Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series Speakers Slated
LITTLE ROCK, AR – The Old State House Museum announces the schedule of its upcoming Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series slated through the end of March. Brown Bag Lectures are a great way for participants to gain an understanding of special Arkansas history topics. The lectures take place during the lunch hour, from noon to 1:00 p.m., making them a convenient way to learn. Admission to each program is free. Participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch; beverages are provided. For more information about Brown Bag Lunch Lectures, please call the Old State House Museum at (501) 324-9685, or see www.OldStateHouse.com.
Friday, January 28, 2011 - Dogpatch USA Documentary
This hour of the Brown Bag Lecture Series will include a showing of the documentary about Dogpatch, USA (30 min.), followed by a Q & A session led by filmmakers Dixie Kline and Matthew Rowe.
Dogpatch USA, highlights the ups and downs of the park and the people who felt passionate about its place in Arkansas history. A nationally-recognized theme park, based on Al Capp’s popular comic strip Lil’ Abner, debuted in Arkansas, a state it stereotyped, in 1968. The park took advantage of a period when the American public seemed fascinated with “hillbillies.” The new attraction impacted locals and state residents, and became an economic resource and a fondly-remembered place for family fun for a quarter of a century. Significant warning signs developed even before it opened, and the park took a roller coaster ride through changing ownership, economic forces and social landscapes, and finally closed in 1993. Its future remains a mystery.
Dogpatch USA is a production of the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas, copyright 2008.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 - Arkansas's Anarchy Law and People of Color: An Unusual Case from 1934
The case concerns a group of Asian organizers who came to northeastern Arkansas during the summer of 1934, to recruit members for a movement that encouraged African Americans to look to Japan as the protector of the "colored races." They specifically targeted places that had been active in the Marcus Garvey movement in the 1920s.
Speaker Ken Barnes is the chair of the Department of History and professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA). He received his BA from UCA, MA from the University of East Anglia in England, and PhD from Duke University. He has taught at Concordia University - Chicago and the University of Southern Mississippi before returning to UCA as a professor in 1993. He is the author of several books and articles on German history and Arkansas history, including Who Killed John Clayton?: Political Violence and the Emergence of the New South (Duke University Press, 1998) and Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in the Late 1800s (University of North Carolina Press, 2004).
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - Arkansawr'n'b: The State's Forgotten Rhythm 'n Blues Legacy
Stephen Koch’s lecture will showcase some of Arkansas's R&B greats and behind-the-scenes legends. While blues, folk and other musical genres are justifiably celebrated as Arkansas exports, often overlooked are Arkansas's contributions to R&B music. The lives, music and legacies of Louis Jordan (a key player in the development of R&B), Johnnie Taylor, Henry Glover, and others will be explored.
Koch is a musician, playwright and award-winning reporter/editor and broadcast journalist with a focus on Arkansas music and culture. He has broadcast and written countless features for radio stations, magazines and newspapers across the U.S. and U.K., and is creator and host of Arkansongs, syndicated on National Public Radio affiliates. Considered America's leading expert on rhythm and blues pioneer Louis Jordan, Jump!, his musical on the life and music of Jordan, premiered in 2008 to sold-out audiences. Koch programmed and hosted an annual Louis Jordan Tribute concert/conference for more than a decade, an event recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the U.S. Library of Congress's Living Legacies program. The publication of his biography of Jordan is set for 2011.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - William Hines Furbush: African-American Republican and Democrat in Reconstruction, Redemption and Disfranchisement
William Hines Furbush, born into slavery in Kentucky, raised in Tennessee and educated in Ohio, came to political prominence in Arkansas in the late 19th Century as both a Republican and a Democrat. A photographer and lawyer by trade, his unique political career spanned Reconstruction, Redemption, and Disfranchisement.
This program, given by Blake Wintory, assistant director/facilities manager of Lakeport Plantation, will look at the span of Furbush's life and what it tells us about race and politics in Arkansas in the late 19th Century.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - Restoration Informed by Archeology: Excavations at the Rice House and Looney Tavern, Randolph County, Arkansas
In 2008 and 2009, the Arkansas Archeological Survey conducted archeological excavations in and around the foundations of the Rice Dwelling House and Looney Tavern, the two oldest standing wooden structures in Arkansas.
Kathy Cande, Senior Project Archeologist for the Survey, will discuss how excavations revealed structural details, construction techniques, and artifacts critical to the restoration of the buildings to their original form.
About the Old State House Museum
The Old State House Museum is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and shares the goal of all seven Department of Arkansas Heritage agencies, that of preserving and enhancing the heritage of the state of Arkansas. The agencies are Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Historic Arkansas Museum, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and the Old State House Museum.
