Mountain Stereotypes, Whiteness, and the Discourse of Early School Reform in the Arkansas Ozarks, 1910s–1920s

Dallas T. Herndon, the first director of the Arkansas History Commission and State Archives in Little Rock, opened his short study on the conditions of Arkansas's mountain schools in the 1910s by writing that he was “fully convinced… that no such extreme backwardness in reality exists anywhere in Arkansas as to be found in the most isolated parts of such states as Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.” Herndon followed this statement with a comical story he had heard about a conversation between a Georgia mountaineer and a “traveler from the outside world.” The traveler, he told, asked the mountaineer if he knew who President Woodrow Wilson and John Slayton, the governor of Georgia, were. The mountaineer openly replied that he did not. Taken aback by such ignorance, the stranger then asked the mountaineer if he knew God. The Georgia mountaineer answered, “Yes, I think I'se heard uf him; his last name be's Damn, ain't it?” Herndon was sure that in the Arkansas hills, no one could find a “man, woman or child who is quite so ignorant as that Georgia mountaineer…”

Stage One Digitization Project Report: Part 2

On 14 March 2002, at the Arkansas Museum Association annual meeting, I spoke on the choices we made and the lessons we learned during the Stage One Digitization (SOD) grant project at the Arkansas History Commission (AHC). As SOD included three elements:

Stage One Digitization Project Report: Part I

When Dr. John L. Ferguson, director of the Arkansas History Commission, met with the archivists in late February, 1999, to ask if we had any ideas for an Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council (ANCRC) grant project, hope sprang anew in my heart. The previous September the Arkansas State Library had sponsored my attendance at “Planning for Digitization.” Held at the Denver Public Library by the Western Council of Libraries, this workshop showcased digital possibilities through examining digital technology, existing digital projects and funding sources. Most impressive were the tours of the Denver Public Library's (DPL) Western History Project. Sitting at a computer workstation, I was able to search for photographs, then view high resolution digital images captured from original prints and negatives by the library's digital lab (also included as part of the tour). Best of all, I could view corresponding MARC records created by researchers headed by a photograph cataloging specialist.