ASA announces true crime symposium

The Arkansas State Archives will host a symposium on Sat., Oct. 28, at the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The symposium’s theme, “Case Files and Conspiracies: True Crime and Lore in Arkansas,” will feature speakers Brooks Blevins, George Lankford, Tom Dillard, Denise Parkinson and State Archives staff member Brian Irby.

Topics include I'll Never Be Taken Alive, The Strange Tale of Helen Spence; Murder & Memory: The Murder of Green Thompson and its Aftermath; Ghost of the Ozarks: Murder and Media in the Ozarks; Daughter of the White River and A Shot in the Back in 1841: Then Chaos in Independence County.

The seminar is free to attend but registration is required. Deadline for registration is Oct 23. Registration is limited, so be sure to make reservations soon. Check-in will begin at 9:15 a.m. Teachers can earn up to four professional development hours through attendance. Lunch will be provided.

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 Arts Council, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 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.

For more information about the symposium, email events.archives@arkansas.gov or call 501-682-6900. To register, please visit: http://truecrime.eventbrite.com.

The Arkansas State Archives's September 2017 newsletter is out!

The September 2017 issue of our newsletter, the Arkansas Archivist, is out!

This month's topics include Arkansas Archives Month/American Archives Month, our final Pen to Podium lecture for 2017, our upcoming Oct. 28 True Crime symposium, and much more!

You can read our newsletter at: September 2017 Arkansas Archivist

Arkansas State Archives Celebrates Archives Month

Every year for the past 11 years, archives across the country have celebrated the work of archives and archivists by marking October as American Archives Month.  Through educational programs, posters, and social media posts, archives use the month of October to raise awareness about the importance of archives and the preservation of American records and historical material.

On Oct. 4, archivists across the country will participate in a nation-wide Ask an Archivist Day on Twitter, where they will field questions from the general public.  On Oct. 10, archives will celebrate Electronic Records Day through educational posts across social media about the importance of preserving electronic records.

Also, in conjunction with American Archives Month, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has proclaimed October to be Arkansas Archives Month, Department of Arkansas Heritage Director Stacy Hurst announced today.  In the proclamation, the Governor cites the important work done by the Arkansas State Archives and “encourages his fellow citizens to discover the abundance of documentary treasures contained in our state’s archival repositories.” 

During the month of October, the State Archives will be hosting two events and will be participating in the national Ask an Archivist Day and Electronic Records Day online. On Oct. 17, the ASA will host its final Pen to Podium lecture for 2017, at Historic Arkansas Museum.  For more information or to register, please visit http://pentopodium.eventbrite.com.  On Oct. 28, the ASA will host a symposium, “Case Files and Conspiracies: True Crime and Lore in Arkansas,” at the Historic Pulaski County Courthouse.  For more information or to register, please visit http://truecrime.eventbrite.com.

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.

Wednesday's Wonderful Collection - Simon P. Hughes and James P. Eagle letters, MS.000638

Simon P. Hughes (1830-1906) served as Governor of Arkansas from 1885-1889. Hughes was born in Smith County, Tennessee, on April 14, 1830. Educated in Tennessee, Hughes was admitted to the Arkansas bar in 1857 and practiced law in Clarendon, Arkansas. During the Civil War, he enlisted and was commissioned as a captain, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Hughes first entered politics in 1853 as sheriff of Monroe County, where he served for two years. He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1866 to 1867, was a delegate to the 1874 Arkansas Constitutional Convention, and Arkansas' attorney general from 1874 to 1877. On September 1, 1884, Hughes was elected Governor of Arkansas. He later served on the Arkansas Supreme Court for 16 years before his death in 1906.

James Phillip Eagle (1837-1904) served as Governor of Arkansas from 1889-1893. Eagle was born in Maury County, Tennessee, on August 10, 1837. His family moved to Arkansas where James was educated in the county schools. He served as sheriff of Prairie County before the Civil War. During the Civil War, Eagle enlisted as a private, and rose later to the rank of colonel. He served as a member of the Arkansas Legislature, serving from 1873 to 1878, and in 1885, he served as speaker of the house. Eagle was nominated by the Democratic State Convention for governor in 1888, and was elected in September. He was reelected to a second term in 1890. During his tenure, he advocated reform in the state penitentiary system, supported a progressive policy on immigration, and endorsed liberal support for education. In 1902, he was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and twice was reelected. Governor James P. Eagle died of heart failure on December 19, 1904, in Little Rock and is buried at Little Rock's Mount Holly Cemetery. Conditions Governing Access

This collection contains a letterbook of outgoing correspondence by Simon P. Hughes and James P. Eagle between 1888 and 1889.

·         1888-1889: Letterbook, outgoing correspondence of Simon P. Hughes and James P. Eagle (Box 1)

September 2017 Acquisitions and Accessions

ASA Books

The Pritchard/Pritchett Family History, by Emily Pritchard Cary

Vital Records Handbook, by Thomas Jay Kemp

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, by Eric Schlosser

NEARA Periodicals

Independence County Library - Climbing Your Family Tree #15

SARA Books

Rondo: All But Forgotten Arkansas History Southwest of the Red River, by Ed Black (2 copies—one for SARA, one for ASA)

SARA Periodicals

The Ouachita County Historical Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 1, Fall 2017

The Gems of Pike County, Arkansas, Volume 28, Number 2, 2nd Quarter 2017

ASA Accessions

AHPP State Review Board Meeting report, August 2, 2017, 0.10 cu. ft.

El Dorado Senior Citizens Club scrapbooks, 1963-1970, 2 cu. ft.

Hawthorn[e] Garden Club[El Dorado, AR] scrapbooks, 1952-1972, 1 cu. ft.

El Dorado [AR] Police Court docket ledgers, 1922-1923, 2 cu. ft.

The Spade and the Trowel Garden Club [El Dorado, AR] record book, 1991-1993, 1 cu. ft.

El Dorado Garden Club records, 1950-1985, 2 cu. ft.

Murmil Heights Elementary School photograph albums, 1962-1980, 2 cu. ft.

El Dorado Self Culture Club scrapboo, 1903-1970, 1 cu. ft.

Ouachita Baptist College scrapbook, 1920s-1930s, 0.25 cu. ft.

El Dorado Rose Society scrapbook, c. 1949-1966, 0.5 cu. ft.

South Arkansas Audubon Society scrapbook, c. 1960s-1970s, 0.5 cu. ft.

El Dorado Business and Professional Women’s Club, Southeast Arkansas District, scrapbook, 1973-1974., 0.5 cu. ft.

El Dorado Kiwanis Club photo album, circa 1970s-early 1980s, 0.5 cu. ft.

Daughters of the American Revolution, Robert Rosamond Chapter [El Dorado, AR] scrapbook, 1967-1968, 0.5 cu. Ft.

1933 El Dorado, AR newspaper clippings scrapbook, 0.25 cu. ft.

World War II scrapbook presented to the El Dorado Public Library by Lou Arden Andrews Murphy, 1940s, 0.25 cu. ft.

Union County [AR] records, 4 cu. ft.

El Dorado Hi-Gusher, 1937-2000 (various issues), 1 cu. ft.

Refined Products [El Dorado, AR high school publication], 1922, 0.10 cu. ft.

Hudson and Brooks family photographs, 0.5 cu.ft.

Early Catheys and Ulster Scots by Everett Henry Cathey, 0.02 cu.ft.

Arkansas State Medical Board records, 16 cu. ft.

Herbert Roberts photo album

26 Arkansas postcards

Kay Waters Sakaris papers, artifacts: 2 quilts

Kay Waters Sakaris papers, 3 cu. Ft.

Leo and Sylvia Wulfsohn papers, 1 cu. ft.

Agnes Petray (Clift) Collection: Atkinson Funeral Home Fan

Agnes Petray (Clift) elementary school diploma, England, AR, 1921

John J. Truemper, Jr. papers, 1 cu. ft.

John Lemon letters, 1861-1863, 0.10 cu. ft.

Joe Wheeler No. 247, United Daughters of the Confederacy Records, 0.50 cu. ft.

NEARA Accessions

Wright, Marguerite family papers (pending Deed of Gift), 9.2 cu. Ft.

Wednesday's Wonderful Collection - John Crowell Wright papers, SMC.32.13

John Crowell Wright was born March 14, 1835, in Georgia, and moved with his family to Union County, Arkansas, in 1843. He married Mary Alabama Newton on March 29, 1859. At the start of the Civil War, Wright joined the Confederate Army and was elected captain of Company C, Fifteenth Infantry Regiment, and then lieutenant colonel. Captured at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, Wright escaped and rejoined the Confederate Army, serving in Arkansas with the regiment of his brother-in-law, Asa Morgan, and then as colonel in the Twelth Arkansas Cavalry Regiment. After the war, Wright returned to Union County and served as circuit and county clerk and state representative. He died January 18, 1915. A compilation of Wright's memoirs were published in 1982 under the title "Memoirs of Colonel John C. Wright C.S.A."

This collection contains material related to or written by John Crowell Wright. His memoir provides details of General Sterling Price's raid into Missouri in 1864, as well as the guerrilla warfare in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri.

·         1. 1980 August 1: Marjana (Mrs. Ted) Beavert, El Dorado, Arkansas, to the Arkansas History Commission (Reel MG00218)

·         2. 1914 November 20: Dallas T. Herndon, Little Rock, Arkansas, to J.C. Wright, Whelen Springs, Arkansas

·         3. Undated: Arkansas History Commission biographical memoranda, John Crowell Wright

·         4. Undated: Speech, "A Gem of Purest Ray," John Crowell Wright's oration at the unveiling of the cannon "Old Betsy"

·         5. Undated: "In Memorium," Mary Alabama Wright

·         6. 1915: "Quotes from tributes paid Col. John Crowell Wright, at his death in El Dorado, Arkansas, Age 79"

·         7. Undated: "Missouri Raid of General Price 1864: The Memoirs of Col. John Crowell Wright of Union County, Arkansas"

AHA and NEARA announce award

The Arkansas Historical Association and the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives (NEARA), a branch of the Arkansas State Archives, announce the annual NEARA Award for Exemplary Archival Research. The award recognizes the best original unpublished research paper using archival materials from the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives, particularly the Lawrence County Territorial Papers (1815-1836).

 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.