The Department of Arkansas Heritage's Collections Management Facility in Little Rock is an option to consider as a future site for the state's archives, but there are other options to consider, department Director Stacy Hurst said.
While no decision has been made about a future site for the archives, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in an interview Friday, "There really hasn't been in place a broad enough discussion on the options."
The Collections Management Facility is at 1000 LaHarpe Blvd., purchased in 2005. It is the site of a former Balch Oldsmobile dealership and was the temporary home of Bill Clinton's presidential library archives. Next to the facility, the department's new headquarters are under construction at 1100 North St.
The Arkansas History Commission is on the first and second floors of the Multi-Agency Complex just west of the state Capitol.
In a three-day special session last month, the Legislature and Hutchinson passed Act 3 to move the history agency from the Department of Parks and Tourism to the Department of Arkansas Heritage, effective July 1. The History Commission will be renamed the State Archives.
Act 3 also strips the seven-member panel overseeing the history agency -- also called a commission -- of its power to hire the agency's director and turns the panel into an advisory body for the Heritage Department director.
Under Act 3, the Building Authority Division of the Department of Finance and Administration may locate and negotiate an appropriate facility for the State Archives, but the Heritage Department "shall have final approval of the facility's location."
Commission chairman Mary Dillard of Malvern said Friday that she met with Hutchinson and several other state officials in December because of her concerns about the potential transfer of the History Commission to the Heritage Department and the possibility of moving the commission to the Balch building.
"We were left with the impression there would be much more study and deliberation on a new facility" after meeting with the governor in December, she said.
The nonprofit Friends of the Arkansas History Commission was created in December because "we kept hearing rumors about the History Commission being transferred and rumors about [the commission] moving to the Balch building," said Tom Dillard, who is treasurer of the group, which he said has roughly 100 members. The Dillards are married.
"It scared a lot of people in the state," Tom Dillard said Friday.
Tom Dillard also is the former head of Special Collections at the University of Arkansas Libraries, the former head of the Heritage Department and the person who laid the groundwork for the online "Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture." He writes a history column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
On Thursday, Hurst said in an interview, "I think there were those who felt like I felt that was the only possibility, and that's where the History Commission needed to go," referring to the Collections Management Facility.
"Well, that's just not the case," she said. "That was one possibility that I offered, but there were several other possibilities, as well."
Moving the History Commission to the Collections Management Facility has been an option considered by state officials since at least 2006, judging from state records, said Hurst, a Little Rock Republican and former Little Rock city director. In 2014, she lost re-election to state Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock. Hutchinson appointed her as the department's director starting in January 2015.
"I feel strongly that this is an important move, and we need to be very thorough and we need to look at lots of possibilities, a lot of options and there may even be some that we haven't thought about yet," she said. "So I anticipate it is going to be a pretty lengthy process, and we need to be very careful about where they go so that it is accessible and visible, but it takes care of these important records that they have."
Hurst said no sites for moving the commission have been ruled out.
"I think what is attractive about the CMF is that it is where we store our artifacts," she said.
"It actually was built to federal standards to hold the Clinton Archives for a while. We've made some improvements, and there are more that could be made. I don't think you can just rule it out without really studying it, in terms of what could be done with the facility." She said the building is not entirely full, but it would require an addition to accommodate the History Commission. "So you would have to study that, the cost of that.
"It is definitely accessible and visible, but it may not work. I do think it is something that we ought to at least put into the mix, along with a lot of other [potential sites]," Hurst said. "It is something that we own. None of our agencies pay rent to use it. The Department of Arkansas Heritage central office owns and maintains it."
Lisa Speer has been the History Commission's director since June 2013. Hurst has said she plans to retain Speer in that position.
In an Oct. 28 memo to Hurst and other state officials, Speer wrote: "While I think the building may have some potential, I have some concerns about space, structural integrity, appearance, fire safety and of course funding."
She said she's concerned that the existing space in the Collections Management Facility would be insufficient for the commission's current and future needs.
"A metal building is not considered a permanent type of construction, yet we are proposing for this building to house some of the oldest and most significant documents relating to the Arkansas territorial period and to statehood," Speer wrote in her memo, obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
"Currently this building just looks like a warehouse; it's difficult to envision how it could convey the dignity and solemnity of a state archives building," she wrote. "No doubt the annex of the west side of the building would be an attractive addition to the complex, but ... it is hard to say if there is a workable solution to the aesthetic challenge presented in housing the state archives there."
Hutchinson said he wants the History Commission to have a facility that is more accessible to the public.
"I think there have been two or three options that have been put out there, and there is not a consensus, and there [are] flaws in each location of differing degrees, so it is just an ongoing discussion without any determination," he said Friday.
"We had to have the legislation passed to accomplish this shift to Heritage, and so now that has been accomplished. We can shift what is the best thing to increase the visibility and strengthen the History Commission," he said.
"I am not dodging anything. I don't know anything about the Balch [building]. Maybe that was suggested, but I really haven't looked at any locations."
Hutchinson said one idea was to move the History Commission to the new Department of Arkansas Heritage building, but "there's not much space" for the commission there.
There have also been discussions about getting the original Mosaic State Temple Building next to the current Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. There is a lot of support and interest in that idea, he said.
Hurst told the History Commission on Thursday that Building Authority Division Director Anne Laidlaw has had conversations with officials at the Masonic Temple and with Stan Hastings, who owns property east of Interstate 30 and near the Woodruff House "as to the potential of locating there."
The Woodruff House was built in 1853 and is at 1017 and 1023 E. Eighth St. The Quapaw Quarter Association bought the former home of William E. Woodruff, founder of the Arkansas Gazette, in December 2014 and hopes to find a new owner for the historic structure.
Hutchinson said he doesn't want any site search or commitment on property for the History Commission to be made without the coordination and involvement of Laidlaw.
"She is the key for me in the coordination of making these decisions. She knows what is available out there [and] where we can save rent money," he said. "I asked Stacy to work with Anne Laidlaw, and Lisa Speer will be engaged in the discussions as well."
In a memo dated Feb. 17 to directors of state agencies, offices and departments, Hutchinson said he's "committed to preserving and promoting the rich history of our state," and he told the directors to assist the history agency in its effort to preserve historical documents and to turn over any historical documents that aren't currently in use.
Hutchinson said Friday that he has asked the Heritage Department to provide a plan in the next 30 days for some steps and different options to strengthen the History Commission.
"I think it is more than just the location, which is probably the biggest item," he said. "But I would just like to see options for how we can do more with the History Commission and strengthen it and make sure that they remain strong."
For now, Tom Dillard said he hopes Hurst meets with the Friends of the Arkansas History Commission soon.
"We are going to wait and see how [the transfer of the commission to the department] plays out," he said.
"In my scenario, I hope we end up celebrating this change instead of opposing it forever," he said.
Mary Dillard, the History Commission chairman, said: "We will see if we make any difference," and whether there is conflict between the wishes of the commission and Hurst and Hutchinson.
The Arkansas History Commission was created by the General Assembly in 1905 to be the official archives of the state, responsible for collecting and preserving the source materials of its history.
The archives were in the state Capitol during its first few decades, but when the Old State House was restored, the History Commission was moved into a part of the west wing of that building in 1951, according to the commission. After becoming a part of the Parks and Tourism Department in 1971, the History Commission moved in 1979 to its current location at One Capitol Mall.
Speer said the commission has 26 full-time positions and a $1.9 million budget in fiscal 2016. Two of the positions are vacant.
The Department of Arkansas Heritage was created in 1975 to preserve and promote Arkansas' heritage. It has a $35.1 million budget in fiscal 2016. The department has 152 authorized full-time positions, and 131 of them are filled, said department spokesman Melissa Whitfield.
It oversees the Delta Cultural Center in Helena-West Helena, and the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Old State House Museum in Little Rock. It also coordinates the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.
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