Beebe papers and furniture going to ASU

V.C. Kays House to display archive, office re-creation

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe speaks to reporters outside of the governor's office at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Tuesday, June 24, 2014. Beebe announced he had called lawmakers back to the Capitol to address a looming increase in teacher insurance premiums and prison overcrowding. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe speaks to reporters outside of the governor's office at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Tuesday, June 24, 2014. Beebe announced he had called lawmakers back to the Capitol to address a looming increase in teacher insurance premiums and prison overcrowding. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Gov. Mike Beebe announced Saturday that he plans to donate his gubernatorial papers to Arkansas State University, where they will be archived and held in the vacant historic V.C. Kays House on the Jonesboro campus.

Beebe already has donated to the university his papers from when he was attorney general from 2003 to 2007 and a state senator from 1983 to 2003. The papers include schedules, proclamations and letters written by Beebe.

In addition to the papers, Beebe also plans to donate his office furniture for a re-creation of his office in the Kays House living room, which has nearly the same dimensions, his spokesman Matt DeCample said.

The house, along with neighboring Dean B. Ellis Library, will have interactive presentations of Beebe's legacy in Arkansas, including his involvement in the Lake View School District funding lawsuit and the state's "private option" expansion of Medicaid.

"I've made no secret of my love for Arkansas State University and the opportunities this school created for me," Beebe, an ASU graduate, said in university news release. "I've been fortunate to participate in many historic Arkansas events during the past 32 years. I'm pleased to work with ASU to share my part of our history with researchers, historians and students from Arkansas and beyond."

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee's papers are at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, and five past governors' papers, including those of Winthrop Rockefeller and Dale Bumpers, are housed at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture at the Arkansas Studies Institute. Bill Clinton's papers are at the Central Arkansas Library System's Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock.

University spokesman Jeff Hankins said Beebe told the school last year that he wanted to donate his papers. A steering committee identified the Kays House as a potential option.

The Kays House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year after being scheduled for demolition as recently as last year. Professors and other officials had protested the demolition, arguing that the house -- which served as the residence of 43-year university President Victor Cicero Kays -- was historically significant. It was built in 1936.

Before they decided to use it for the archives, university officials considered using the house, now nestled among sorority houses, for offices, Hankins said.

Beebe's archives will not occupy every room of the house, Hankins said, and decisions remain about what will be done with the unused space.

The university still has some restoration and renovation left to do on the house that isn't included in the $650,000 price tag for establishing Beebe's archives, Hankins said. Officials plan to do fundraising or apply for grants to set up the archives, which will not receive funds from the governor's office or the university.

The school also plans to use private funds to hire an archivist to handle the papers for three years and to make the papers digitally accessible.

Hankins said the school hopes to have the first records online within 12 to 18 months after Beebe leaves office. Some papers are already in digital format, he said.

"This is really the first governor to have so much material that is already electronic," Hankins said, noting that photographs and video would be included in the archives.

The archives will attract researchers to the website and the university, he said.

"[Beebe's] been an important part of state history," Hankins said.

Beebe, who was born in and graduated from high school in nearby Jackson County, is the only governor to have graduated from ASU, where he received his bachelor's degree.

"It obviously holds a dear spot in his heart," DeCample said.

Metro on 09/21/2014

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