Spring 2010 Volume 4 • Issue 1 contentS Senator Dale Bumpers Project Begins • U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers Papers Project .................... 1 By Diane F. Worrell • Leadership Report ...............2 • Commonwealth Fortnightly The first day of spring break, now on-line ......................3 March 22, kicked off the beginning • From the Rare Books: Fore- of a major processing project, with edge Paintings ..................4 the hiring of an archivist for the U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers Papers. Case • Help us Find Chicora ..........5 Miner, formerly a processor and act- • Arkansauce: Jennifer Brizzi ing archivist with the Representative on Arkansas Food ..............6 John Paul Hammerschmidt Papers • Photo Gallery: Arkansas project, came on board to manage Agriculture .........................8 this effort. The Bumpers papers will be open for research in about three • Meet our new Archivists .. 10 years when the project is finished. • thanks to Supporters .........11 Bumpers was a U.S. Senator • Diane D. Blair Papers and from 1975–1999, known for his fis- event ............................... 12 cal conservatism, social liberalism, and oratorical skills. Born in 1925 • congratulations to Departing and reared in Charleston, Arkan- Seniors ............................. 13 sas, Bumpers spent the depths of • Research Services news .... 14 the Great Depression picking crops, • Manuscripts Unit news .... 14 delivering newspapers, working at a cannery, driving his father’s funeral • Index Arkansas news ......... 15 vehicle, and working in a grocery Sen. Dale Bumpers, ca. 1979. Photo courtesy of the March of • new Book store. In his autobiography, The Best Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. From the U.S. Senator Dale by tom Dillard ................. 15 Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town (Random Bumpers Papers. • Are You Arkansas- House 2003), he observed, “We had political victory and nothing as reward- Literate? .............. back page a small Philco radio, which we listened ing or as honorable as being a dedi- to in the dark, because Mother couldn’t cated, honest politician who actually bear the thought of the radio and the made things better and more just.” lights both being on at the same time.” After serving in the U.S. Marines Bumpers got his enthusiasm for during World War II, Bumpers fin- politics from his father, whose politi- ished college at the University of cal aspirations led him to serve one Arkansas, earning a degree in politi- term in the state legislature. The senior cal science. He earned his law degree Bumpers was firmly convinced that from Northwestern University in 1951. “there was nothing as exhilarating as a continued on page 11 Leadership Report From the Desk of Tom W. Dillard The long, hard winter has Diane’s death in 2000 robbed Arkan- finally loosened its grip on northwest sas of one of its preeminent educators Arkansas, and all of us here at the and leaders, but her manuscript col- Special Collections Department look lection will stand forever as a monu- a little more relaxed, and we walk ment to an amazing Arkansan. with a little extra bounce in our step. With the hiring of Case Miner as Despite the dreary weather of last project director, we have begun pro- winter, Special Collections has been cessing another large manuscript col- making progress on many endeavors. lection—the Senator Dale Bumpers In early March we were pleased Papers. After serving four years as to open the Diane Blair Papers governor, Dale Bumpers began his for research use. Arkansans have senatorial career by defeating incum- Tom W. Dillard so many reasons to be pleased bent U.S. Senator J. W. Fulbright with Blair’s many contributions to in 1974. He retired from the Sen- Arkansas political and social life. ate in 1999. Students and the gen- This is a large collection, consist- eral public are in for a treat when by the spring of 2011, and prog- ing of some 107 large document this important collection is opened. ress is evident every day. If you boxes. And, this does not include Since the last issue of The Arkan- have not yet made use of Index the oral history interviews she did sian, Special Collections has finished a Arkansas, I urge you to visit this on the 1992 presidential campaign. project to digitize and post on-line the on-line index to Arkansas litera- Commonwealth Fortnightly, the newspa- ture at http://arkindex.uark.edu/. per published by Commonwealth Col- Ms. Amy Allen has recently lege located in Polk County near Mena joined the staff of Special Collec- in western Arkansas. This project was tions as the University Archivist. underwritten by a grant from University In this role, Amy will be respon- The Special Collections Department of the of Arkansas communications profes- sible for systematically document- University of Arkansas Libraries collects, sor Stephen Smith. The Fortnightly was a ing the institutional history of preserves, organizes and provides access to lively newspaper, reflecting the spirited the University of Arkansas. And, research materials documenting the state of reformist impulse behind the school. given the fact that the Univer- Arkansas and its role in the regional, national, The Fortnightly editors, despite their sity was established in 1871, Amy and international communities. Arkansian is will be very busy playing catch up. an old name by which our early ancestors political agenda, had eclectic interests, called themselves, as well as the name of an including giving a good deal of atten- If you see Amy, please give her a antebellum newspaper in Fayetteville. The Ar- tion to their neighbors in Polk County. warm welcome—and let her know kansian is published twice a year. I am really pleased with the photo if you have materials document- ing the history of our University. Inquiries should be directed to: spread in this issue of The Arkansian. Diane F. Worrell, editor It reminds me that Special Collec- Enjoy The Arkansian And, University of Arkansas Libraries tions has a huge photograph collection. when in Fayetteville, please stop 365 N. McIlroy Avenue Indeed, it is so large—perhaps as many by for a visit. Fayetteville, AR. 72701-4002 as 500,000 images—that we have not telephone 479/575-5577 had the financial resources to process fax 479/575-3472 tom W. Dillard e-mail [email protected] the entire collection. Regardless, we The Arkansian is available online at: are pleased to share the pictorial heri- Head of Special Collections http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollections/ tage of Arkansas in The Arkansian. University ofArkansas Libraries news/arkansian/ Index Arkansas continues as a 365 N. McIlroy Avenue Information about the Special Collections Depart- major project of Special Collections. ment is available online at: Fayetteville, AR 72701 http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollections/ Established in September 2009, Index Phone: (479) 575-5577 or Arkansas has added 5,643 citations E-mail: [email protected] Diane F. Worrell, editor to reach a total for the entire data Joy Caffrey, designer base of 96,185. Our goal is 114,000 2 newsletter of Historic Labor college now on-Line By Diane F. Worrell The newsletter of Commonwealth College, a controversial labor college that operated from 1924 to 1940 near Mena, Arkansas, is the newest digi- tal collection available on the web site of the University of Arkansas Librar- ies’ Special Collections Department. Commonwealth College was one of the nation’s most famous and lon- gest lived experiments in coopera- tive living and labor education. The newsletter, titled the Commonwealth Fortnightly, is available free of charge at http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollec- tions/commonwealth/fortnightly.asp. Labor colleges, an outgrowth of the noncommunist reformist labor movement, flourished in the 1920s and 1930s, an era rich in educational experi- Neighbors come to hear Mrs. O'Hare at Commonwealth College, Special Collections Department Picture Collection, #2900. mentation. Socialists Kate Richards O’Hare, Frank O’Hare, and William E. Zeuch, founded Commonwealth Americans. The school’s most famous livestock foreman John Mars “put a in 1923 near Leesville, Louisiana. The alumnus was Orval E. Faubus, a six- stop to nonsense in the barnyard.” college moved to Arkansas in 1924. term Arkansas Governor, whose previ- Elderly hen Alice lost her head on “Commoners,” as students and staff ous attendance at the school became an the chopping block. “‘She not only were known, carved a campus and farm issue in his first campaign. Ironically, wouldn’t lay, herself,’ charges John, out of the wilderness 13 miles west of while Faubus’s gubernatorial record ‘but she was spreading contraceptive Mena near the Oklahoma border. was progressive, he was best known information among the other hens.’” Commonwealth’s founders for his stand against the desegregation In 1926 the American Legion’s believed that a different type of educa- of Little Rock Central High school in State Convention accused Common- tion for the new industrial class would 1957. Faubus, whose parents gave him wealth College of Bolshevism, Com- bring about a series of social changes the middle name Eugene after socialist munism, and “free love.” Although that would transform American capi- Eugene V. Debs, ordered the Arkan- an investigation by FBI Director J. talism into a utopian cooperative com- sas National Guard to stop African Edgar Hoover cleared the college of monwealth. The college offered a Americans from entering the school, these charges, Commonwealth Col- liberal education curriculum taught greatly escalating the Little Rock crisis. lege continued to be associated with from a working class perspective. The newsletter documents the communism in popular opinion. Faculty members were unpaid and college’s social activities, curriculum Over time Commonwealth Col- expected to participate in the commu- information, lectures, plays, coopera- lege developed a more radical direc- nal work required to contribute toward tive living projects, and community tion. A 1931 student-staff revolt the school’s self-sufficiency.