the safety of its members. In the 1970s, the church caught fire due to children playing with matches and suffered a total loss. The church recovered and built a new church building. As the church continued to grow, the membership voted to move the building to a new area. Seventeen acres of property was bought, and a new church building was constructed on its present-day site in Sherwood, Arkansas.

This collection contains blueprints and instructions on the addition of a fire escape elevator to Baring Cross Baptist Church.

·         1954 May 5: Blueprint of Interlock Plan Number 2, Inclinator Company of America, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (Reel MG00200)

·         1962 January 9: Two Landing Auto Wiring Diagram, Inclinator Company of America, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

·         1962 August 31: Straight bill of lading, Yankee Lines, Incorporated, of Akron, Ohio to Hartenstein Elevator Company, c/o Baring Cross Baptist Church, North Little Rock, Arkansas

·         1962 September 6: Receipt of shipment, Inclinator Company of America, to Baring Cross Baptist Church

·         1962: Instructions for elevette installation

·         1962: Suggestions for operating the elevette

·         Undated: Blueprint of "Elevette" machine mounting, Inclinator Company of America, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Holiday Closings for ASA, NEARA and SARA

The Arkansas State Archives and its branch archives, the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives and the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives, will be closed Friday, Nov. 10 and Sat., Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day.