Established by the family of Eugene Sloan, in partnership with the Arkansas Historical Association, the annual award will include a $1,000 cash prize. The award will be announced at the AHA’s Annual Conference Awards Banquet. Entries must use documents housed in NEARA’s collection. Deadline for entries is February 1. Details are available on the NEARA website, http://archives.arkansas.gov/neara/neara-about-us.aspx and on the website of the Arkansas Historical Association, www.arkansashistoricalassociation.org. NEARA’s collection includes county records dating to the 1815 creation of Lawrence County by the Missouri Territorial Assembly.
The original Lawrence County included most of what is now northern Arkansas and a slice of southern Missouri and has since been carved into 46 counties on both sides of the state line.
Eugene Sloan was born in Powhatan on September 15, 1892, and attended the Powhatan Male and Female Academy, which is located adjacent to NEARA in Powhatan Historic State Park. He was a successful lawyer and landowner in Jonesboro, where he died in 1981. Throughout his life, he supported preservation efforts in his hometown, including saving the Powhatan courthouse and its records.
NEARA is located at 11 Seventh Street in Powhatan, Arkansas. The research room is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except for state legal holidays. For more information, call 870-878-6521 or e-mail northeast.archives@arkansas.gov.
Located in Little Rock, the Arkansas State Archives is the official state archives, with branches in Powhatan, and Washington, Arkansas. The Arkansas Historical Association, headquartered in Fayetteville, is a membership organization that promotes the preservation, writing, publishing, teaching, and understanding of Arkansas history through the publication of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and other activities including a respected awards program.
