Past Events
"We Surely Owe a Debt to these Long Downtrodden People"
The University of Arkansas Libraries' Special Collections Department joined with the History Department, the UA Press, and the University of Arkansas Bookstore to present "'We Surely Owe a Debt to these Long Downtrodden People': The Accidental Founding and Amazing Survival of Southland College, 1864-1925" by Professor Emeritus Thomas C. Kennedy on November 18th, 2009. The lecture was based on A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas by Kennedy, published in 2009 by the UA Press.
In 1864 Alida and Calvin Clark, two abolitionist members of the Religious Society of Friends from Indiana, went on a mission trip to Helena, Arkansas. The Clarks had come to render temporary relief to displaced war orphans but instead found a lifelong calling. During their time in Arkansas, they started the school that became Southland College, which was the first institution of higher education for blacks west of the Mississippi, and they set up the first predominately black monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in North America.
Thomas C. Kennedy is the author of The Hound of Conscience: A History of the No-Conscription Fellowship, 1914–1919 and British Quakerism, 1860–1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. He has also written numerous articles on Quakers in Arkansas.
Archives Month Open House, 2009
Archives Month 2009 was celebrated with an open house on October 29, 2009.
The event featured refreshments and a reception at 3 p.m., an overview of the past year from head of Special Collections Tom W. Dillard at 3:30 p.m., and a presentation based on material in his book The Afterlife of Leslie Stringfellow: A Nineteenth-Century Southern Family's Experiences with Spiritualism by Stephen Chism, local author and a reference librarian at the University of Arkansas Libraries.
Roy Reed Lecture and Book Signing
 Journalist Roy Reed spoke on the history of the Arkansas Gazette on April 29, 2009 at Giffels Auditorium in Old Main. The program, “The Life and Death of the Oldest Newspaper West of the Mississippi,” was followed by a book signing for Reed’s latest book, Looking Back at the Arkansas Gazette: An Oral History, recently published by the University of Arkansas Press. The program was co-sponsored by the Special Collections department of the University of Arkansas Libraries, the University of Arkansas Press, and the University’s Walter J. Lemke department of journalism.
Fay Jones Collection
The Fay Jones Collection was formally opened by University of Arkansas Libraries Dean Carolyn Allen during the April dedication of the Fay Jones School of Architecture. The collection contains drawings for projects, business and academic records, slide and photographic images, books, and working models. The records were donated to the University of Arkansas Libraries by Fay Jones and his wife Mary Elizabeth Jones between 1997 and 2009.
Jim Crow in the Natural State: A Look at White Supremacy in Arkansas History
On Wednesday afternoon, February 25, 2009, Grif Stockley, the author of a new book on the history of Arkansas race relations, gave a lecture entitled “Jim Crow in the Natural State: A Look at White Supremacy in Arkansas History.” The lecture was sponsored by the Special Collections Department of the University of Arkansas Libraries and the School of Law.
Stockley, who grew up as a privileged white boy in heavily-black Lee County, is a lawyer in addition to being a writer and historian. He is a graduate of the UA School of Law. Stockley joined the Peace Corps after college, and his service in Columbia caused him to begin questioning the racial situation in his home county and state.
Stockley began writing during his long career as a lawyer representing the poor and needy. He wrote a series of popular legal thrillers before turning his attention in the 1990s to non-fiction. Among his important historical books is a seminal work on the 1919 race conflict in Elaine, Arkansas, and an awarding-winning biography of the late civil rights leader Daisy Bates of Little Rock.
Following his lecture, Stockley signed copies of his most recent book, Ruled By Race: Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present (UA Press, 2009). All proceeds from the book signing benefitted the Special Collections Department.
Archives Month 2008: Mysteries, Mistresses, and Murders
You Are Cordially Invited to
Mysteries, Mistresses and Murder:
Celebrating Three Arkansas Authors
A lecture series sponsored by the Special Collections Department
University of Arkansas Libraries, in honor of Archives Month 2008
A 3-lecture series:
Laura Parker Castoro, romance &
historical fiction
Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 3-5 pm
Reception at 3:00, Program at 3:30
Special Collections, Mullins Library 130
Radine Trees-Nehring, mystery & nature
Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 3-5 pm
Reception at 3:00, Program at 3:30
Special Collections, Mullins Library 130
Kevin Brockmeier, short stories and novels/magical realism, mystery
Wednesday, October 29, 3-5 pm
Reception at 3:00, Program at 3:30
Giffels Auditorium, Old Main
All lectures are free & open to the public
Call 479-575-5577 for more information
Special Collections Celebrates Forty Years
The Special Collections Department at the University of Arkansas Libraries celebrated its 40th anniversary with two events during American Archives Month 2007.
On Saturday October 20, faculty and staff from Special Collections conducted two Family History Workshops at the Fayetteville Public Library. In the morning session, Tom Dillard, Andrea Cantrell, Diane Worrell, and Tim Nutt presented information on "Preservation of Documents and Photographs: Best Practices." In the afternoon session, Tom Dillard, Felicia Thomas, Harriet Jansma, and James Defibaugh presented information on "Oral and Visual History as a Family History Resource."
The second event was an open house held on Thursday, October 25, which included reminiscences on the early years and practices of Special Collections by Ethel Simpson, Ellen Compton, and Bob Besom followed by an Arkansas trivia contest based on the popular TV game show "Jeopardy." More...
Before Little Rock: Successful Arkansas School Integration
Sept. 12, 13, and 15, 2007: three events honoring successful school integration in Arkansas: The UA Schools of Law and Medicine in 1948, Fayetteville and Charleston public schools in 1954, and Hoxie public schools in 1955. More . . .
The Architecture and Landscapes of Arkansas: A Heritage of Distinction
The Special Collections Department and the School of Architecture hosted a conference titled "The Architecture and Landscapes of Arkansas: A Heritage of Distinction" on March 2, 2007 at the UA Continuing Education Center in downtown Fayetteville. Richard Longstreth, director of the graduate program in historic preservation at George Washington University, was the keynote speaker at the conference. The conference was capped by an evening banquet and tribute to Cyrus A. Sutherland, former UA architecture professor and a leader in historic preservation. Leslie Belden, historic preservationist and Fayetteville Presbyterian minister, Tommy Jameson, veteran preservation architect in Little Rock, and John Mott, director of the architecture and historic preservation department of John Milner Associate, Inc., of Alexandria, VA all spoke at the banquet in honor of Sutherland. More...
Archives Week Open House, 2006
The University Libraries Special Collections department celebrated Archives Week (October 22-28, 2006) with an Open House on October 23. The purpose of Archives Week in Arkansas is to celebrate the documentary history of the state, to raise awareness of the value of archival materials and archival repositories, and to encourage persons and organizations to preserve records of enduring historical value. The Open House was held in Special Collections, Mullins Library room 130, lower level, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, with remarks at 5:00 PM. The event included refreshments, a short program, an exhibit, and audiovisual highlights from Special Collections materials. More...
Stay More Reunion
Special Collections announces the publication of Donald Harington and His Stay More Novels: A Celebration of 35 Years, a printing of the keynote address given by Bob Razer at the Stay More Reunion in December, 2005. Featuring pictures, a bibliography, and the Stay Moron's Oath, the booklet may be obtained by contacting Special Collections at (479) 575-5577, or at specoll@uark.edu.
Full text in PDF format
(To download for off-line viewing, right click and select "Save target as...")
Mary Celestia Parler Conference
Special Collections hosted a conference on the life and work of Mary Celestia Parler on November 11-12, 2005 in Fayetteville. Mary Celestia Parler, a pioneering folklorist at the University of Arkansas and spouse of folklorist Vance Randolph, amassed one of the largest and most significant collections of Ozark folk songs in the nation.
The Parler Collection of Ozark Folk Songs, collected by Parler and her students, comprises 3,640 field recordings made on audiotape between 1949 and 1965.
Last modified:
11/19/2009
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