University of Arkansas Logo Special Collections University of Arkansas Libraries




Fort Smith National Historic Site Records, 1953-1976


Correspondence, reports, notes,
tape, and photographs


Manuscript Collection 216



About the Collection

The records pertain to the establishment of the Fort Smith National Historic Site in 1961 and its restoration in the 1970s. Records include correspondence to Fort Smith Judge Paul Wolfe and Restoration Committee Chairman R. K. Rodgers from Congressmen Jim Trimble and John Paul Hammerschmidt, Senators J. William Fulbright and Dale Bumpers, and officials of the National Park Service.

Records contain an audiocassette tape of the January 27-28, 1975 conference on Fort Smith history, which was chaired by Joseph C. Rumberg, Jr., of the National Park Service and attended by Robert Utley, Jackson Moore, Ed Bearss, and Clyde Dollar. This collection also contains historical reports written about Fort Smith by Paul Wolfe and J. C. Harrington, local and national resolutions in favor of the Historic Site, and Judge Wolfe's research notes. Lastly, the records contain photographs of and clippings about the historic site.

Paul Wolfe, of Fort Smith, Arkansas and Clyde D. Dollar, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, donated these records to Special Collections on January 8, 1975 and August 5, 1976.

Processed by Anthony J. Wappel, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in December 1988.


Contents of the Collection - Box 1 (165 items)

Box 1

1. Correspondence, 1957.
2. Correspondence, 1958.
3. Correspondence, 1959.
4. Correspondence, 1960.
5. Correspondence, 1961.
6. Correspondence, 1972.
7. Correspondence, 1975.
8. Correspondence, 1976.
9. Fort Smith History Conference, January 27-28, 1955 [audiocassette tape produced by Clyde Dollar].
10. Historical reports, and resolutions, 1953-1961.
11. Notes, ca. 1955-1961.
12. Clippings, 1958-1960.
13. Photographs, ca. 1955-1961.
1) Aerial view of Fort Smith Historic Site.
2-7) Court House.
8-9) Gallows.
10-11) Archeological excavations.

Last modified: Thursday, January 15, 2004