BENTON — The genealogy and local history department of the Saline County Library will begin its Civil War program series with “Reflections on the Civil War in Arkansas” from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Monday in the library’s meeting room. The program series will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Programs will center on Civil War themes for the rest of 2011.
The first program in the series will be given by Tom DeBlack of Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. DeBlack’s teaching specialties are Arkansas history, the Old South, the New South, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the American West.
He is the past president of the Arkansas Historical Association and the Arkansas Association of College History Teachers. DeBlack is the author or co-author of several books. In 2003, his book With Fire and Sword: Arkansas 1861-1874 was named the initial winner of the Butler-Remmel Arkansas History Literary Prize. He also co-authored a college-level textbook titled Arkansas: A Narrative History, which won the Arkansas Library Association’s Arkansiana Prize in 2003. DeBlack has been at Arkansas Tech since 1995.
Future programs in the Civil War series in the next few months will be Monday, June 20, “The Civil War in Hot Springs,” presented by state historian Wendy Richter of Little Rock; Monday, July 18, “The Civil War Soldier,” presented by Josh Williams of Historic Old Washington State Park; and Monday, Aug. 22, “The Music of the Civil War,” presented by the folk-music group Harmony.
All programs will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Junior Fortnightly meeting room of the Bob Herzfeld Memorial Library, 1800 Smithers Drive in Benton. Call the library at (501) 778-4766 for more information.