Tuesday, July 26, 2016

June/July 2016 Arkansas State Archives Newsletter



Look inside the June/July 2016 Issue of the Arkansas Archivist for these and other features

The ASA Unveils Historic State Auditors Book

Anyone who is a reality television junkie will be familiar with shows like Storage Wars where people bid sight unseen on the contents of storage units.  Many times the winner of the auction walks away with a significantly valuable item.  While not a part of the show, Phillip Palmer of Maumelle, Arkansas, stumbled upon a very important item when he purchased an interesting piece of Arkansas history from an antiques dealer.  It was a book recording the correspondence between the State Auditor’s office and other officials covering the period 1836 to 1879.


New Project Archivist at the ASA

This summer we are fortunate to have Danielle Butler working in our office as a Project Archivist.  She is working on an important project that will be of great interest to our readers, digitizing material regarding Japanese internment camps. Danielle Butler grew up in Austin, Texas, and then moved to Texarkana when she was in high school.  After high school, she attended Ouachita Baptist University where she completed her BA in History.  She then attended UALR and completed her MA in Public History.  


Black History Commission News

“African American Arts in Arkansas,” was the latest symposium sponsored by The Black History Commission of Arkansas and the Arkansas State Archives.  About 50 people attended the symposium on June 4 at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and took away a wealth of knowledge.  When asked what they took away from the event, Jeff Lewellen and Garland Taylor had interesting responses. 


From the Director

June and July were momentous ones for our agency.  On July 1, we transitioned from the Arkansas History Commission after 111 years to the Arkansas State Archives.  July 1 also found us moving from the administrative umbrella of Parks and Tourism to the Department of Arkansas Heritage.  We’d been aligned with Parks and Tourism since 1971, and our regional archives — the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives (NEARA) at Powhatan Historic State Park and the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA) at  Historic Washington State Park — will continue to reside within those parks.  My staff and I are excited about the opportunities that this transfer presents to work more closely with our colleagues in the state museums and historic preservation, while at the same time glad that our relationship will continue with our friends in Arkansas State Parks.