Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Wednesday’s Wonderful Collection - Pine Bluff Arsenal Citizens Advisory Commission records, MS.000614

The Department of Defense Authorization Act made mandatory the national scale-down of military weapons. The United States Army planned to destroy the stockpiled chemical agents and munitions stored at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas.

Governor Jim Guy Tucker issued a proclamation establishing the Pine Bluff Arsenal Citizens Advisory Commission to coordinate with other government agencies and the United States Army in the operation. Serving on the commission were nine people appointed from a fifty-mile radius of the arsenal, as well as other state government representatives who had direct responsibilities related to the chemical demilitarization program. The commission's goal was to gather information useful in making decisions as to the best methods of destroying the arsenal's stockpiles of munitions and protecting the human and environmental health of the area. One of the results was implementation of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP), initiated to alert people of hazardous conditions. The demilitarization was completed in 2011.
This collection includes minutes, accounting records, presentation notes, and press releases concerning the demilitarization of the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Jefferson County.


·         1991 (Box 1)
o    The Citizens' Viewpoint
·         1992
o    Conference on Disarmament
·         1993
o    Disposing of chemical weapons
o    Chemical Weapons Demilitarization and Disposal
·         1994
o    Incineration of HD Agent at Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS)
o    Recommendations for the Disposal of Chemical Agents and Munitions
·         1995
o    Citizens Advisory Commission, mission and purpose
o    Minutes
o    Accounting
o    Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program
o    Evacuation routes
o    Exposure to lethal chemical agents
o    Governor's proclamation to create a Citizens Advisory Commission
o    Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System
o    Rules of the Road
o    Terms and acronyms
·         1996 (Box 2)
o    Minutes
o    Accounting
o    Agricultural Impact Assessment Workshop
o    Annual Status Report on the Disposal of Lethal Chemical Weapons and Materiel
o    Chemical Weapons Working Group
o    Study Conducted for Tooele County Department of Emergency Management (Utah)
o    Membership and appointments
o    Press release
·         1997
o    Minutes
o    Accounting (Box 3)
o    Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment Program
o    Calendars
o    Chemical demilitarization
o    Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program
o    Chemical Weapons Convention
o    Chemical Weapons Incinerator
o    Citizen concerns
o    Citizen concerns
o    Decision briefs
o    Decision briefs
o    Decision briefs
o    Dr. Sandra Nichols, action list (Box 4)
o    Dr. Sandra Nichols, file
o    Environmental Forum IV
o    Environmental impact statement
o    Evaluation of Protection Options in Pine Bluff, Arkansas
o    Hazardous waste
o    Forums
o    Press releases
o    Press releases
o    Press releases
o    Press releases
o    Residents near the arsenal
o    Safety issues
·         1998 (Box 5)
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 12)
o    Accounting (Box 5)
o    Arkansas CSEPP (Chemical Stockpile Emergency Prepardness Program)
o    Army's chemical demilitarization program
o    Health risk
o    Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment Program
o    Forum notes
o    JACADS (Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal system) accident
o    JACADS (Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System) alternative
o    Membership list
o    Newsclipppings
·         1999 (Box 6)
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 12)
o    Moody Elementary School
o    Pine Bluff/White Hall Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office
o    Living Near the United States Army's Chemical Weapons Stockpile Sites
·         2000
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 12)
o    Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF)
·         2001
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 12)
o    Accounting
·         2002 (Box 7)
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 13)
o    Accounting
o    CSEPP (Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program)
o    Newsclippings
·         2003
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 13)
o    Accounting
o    Pine Bluff CSEPP (Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program) final report
·         2004 (Box 8)
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 13)
o    Accounting (Box 8)
o    Pine Bluff Chemical Activity
·         2005 (Box 9)
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 14)
o    Accounting (Box 9)
o    Press releases
·         2006
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 14)
o    Accounting (Box 9)
o    Press releases
·         2007 (Box 10)
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 15)
o    Accounting (Box 10)
o    Press releases
·         2008
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 15)
o    Accounting (Box 10)
·         2009
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 15)
o    Accounting (Box 10)
·         2010 (Box 11)
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 15)
o    Accounting (Box 11)
·         2011
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio
o    Accounting (Box 11)
·         Undated
o    Minutes
o    Proceedings, audio (Box 14)
o    Support staff (Box 11)
o    White Hall School over-pressurization system training
o    Alternative technology for chemical weapons destruction

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Boards Work Together to Promote, Preserve African American History in Arkansas


The Black History Commission of Arkansas and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center Advisory Board plan to work together to find ways to preserve and promote African American History in Arkansas.

Several members of the Black History Commission of Arkansas attended the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center Advisory Board meeting Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the cultural center at 501 W. Ninth St. in Little Rock.

“I’m glad to have this joint meeting,” said Ryan Davis, chairman of the MTCC Advisory Board as of January. “One of the pieces of the Black History Commission’s mission is to propagate the teaching of black history – black Arkansas history in particular – in Arkansas schools. I’m grateful Mosaic Templars also reflects part of that same mission, and I’m grateful to discuss our overlapping missions.”

Mosaic Templars Cultural Center’s mission is to preserve, interpret and celebrate African American history and culture in Arkansas. The Black History Commission of Arkansas collects materials on Arkansas’s black history and history makers for the Arkansas State Archives and works to raise awareness of the contributions and impact of African Americans on Arkansas history.

Commissioners said they are interested in finding ways to work with MTCC to promote and preserve African American history in Arkansas. That partnership could include Curtis Sykes grants, which the Black History Commission of Arkansas awards quarterly.


The Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant Program offers grants of up to $3,500 to provide support for African American historical preservation and public programming projects in Arkansas. The most recent awardees include two book projects and a play, which will be at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Feb. 28 and 29.

MTCC has been working with its sister agencies, including the Arkansas Arts Council, to bring new and exciting exhibitions to the museum, said MTCC Director Christina Shutt. Collaboration with the Black History Commission that could increase education and public outreach for African American history and culture would be welcomed, added Carla Coleman, Black History Commission of Arkansas chair.

The Black History Commission of Arkansas will meet next at noon Thursday, Feb. 13, at the Arkansas State Archives. The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center Advisory Board will meet next at noon Tuesday, April 14, at the center. The meetings are open to the public.





Arkansas History Commission Meets, Reviews Report

The Arkansas History Commission met this past January at the
Arkansas State Archives.
Arkansas State Archives staff helped more than 8,500 patrons discover resources during 2019, Arkansas History Commission members learned during a quarterly meeting Thursday, Jan. 16.

“Last year, our dedicated staff worked hard to make sure historical records were preserved and made available to the public,” said Dr. David Ware, state historian and director of the State Archives. “People come from out of state and all parts of Arkansas to delve into our collections and learn more about Arkansas history and their own Arkansas roots.”

Dr. Ware, who started as Archives director in January, and commissioners reviewed the State Archives’ 2019 report during the meeting at the State Archives. Read the full report online. 

Highlights from the report include: 8,595 patrons served; 37 hosted or co-hosted events; three traveling exhibitions hosted by 25 institutions; and 5,015 historical “Eckler” prints and negatives cleaned and rehoused for preservation.

Staff has been cleaning and preserving more than 100,000 photographs and negatives made by the Eckler Studio of Hot Springs from 1920s to 1950s. The negatives and prints are delicate and preserving them takes time. A 2018 video showcasing the collection is available online.

Over the past year, the Arkansas State Archives has continued to make strides to obtain and preserve important documents, including documents related to the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and District Judge Isaac Charles Parker. Those records will eventually be available online as the trend toward using more online records continues.

Efforts toward digitizing are underway. New equipment and staff training helped facilitate adding more than 20,000 digital files. A new National Endowment for the Humanities grant will mean staff can prepare an additional 100,000 pages from historical Arkansas newspapers for the National Digital Newspaper Programs website, Chronicling America

The report shows the Arkansas State Archives remains a valuable resource to families, researchers and historians. For example, research requests grew by 25 percent in 2019 over the same time a year ago at the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives alone.  

Meanwhile, commissioners decided during the meeting to continue to look at possible ways to encourage or create policies to better preserve important records statewide. Commissioners thanked members of the Friends of the Arkansas State Archives and the Black History Commission of Arkansas for attending.

“We had a productive and well-attended meeting,” Chairman Jason Hendren said. “Honored guests included Dr. David Ware, the new director of the State Archives and state historian, and Jimmy Bryant, the new director of Arkansas Heritage. We are thrilled to be working with them and appreciative of their support of the AHC and its mission.”



Probate Records Yield Rich Genealogy Findings

Tombstone of Lawrence Bradley, 1828

Wills and probate records are often overlooked but are some of the most genealogically rich documents a researcher can find. These records contain estate details and important family information.

Among the biggest mistakes a researcher can make is to assume that their ancestors did not probate their estates because the family lived in rural areas. In reality, rural residents were more likely to probate estates because they often owned land for farms. Urban residents typically left less property than people living in rural areas unless they owned property in other areas.

Probate records provide important details about a person’s family and familial relationships.  They can even be used to identify the parents for certain individuals, which is handy for research before the 1850 U.S. Census.

However, the documents can be more complicated than other resources, because many families used the same or similar names across generations. For example, it can be time consuming to determine the difference between the son Nicholas Meriwether, the grandson Nicholas Meriwether and the nephew Nicholas Meriwether.

Probate records also can reveal the names of wives, husbands and children of the deceased, as well as married daughters and sons. Often maiden names for the women mentioned in the documentation will also be included. These documents also can give researchers ideas about where their ancestor may have lived before settling and buying property.

So, what is the difference between a will and a probate? 
Lawrence Bradley, an American Revolutionary
soldier, came to Lawrence County around 1815.
According to his tombstone, he died Jan. 26, 1828,
in what is now Sulphur, Independence County,
Arkansas. His will appears in the "Lawrence County
Loose Probates" and dates to Nov. 6, 1819.

A person who has a will dies in testate. The deceased died with his intentions completely and legally recorded before his death. A person who dies with no will is intestate, and therefore, the deceased has forfeited the right to determine how his or her estate is distributed. In that case, the probate court will appoint an administrator who will distribute the assets. These probate files can contain many types of documents, including unfiled wills, bonds, inventories, administrations, orders, accounts, decrees and distributions.

Guardianship records for minors also fall under the banner of the probate court. When looking at these documents, pay attention to whom the court appoints over a minor. The relationship can be of great importance, it could be a relative or close family friend. These documents also will name the deceased parent of the minor children, which will help put together the family unit.

Wills are helpful when conducting African American genealogy before the Civil War. Slaveholders would list enslaved people in their wills, because they were considered valuable property. 

Researchers also can find enslaved people listed in probate file inventories. Many times, these documents will list family units together, which helps researchers looking to reconstruct who the family was, what they looked like and other details about their lives.

The Arkansas State Archives has wills and probate records for all 75 counties. Dates do vary from county to county. These documents can also be obtain by going to the county courthouses, or online at FamilySearch.org or Ancestry.com. The Arkansas State Archives has free on-site access to Ancestry.com for patrons who wish to come research.

Next month, the Arkansas State Archives will explore the difficulties of researching women, especially before the twentieth century.

For more information, visit the Arkansas State Archives online at state.arkansas.gov or contact us at 501-682-6900 or state.archives@arkansas.gov.