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| Dr. David Ware, state historian and director of the Arkansas State Archives |
As I write this message, I have been in this post for a
little over two months. Over the last 20
years I have approached the Archives or, as it was called, the Arkansas History
Commission, as a patron and, periodically, a collaborator; I have always been
delighted with its wealth of holdings and by the helpfulness and expertise of
its staff. Two months “on the inside” have only deepened my appreciation of the
Archives’ collections and the professionalism of those who are my colleagues.
The developments of recent weeks have forced some changes
in how we conduct our work, but rest assured, we are still at work and serving
our patrons. Like many of you, the Archives staff of our three physical
locations have been authorized to work remotely. Our research room, as well as
our NEARA and SARA facilities, are closed to the public, but managers and
administrative staff are answering queries that reach us by telephone, email,
social media and, of course, conventional mail. New blog posts will appear regularly
and as for our newsletter – well, here it is!
As importantly, our website and digital collections, effectively
our “fourth location,” are available and ready for researchers and browsers
alike. The current health emergency has underlined for us the need to refine
and expand our online offerings, so several Archives staff members are at work
preparing new content to be uploaded for access, beginning this summer, on our
new website and digital collections platform. Our aim is to be able to offer
more information – documents, images, lesson plans and other materials – through
an accessible and intuitive portal.
Other important work continues during this period of
semi-closure. In recent weeks, we have
received or retrieved significant items and collections. Our microphotography
staff continue work on preparing our contributions to the National
Digital Newspapers Program, an undertaking of the Library of
Congress in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities. This is
a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, free searchable database of
U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select
digitization of historic pages, which will be permanently maintained at the
Library of Congress. The ASA, with its unmatched microfilmed collection of
early Arkansas imprints, is the state’s NDNP partner. Good things will come of
this, and we will keep you abreast of progress in newsletters to come.
Our staff have other projects in hand as well, including
transcribing our venerable and still-useful card-based Biographical into a
searchable digital format. This involves staff members trying to translate
previous compilers’ sometimes obscure abbreviated citations for newspapers,
magazines and other publications: What seemed perfectly clear to archivists of decades
ago may be a little less so for their present-day successors, but the Archives
staff are game for this challenge!
It may seem as though the world has ground to a near-halt,
but we are here – both to carry on the day-to-day work of the Archives and to
serve those who depend upon us. We’ll do our best to share information with you
through social media and other outlets. We look forward to hearing from you
and, hopefully sooner rather than later, welcoming you back to our “brick and
mortar” locations in Little Rock, Washington and Powhatan.
Thank you for caring about Arkansas, past and present!
David Ware
