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Believe it or not, we might live to see and research at the NARA museum / archives. A friend in Jonesboro forwarded me in July the following article, that appeared on KAIT 8 Jonesboro AR under the bio of Keith Boles reporter. The article was copyrighted and I can't republish it, but here briefly is what it says:
The article states that Powhatan was once the county seat of about half of Arkansas and a large part of Missouri before Arkansas was a state. Lawrence County Arkasnas Historical Society, in charge of the records that date back to 1815, had stored the old records in the old Powhatan Courthouse, but when the courthouse was renovated, the records were moved to Arkansas State University. (which is where they are now.)
The article says that to preserve the nearly 200 year old records in a readable condition, they must have a facility with the proper HVAC system, and that kind of facility will be coming to Powhatan.
The plans are, according to Powhatan Historic State park superintenedent Corinne Fletcher, in the final stages. The facility will be called the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives and when the story was aired in July 2009, it was projected that bids should be soon going out for the building and that construction should begin this October or November. (I will try to follow up and see if the bids did indeed go out and if construction has started.)
The Lawrence Co Historical Society president Lloyd Clark, is hoping other counties in Northeast AR will contribute their records, because, he says, it is a state law that that all written (especially handwritten) records must be preserved ...and courthouses don't have room to house their old records. (From my own experience in AR courthouses, I have to agree they are crowded and the clerks just don't have time ..and probably the funds ...to manage the oldest records.)
It is thought that once construction begins, the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives facility should be completed in about a year.
Cross your fingers!
Audrey in TN
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