Arkansas History Commission Civil War Traveling Exhibit
Fought in earnest: Civil War Arkansas, a new traveling exhibit produced by the Arkansas History Commission, is comprised of fifteen, free-standing banners, chronicling major historical events in Arkansas between 1861 and 1865, in addition to the circumstances leading up to war. Images from Arkansas History Commission holdings, including original documents, photographs, maps, drawings, paintings, and artifacts, illustrate the story of the Civil War in Arkansas. These primary source materials offer a first-hand look at the lives of Confederate and Union soldiers, government officials, and civilians in Arkansas from 1861 to 1865.
As Arkansas’s largest archival institution and official keeper of the state’s documentary heritage, the State Archives collects, preserves, and makes available archival materials and historical objects important to the overall understanding of Arkansas history and culture. Since its creation by the General Assembly in 1905, the History Commission has actively sought materials related to Civil War. After more than a century of acquisition, the AHC has the most comprehensive resources pertaining to Arkansas in the Civil War available anywhere, including the state’s most important document from the war years. The state Constitutions of 1861, 1864, and 1868; Arkansas’s secession ordinance; governors’ papers; diaries; letters; photographs; currency; maps; and three-dimensional objects of the period are preserved at the History Commission.
The exhibit is available at no cost to museums, libraries, archives, colleges, schools, historical societies, and other educational or cultural institutions. Each of the 15 banner stands is 87 ¼” H x 35 ¼” W x 10” D when on display and collapses down to a carrying case that is 37 ½”L x 11 ¼” W x 4”D. Since each banner stands alone, they can be arranged in many configurations, such as linear, at angles, back to back, or in triangular/square groupings. The exhibit will be picked up from and returned to the Arkansas History Commission. The banner stands must be displayed inside in a climate controlled area out of direct sunlight. For more information and to schedule the exhibit in your institution, call the Arkansas History Commission at 501.682.6900 or e-mail state.archives@arkansas.gov.
Arkansas History Commission
One Capitol Mall
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
www.ark-ives.com
state.archives@arkansas.gov
