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.