CONWAY — At age 65, some people might be retiring from a career and planning a trip or starting a new hobby. Not Jimmy Bryant — he has retired from his job as director of archives and university historian at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, effective Dec. 31, but he will embark on a new job Jan. 6.
Bryant’s new job will be director of Arkansas Heritage, a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.
“I had already made all the necessary arrangements to retire and intended to retire. Then Secretary [Stacy] Hurst, [secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks Heritage and Tourism], contacted me about this job,” Bryant said. “We discussed the position, and later, she offered it to me, and I accepted. My first official day on the job will be Jan. 6.”
The Division of Arkansas Heritage includes four heritage museums and four heritage resource agencies that work to preserve, protect and promote the natural and cultural history of Arkansas. Bryant will oversee the work of all eight entities. The heritage museums are the Delta Cultural Center in Helena and the Historic Arkansas Museum, Old State House Museum and the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, all in Little Rock. The heritage resource agencies include the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Arkansas State Archives.
“I am very excited about the new position,” Bryant said. “I am looking forward to it. I am going to do the best job I possibly can. It’s going to be a very interesting time.”
Bryant has served as director of archives and special collections at UCA since 1998 and was named university historian later in his career. He was responsible for leading all aspects of the UCA Archives Department, which is in Torreyson Library, and was responsible for the acquisition, organization and preservation of historical documents pertaining to Arkansas and Arkansans.
“The work of Arkansas Heritage is far-ranging,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said. “Its thought-provoking museum exhibits, its system of natural areas and its grants for arts and preservation come together to support and preserve Arkansas culture and heritage. Jimmy Bryant’s understanding and experience in the study and conservation of Arkansas history will be an extraordinary addition to this effort.”
Bryant said he “always had an interest in history as a kid. … I just didn’t think about it as a major when I came to UCA as a student.
“I was in the high school band, and my scholarship to UCA was for music. Music was my focus for three years.”
Bryant left UCA without graduating but returned 7 1/2 years later to finish his degree, majoring in history.
Bryant received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1995 and a Master of Arts degree in history in 1996 from UCA. He has been a certified archivist with the Academy of Certified Archivists since 2007.
“I served as an academic adviser at UCA for two years and four months and began this job in 1998,” Bryant said. “I have loved this job. I made it a priority to get a World War II collection. These men and women are dying off one by one. We have been able to add 38 to 40 collections. … A collection is made up of documents and photographs. These collections are open to the public.”
Other military-related projects Bryant helped see to fruition were the installations of two memorials on the lawn of McAllister Hall: the World War II Memorial, dedicated in 2003, and the University of Central Arkansas War Memorial, dedicated in 2016, honoring male and female students who died serving their county in World War I, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia and the Global War on Terrorism, which has space for additional names in the future. Bryant credits former UCA Presidents Lu Hardin and Tom Courtway for asking him to serve as chairman for those two projects.
“I’m very proud of those memorials,” Bryant said.
Bryant said that before he begins his new job, he hopes to visit and meet the people who work at each of the eight entities he will oversee.
“The division has 149 full-time employees and 46 part-time employees,” he said. “I want to get to know them and see what they are doing and learn about any upcoming projects. For the first few weeks, this will be a learning experience.”
Bryant said his last day at UCA was to have been Dec. 16.
“On Dec. 17, I will begin those visits,” he told visitors at his UCA office on Dec. 11. “The Department of Heritage is located on LaHarpe Boulevard in Little Rock, and that is where my office will be.”
Bryant was born in England, Arkansas, and graduated from England High School in 1972, where he played in the band; he later played in the UCA band.
“I play piano, cornet, baritone and tuba. … I love the tuba,” he said, smiling. “I played tuba for a while in the Conway Symphony Orchestra, … but I haven’t played the tuba in two or three years. At one time, I owned two tubas, but I’ve sold both of them.”
Bryant said one of the greatest things about attending UCA as a student was meeting his wife, Jann.
“We had a class together in 1972,” he said. “We started dating in 1974 and married in 1981.”
Jann Bryant also worked at UCA. She retired in 2017 after 27 years; she was director of the UCA Community School of Music.
The Bryants have two children and three grandchildren. The couple’s son, Zack, 37, and his wife, Cassie, are parents of Jeremiah, 12, and Zoe, 5, and Jimmy and Jann’s daughter, Melanie, 35, and her husband, Brandon, are parents of Juliana, 4, and are expecting another baby in February.
Jimmy Bryant said he enjoys reading in his spare time and writing letters. He said he and Jann also enjoy traveling.
“I write some letters by hand, using cursive writing, which is getting to be a lost art,” Bryant said. “Some I write using the computer. I’ve gotten lots of response from my letters.
“I even wrote a letter to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England,” he said, smiling. “I wrote to tell her how much my father admired her for serving in World War II as a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, which is similar to the American Women’s Army Corps. She was heir to the throne and didn’t have to serve, but she did.
“I received an answer from her, written by her lady-in-waiting,” Bryant said, adding that his father, the late Bill Bryant, was a World War II veteran who served in the Army Air Force in the Pacific.
Bryant said he hopes he and Jann get to travel some in the future.
“We enjoy the Western United States,” he said. “In 2016, we visited a Navajo reservation. It’s so sad how some of them live. We joined the Adopt a Native Elder program and befriended an older Navajo couple. We support them as we can; they are very grateful for our support.”
Bryant said he has been “very happy at UCA.”
“We’ve been able to preserve a lot of history,” he said. “We have been able to show the value of the past.
“But I am looking forward to my new job. I am very grateful to Gov. Hutchinson and Secretary Hurst for offering me this position. I am ready to go to work.”