Making history

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas history scene has been busy lately with interesting developments on many fronts.

Two long-time heritage agency administrators retired lately, Cathie Matthews and Wendy Richter. Matthews was director of the state Department of Arkansas Heritage for 15 years, by far the longest tenure in that post. Matthew’s agency contained a variety of history-related agencies and programs, most notably the state’s two largest history museums, the Old State House and the Historic Arkansas Museum, and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Wendy Richter has retired after seven years as state historian and director of the Arkansas History Commission, an agency in the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Richter implemented several reforms and new initiatives in her seven years as state historian. Richter began her career as a volunteer in the Garland County Historical Society, later becoming the first professional archivist at Ouachita Baptist University, and in 2007 was selected to succeed long-time state historian John L. Ferguson. Richter will, I understand, return to the staff at OBU.

Speaking of the Ouachita Baptist University Archives, outgoing fourth district Congressman Mike Ross has named OBU as the repository for his papers. This will keep Richter busy since processing a congressional collection is extremely time-consuming and therefore quite expensive. Every one of the millions of documents in the collection must be perused to ensure that no legally confidential materials are disclosed. Congressional collections, which are filled with constituent communications containing Social Security numbers and references to medical conditions, are minefields for archivists.

A number of Arkansas archeologists have retired recently, including director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey Tom Green, and Monticello station archeologist Marvin Jeter. Thomas J. Green was only the second director of the survey, succeeding the pioneering and long-serving Robert McGimsey in 1992.

Marvin Jeter was the archeologist in charge of the Archeological Survey’s field office in Monticello. Jeter published extensively, including an interesting book on the earliest archeological work done in Arkansas-the 1880s exploration by Edward Palmer of east Arkansas mounds.

I recently learned two very different bits of news from Craig Ogilvie of Batesville. First, the bad news: the Ozarks Mountaineer, a magazine out of the Branson, Mo. area that documented the Ozarks for 60 years, has ceased publication. The Mountaineer, which was established in 1952 by Roscoe and Velma Stewart, reached its zenith under the ownership of the late Clay Anderson. Anderson published the work of many Ozark writers, giving the Mountaineer a reputation for recording regional history, folklore, arts and crafts, and culture.

Craig Ogilvie also informed me that his hometown newspaper, the Batesville Daily Guard, has begun publishing his Arkansas history cartoons in a series called “The Rest is History.” Ogilvie, who retired in 2005 after 30 years as a writer for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, began doing a series of cartoons explaining Arkansas history during the American Bicentennial in 1976. Before the series ended in 2001, Ogilvie had researched and illustrated more than 1,000 cartoons. Daily Guard editor Andrea Bruner not only reprints Ogilvie’s cartoons, but also allowed him space to explain the stories behind the cartoons.

The Quapaw Indian Tribe of Oklahoma has purchased a plot of land on their traditional tribal lands in Arkansas. Prior to their removal in 1833, the Quapawtribe had a long and friendly association with both the French and American settlers-including providing the name for the state.

Under the leadership of tribal chairman John Berrey, the Quapaws have bought an 80-acre tract south of the Little Rock Port Industrial Park. Berrey, who is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, commented that “one of my greatest personal interests is the history of the Quapaw Tribe in Arkansas.”

Cornerstone Bank of Eureka Springs recently sent me a most interesting 2013 wall calendar-which contains much information on the Civil War in Carroll County. We hear a great deal about how the war divided families and pitted brother against brother, but the Cornerstone calendar documents this stark fact with fascinating historic photographs. Pictured are Absolum and Ephraim Thomas, brothers who after fighting in opposing armies, returned to neighboring farms in Carroll County where they lived the remainder of their lives. Cornerstone Bank, which began publishing the historical calendars in 1978, has a limited supply of 2013 calendars still available. Call 479-253-3000.

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Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist. Email him at tomd@pgtc.com.