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ORVAL EUGENE FAUBUS, 1910-1994

Papers, 1910. . . (1939-74)-1978


Manuscript Collection MS/F27/301/FAUBUS

Note: This online finding aid is an outline of the paper finding aid. It includes descriptions of series and lists of subseries, but lacks the container lists and indexes of the paper finding aid. An exception has been made for Series 14, "Records Pertaining to Little Rock School Integration Crisis, 1957-1959...1977" (see list of series); all parts of the finding aid are included. In the future, as use warrants, container lists and other information may be added for other series as well.
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ORVAL EUGENE FAUBUS

Orval Eugene Faubus was born in the Ozark Mountain community of Greasy Creek; taught school in rural communities (1928. . .1939); worked as itinerant farm laborer and lumberjack (1931. . .1935); briefly attended Commonwealth College, the radical labor school at Mena, Ark. (1935); was elected to two terms (1939-1942) as Madison County, Ark. Circuit Clerk and Recorder; served in the U.S. Army, as an enlisted man and subsequently as a commissioned officer in Europe (1942-1946); was Huntsville, Ark. postmaster (1946-47, 1953-54); edited and published the weekly Madison County Record (1947-1967); was a member of the Arkansas State Highway Commission (1949-1951) and Director of Highways (1952-1953); was elected to six consecutive terms (1955-1967) as Governor of Arkansas, and attracted international attention for his controversial role in the Little Rock, Ark. Central High School racial desegregation crisis (1957-1959); subsequently sought, unsuccessfully, election to the gubernatorial office again in 1970 and 1974. He published accounts of his military experiences, In This Faraway Land (Conway, Ark., 1971), and of his ascent to political power, Down From the Hills (Little Rock, Ark., 1981).
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THE COLLECTION

504 ft. MS, TS, TS copy, PR, Pict. Photo., SR.

Gift of University of Arkansas Foundation, Inc. September, 1978.

Correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, diary, lists, notes, petitions, certificates, clippings, literary manuscripts, legislative bills, scrapbooks, sound recordings, motion picture film, financial, legal, military, and other records created, received, or collected by Faubus (1910-1978) or by staff members of the Arkansas gubernatorial office (1955 -1967).

Records pertain, for the most part, to the operations (1955-1967) of Arkansas state constitutional and other offices, especially its executive and administrative departments, boards, commissions, and agencies.

Other records pertain to the personal, familial, military, literary, journalistic, political, and other governmental activities and interests of Faubus.

Arranged in 29 series. Series and sub-series descriptions, container lists, index of selected significant correspondents. This on-line version of the finding aid includes only series descriptions (except for Series 14).

RESTRICTIONS APPLY. Limited access restrictions apply to some materials; see below or consult Curator.

Prefatory Note on Arrangement and Description

Arrangement and description of the Orval Eugene Faubus Papers, undertaken August 1, 1979, was financed in part by an initial grant, in the amount of $25,276, from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and by a supplementary grant from the Commission, in the amount of $13,186, which enabled completion of the project in the period August 1, 1980 to January 31, 1981.

Associate Project Director Kenneth N. Hopkins, serving throughout as processing archivist under the general supervision of Project Director Samuel A. Sizer and working with the assistance of archival technician Randall G. Roelfs and, for a time, archival technician George G. Kiser, is primarily responsible for achieving the final arrangement and description of the collection.

The principal body of records comprising the collection, acquired by the University of Arkansas Library late in March, 1978, was estimated at the time of acquisition as containing approximately 420 cubic feet of material. A more precise measurement at the time of accessioning the records six months later, however, revealed that they measured more nearly 458 cubic feet. Four small supplementary accessions subsequently received, in the period August, 1978 through March, 1979, and comprising a total of approximately 43 cubic feet, increased the gross volume, before arrangement and description, to approximately 501 cubic feet.

In the course of archival processing, approximately 165 cubic feet of materials were removed and disposed of as follows:

  1. printed books, pamphlets, reports and other substantive published works, removed for cataloging as library materials (ca. 7 cu. ft.)
  2. correspondence and other records created, received, or collected by Faubus' father, and constituting a distinct and identifiable body of documentation, removed for preservation as a separate collection of John Samuel Faubus Papers. 1913..1966 (ca. 1/2 cu. ft.)
  3. a distinct and identifiable body of original source materials collected by Faubus as relating to the history of Madison County, Ark., although not pertaining directly to his own life and career, removed for preservation as a separate collection of Alfred Hawn Family Papers, ca. 1897...1946 (ca. 8 1/2 cu. ft.)
  4. ephemera of little or no research value, removed and discarded (ca. 37 cu. ft.)
  5. materials of research potential for statistical or illustrative purposes only, discarded from selected files in some sub-series (e.g., Series: Sub-series 1:1, 3; 5:6; 8:5; 11:2; 14:8, 10; 15:4; 21:1-4, 6; 23:2-4, 6; for which see Container Lists) for which an arbitrary 20% sample only (28 cu. ft. total) was retained (ca. 112 cu. ft.)
The net retained quantity of records, approximately 336 cubic feet, are preserved on 504 linear feet of archival shelving.

The preserved records are arranged in 29 functional series, most of which comprise two or more sub-series. Series and sub-series descriptions are supported by file container lists which identify individual files by folder titles assigned, in most instances, by the creator. In those instances where no folder title had been assigned, or where an assigned title was incorrect or inadequately descriptive of contents, titles were supplied, revised, or expanded by processing archivists. Such supplied or revised titles, and all title expansions, appear in the Container Lists within square brackets ([ ] ). An "Index to Selected Significant Correspondents" locates, at the file level, correspondence to or from such correspondents .

For purposes of protecting the legitimate personal confidentiality of identified individuals not in positions of public responsibility, limited access restrictions, uniformly applicable to all applicants for research access, have been imposed on a selected few files or sub-series, such as some of those in Series 9, "Records Pertaining to Public Welfare Program, 1954-1967. " Such files or sub-series are identified by a note on the respective Container List. In addition, for the guidance of reference archivists, such files have been coded with a large red-pencilled "R, " and boxes containing one or more such files have been similarly coded "R, " to indicate that all files in the box are so restricted, or "(R), " to indicate that some, but not all, files in the box are so restricted. Research access to restricted records may, in particular instances and for adequate reason, be granted only with the specific permission of the Curator or his deputy.

Files or sub-series the contents of which have been retained in a 20% sample only are also so identified by a note on the respective Container List.

Materials preserved in a displaced shelf location (e. g., Series 25, sub-series 4, "Photographs Removed from Manuscript Materials, 1955-1966") are identified, in each instance, by a standard form removal record shelved with the re-located item and by a copy of the removal record cross-filed in the context from which the item was removed.--S.A.S.

Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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Contents of Collection

(Reminder: this online finding aid is an abridgement of the paper finding aid. It includes descriptions of series and lists of subseries, but lacks the container lists and indexes of the paper finding aid. An exception has been made for Series 14, "Records Pertaining to Little Rock School Integration Crisis, 1957-1959...1977" (see below); all parts of the finding aid are included. In the future, as use warrants, container lists and other information may be added for other series as well.)
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