News and Events

4/6/2020:Our new accessions include a 1968 Winthrop Rockefeller gubernatorial campaign lapel pin (Rockefeller, who was Arkansas’s 37th governor and its first Republican governor since Reconstruction, held the office from 1967 to 1971); vintage photographs from the estate of Margaret Smith Ross, an Arkansas archivist, history advocate and preservationist; and an 1855 herbarium (collection of dry plant mounts) with well-preserved Arkansas flora.

3/20/2020:In an effort to minimize the effect of the COVID-19 Virus, the Arkansas State Archives, Southwest Regional Archives and Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives will be closed to the public beginning Saturday, March 21.

3/14/2020:Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently appointed Dr. Shawn Fisher of Searcy, Dr. Brady Banta of Jonesboro and Heather Nelson of North Little Rock to the seven-member Arkansas History Commission. All seats on the commission are now filled.

12/27/2019:The Black History Commission of Arkansas is pleased to present “African American Soldiers in Wartime,” a free, one-day symposium about the history of African Americans serving in U.S. wars. The symposium is cosponsored by the Arkansas State Archives.

12/2/2019:The December meeting of the Arkansas History Commission has been postponed until Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 10 a.m. in the conference room of the Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock.

10/18/2019:Author and former Tourism Director Joe David Rice will speak about his book, “Arkansas Backstories: Quirks, Characters, and Curiosities of the Natural State,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, at Arkansas Heritage at 1100 North St. in Little Rock.

10/2/2019:The Arkansas State Archives, along with archives across the U.S., will celebrate the work of archives and archivists during Archives Month this October.

9/26/2019:The Arkansas State Archives will present a free symposium, “1819-1836: A History of Territorial Arkansas,” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock.

9/18/2019:The Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives will present a free, genealogy workshop 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Have you ever wanted to find out who your ancestors were? Then, this workshop is for you!

9/5/2019:The Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives will present a free, genealogy workshop 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. SARA Archival Manager Melissa Nesbitt will present “Behind the Scenes: How to Start Researching Your Family History.”

8/22/2019:The Arkansas State Archives, along with the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, is pleased to announce the sixth annual Arkansas foodways symposium from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute at the University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College at 13000 Interstate 30 in Little Rock.

8/16/2019:The Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives recently acquired a collection from the estate of Dr. Jo Ann “Jody” Carrigan. “This collection is a welcomed and important addition,” said Melissa Nesbitt, archival manager. “The Carrigan family was prominent and active in Washington, so this collection helps us preserve and connect to our collective past, historically significant figures and our shared experiences.”

7/9/2019:The Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives will present “Moving About: The History of Transportation in Arkansas” during its annual symposium Saturday, Aug. 10, at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

7/9/2019:Arkansas author Mark Christ will speak about his book, “This Day We Marched Again: A Union Soldier’s Account of the War in Arkansas and the Trans-Mississippi,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at the Department of Arkansas Heritage at 1100 North St.

6/4/2019:In the next few weeks, the Arkansas State Archives will have scanned 40 newspaper titles, or about 103,000 pages, and sent them to the Library of Congress. People will have a whole new way to access these historical records online, said Wendy Richter, state historian and director of the Arkansas State Archives.