Ozark Folk Encyclopedia

Otto Ernest Rayburn (1891-1960) was a writer, school teacher, and promoter for thirty years in the Ozarks. He published magazines and books celebrating the region. The bulk of the Rayburn Papers collection (MS R19) housed in the University of Arkansas Libraries' Special Collections archives is The Ozark Folk Encyclopedia, 229 folders containing Rayburn's working files of clippings, notes, letters, photographs, etc., all arranged in alphabetical order. The Ozark Folk Encyclopedia is not a published work, but rather an exaggerated scrapbook of everything Ozarks, the result of years of collecting.

Ethel Simpson, former archivist with the Special Collections Department, worked on the Rayburn collection for many years and knows the ins and outs of it, and a great deal about the man himself. Beginning in October, 2005, Simpson selected a subject under each letter in turn through the alphabet and read Rayburn's entry for it in the Encyclopedia for Ozarks at Large, an original program broadcast by KUAF radio, the University of Arkansas affiliate of National Public Radio. (Used by permission of KUAF.)