The Battle of Helena, the Little Rock Campaign, and the Capture of Fort Smith, 1863

The Battle of Helena, the Little Rock Campaign, and the capture of Fort Smith led to Union control over the Arkansas River Valley and most of Arkansas to the north of the river. Militarily this resulted in impeding Confederate operations in Missouri, the establishment of a potential base of operations for Union campaigns in Texas, and easier logistical support for Union forces in Indian Territory. A major result of these movements was the emancipation of thousands of slaves. Politically they brought a restoration of a pro-Union government in Arkansas. The occupation of Little Rock produced renewed economic prosperity and, under the benevolent policies of Union Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele, a return of normal social activity among the civilian population, though producing privation and disruption of gender and age roles in the surrounding countryside.

Characterization of Spinal Needle Buckling Behavior

The use of large gauge (G) spinal anesthesia needles can increase complications due to buckling. The purpose of this study was to quantify the behavior of spinal needles in buckling using a repeatable laboratory model. A spinal anesthesia procedure and buckling complication was reproduced in vitro using a custom test fixture designed to match the boundary conditions of needle insertion as performed by an anesthesiologist and a uniaxial servohydraulic material testing machine (MTS, Eden Prairie, MN). Buckling tests were performed with 22 G Whitacre (Medline Industries, Inc., Northfield IL), SPROTTE® (Pajunk, Norcross, GA), and Gertie Marx (International Medical Development, Huntsville, UT) needles (n = 30) in a ballistics gelatin tissue surrogate (Clear Ballistics, Fort Smith, AR). In analyzing axial force results, critical buckling load results were 27.65 ± 0.92 N, signifying that needle fragility is not why buckling is challenging to detect. Force feedback during needle insertion increased linearly due to frictional forces from the tissue surrogate on the needle. The differential between the resultant insertion force and the critical buckling force is more important to the detection of needle buckling than the critical buckling force alone. A very small difference in these two forces could feel like expected resistance increase as the needle is further inserted into the multiple tissue layers. Comparison of the differential between the resultant insertion force and the critical buckling force should be considered when choosing a needle to best detect and prevent a buckling complication.

Beyond Boosterism

This chapter examines the development of the labor movement in Fort Smith, Arkansas, after World War II to answer the question of why unions in the South lacked the strength and influence of their northern counterparts. City leaders created a culture based on conservative economic principles to attract industry and disseminated it through the media and civic events. Unions organized arriving factories but anti-labor laws and infighting reduced the scope and effectiveness of their actions. Faced with hostile state Democrats and weak unions, the white working class increasingly supported racially moderate, economically conservative Republicans over Democrats whose campaigns continued to focus on opposition to integration which culminated in an election wherein a supermajority decided to change the municipal form of government into one more closely resembling corporate governance. Electoral results show that political realignment in Fort Smith was predicated upon residents’ adoption of local elites’ business-friendly ideology.

Hello Bordello: Transformative Learning through Contesting the Master Narrative of the Cathouse

Miss Laura’s Social Club is a restored Victorian brothel that serves as the visitors’ center for Fort Smith, Arkansas. Miss Laura’s reflects the values and power structures of the community in which it exists reinforcing the dominance of privileged white males. This qualitative study analyzed the results of three previous studies about Miss Laura’s—a case study, a social science portraiture study, and an embedded thematic analysis. The primary research question was What is the master narrative of Miss Laura’s Social Club? The original case study consisted of semi-structured interviews with three docents and 16 visitors to the site, four site visits, and a textual analysis of online marketing materials. Using emergent coding the researchers developed three key areas in which they critiqued and contested the narrative of Miss Laura’s: (1) the madams were depicted as feminist figures; (2) the prostitutes were depicted using “Cinderella” imagery; and (3) the narrative explicitly excluded the stories of those who were not privileged and white. Discussion points included the conflict inherent in Miss Laura’s dual roles as a marketing tool and as a museum, the transformative learning the researchers experienced, and the responsibilities of adult educators and museum staff to represent marginalized voices.