Collection Development and Management Commons^™

Stephens-Ward Quilt, 1937, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

This presentation quilt was pieced and quilted by the TEL Sunday School class of the First Baptist Church, Stephens, Arkansas. The ladies charged 10 cents per petal. Each petal bears the name of one person or one family and, in all, the quilt contains 574 names (some are repeated). The quilt was presented to Pastor Fred Hays Ward. Ward was a Southern Baptist minister. He was born in Columbia County, Arkansas, in 1885. In 1911, he married Fannie Boswell, and soon after was ordained by First Baptist Church, Arkadelphia. He graduated from Ouachita College in 1924 with an A. B. …

Arkadelphia Post Office Records, Wesley Oliver

Guides and Finding Aids

The original Clark County post office was established at the home of pioneer Jacob Barkman along the Caddo River in the early nineteenth century. Arkadelphia became the hub of Clark County's postal service after it became the county seat in the 1840s. In 1916, work began on a new post office in downtown Arkadelphia on Sixth Street, and the structure was completed in 1918. In 1963 work began on another new post office which was completed in 1965. The 1918 post office building currently houses a sporting goods store.

Allen B. Syler (1926-2002) donated this collection. After serving in Army …

Clark County Circuit Court Records, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Clark County was established in 1818, and therefore became one of the five counties in existence at the time the area became known as Arkansas Territory in 1819. Court was held in various places in those early days, such as the home of pioneer settler Jacob Barkman, west of the Caddo River, near what is now Caddo Valley. Later, a county seat was established at Greenville, which was located to the southwest along the Military Road (also known as the Southwest Trail). In 1842 Arkadelphia (previously known as Blakelytown) became the permanent location of the county seat.

The county has …

Arkadelphia City Government Records, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

The City of Arkadelphia is located in Clark County, Arkansas, and is the county's largest town. Originally known as Blakelytown (named for pioneer settler Adam Blakely), Arkadelphia became the Clark County seat in 1842. Since that time, the town has been the political, economic, and cultural center of Clark County.

This collection contains City Council minutes, City ordinances, and correspondence of the City Manager.

Robert Holley Papers, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Robert Holley served twenty-nine years with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, retiring in 1997 as director of the Discipleship and Family Ministry Department. He is a graduate of Howard College (now Samford University) and The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Holley served as minister of education at First Baptist Church McGehee, First Baptist Church Conway, First Baptist Church West Memphis, and Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, before joining the ABSC in 1968. He also wrote training material focused on equipping church leaders, and taught for Boyce Bible School and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Holley currently resides in Arkadelphia with his …

William Dunbar Papers, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Most Americans have heard the story of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore the new Louisiana Purchase area from 1804 to 1806. What most people do not realize is that Jefferson also commissioned a second expedition to explore the southern areas of that new frontier. The president asked William Dunbar, a Mississippi planter/scientist/surveyor, and George Hunter, a Philadelphia chemist/apothecary, to lead that expedition on the Red, Black, and Ouachita Rivers up to the hot springs. The two men and their crew mapped, described flora and fauna, tested the waters of the Hot …

Bess Vaughan Papers, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Bess Vaughn was the daughter of Alex and Mollie Vaughn. Mollie’s maiden name was Busick, and she lived in Boston, Texas, with her sister Georgia and her brother James. Bess Vaughn and her sister Hattie grew up in Prescott, Arkansas. Bess continued to live in Prescott and married Max Bryant, while Hattie married Thomas Tedford and lived in Des Moines, Iowa.

These papers represent Bess Vaughn's personal and business activities, and include correspondence, printed material, newsclippings, financial records, and other items. World War I (WWI) letters are among the materials.

Church Library Project Trinity Baptist Church Benton, Arkansas, Joyce Ann Kaufman

Honors Theses

Trinity Baptist Church Library was organized in 1968 as a project of the local Women's Missionary Union. It has been under the direction of several different people, thus the library had been subjected to several different systems of management. None of the aforementioned library directors had any training in library science, so not only were their procedures diversified but they were also sometimes incorrect.

It was my task to being correcting the errors that had been made and to initiate some new programs that would be beneficial to the church library system.

A Bibliography For A Boys' Training School, Wanda Faye Williams

Honors Theses

My special studies for the honors program mainly consisted of compiling a bibliography for a boys' training school. However, I did research involving the nature of training schools. Also, I spoke with Miss Shinn, who is the director of institutional libraries in Arkansas. She informed me that the training schools' libraries are to be approved under the same standards as school libraries. The services extended beyond books as half of this year's budget was spent on audio-visual equipment.

According to ALA school media standards, a small library should consist of at least 6000 volumes. My bibliography is not that extensive, …

"Laboratory Work" In Library Science, Marty Rayfield

Honors Theses

This special studies was the practical application (in a "laboratory") of what has been learned in several library science courses. The laboratory consisted of shelf after shelf of unclassified books arranged in no order and covering fields from physical education to American literature. The collection had to be evaluated, generally organized, classified, lettered and reshelved. Later, author, title, and shelf-list cards will be made. From a hodge-podge of books with limited value because of lack of organization, this collection has become a useful library. No longer will one have to search for a book through every shelf only to find …