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JOHN I. SMITH PAPERS

Literary manuscripts, research papers, clippings, correspondence, and other papers, ca. 1876-1990
Manuscript Collection MC 1097

JOHN I. SMITH

John I. Smith was born December 21, 1900, in Tyro, Arkansas. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1923 with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture and earned his master's degree in agriculture from the University of Wisconsin in 1927. He joined the Federal Land Bank in 1933 and in 1950 he became associated with the First National Bank of Fayetteville as vice president for farm and real estate loans. He worked for the bank until his retirement in 1965. Smith wrote several books about history, finance, and agriculture. Some of his more notable works are Forward from Rebellion: Reconstruction and Revolution in Arkansas, 1868-1874 (Rose Publishing Company, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1983) and The Courage of a Southern Unionist: a Biography of Isaac Murphy, Governor of Arkansas 1864-1868 (Rose Publishing Company, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1979). He also wrote True Stories of Needed Justice (Rose Publishing Company, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1979), a biography of his brother. Smith wrote articles for the Arkansas Gazette and for thirty years filled a weekly column in the Northwest Arkansas Times with his insights about area agriculture. Smith was chairman of the Washington County Fair Board, a member of the Fayetteville Lions Club for many years, and also served on the Washington County 4-H Foundation. He was instrumental in establishing the Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District. John I. Smith died December 26, 1994.

THE COLLECTION

John I. Smith of Fayetteville, Arkansas, donated his papers to Special Collections on June 27, 1990.

The papers comprise three unpublished typewritten book manuscripts, Progressive Independence, Independence, the Searchlight for Progress, and Reminiscences of Ed T. Smith As Told to His Family; unpublished article manuscripts, "The Course of Capital Crimes in Arkansas," "Sesquicentennial Review of Governor Elisha Baxter," and others; correspondence; research papers; newspaper and magazine clippings; speeches; and one photograph. A twentieth-century reprint of a catalog Cane Hill College, Cane Hill, Arkansas, 1877, was removed from the collection and placed in the Arkansas Collection. Six issues of Arkansas Sentinel, 1878-1879, given to John I. Smith by E. A.Yeater of West Fork, Arkansas, were placed in Miscellaneous Arkansas newspapers.

Processed by Vera Ekechukwu, April 1996. Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Contents of Collection (3 containers)

Box 1
  1. Correspondence, 1950-1961.
  2. Correspondence, 1972-1982, 1985-1990, n.d.
  3. Correspondence, Deane G. Carter, 1961-1962.
  4. Research papers, Clayton Family.
  5. Research papers, Isaac Murphy.
  6. Research papers, Henry W. Smith.
  7. Other research papers and notes on various subjects.
Box 2
  1. Other research papers and notes on various subjects.
  2. Other research papers and notes on various subjects.
  3. Other research papers and notes on various subjects.
  4. Personal papers: Clippings, speeches, certificates of recognition, and two photographs (John I. Smith accepting a plaque at the Soil Conservation meeting, Arkansas, October 10, 1969 and Captain Ed Smith receiving his new Bartlesville Victory ship at San Francisco, 1944.)
  5. Other papers: Iowa bankers annual meeting, De Moines, Nov. 2, 1959.
  6. Other papers: Washington, D.C. Watershed Congress, 1978.
  7. Other papers: Article manuscripts.
Box 3
  1. Book manuscripts.
  2. Book manuscripts.
  3. Book manuscripts.
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