Leslie Stewart-Abernathy Honored by National Endowment for the Humanities

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Left to Right: Paul Austin, executive director of the Arkansas Humanities Council; James Leach, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities; Leslie C. “Skip” Stewart-Abernathy, seated, holding award; and Judith Stewart-Abernathy. (Photo by Jamie C. Brandon)

Leslie C. “Skip” Stewart-Abernathy, a research archeologist for the Arkansas Archeological Survey who is stationed at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain, was named the third-ever recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman’s Commendation.

NEH Chairman James Leach presented the award to Stewart-Abernathy on Sept. 22 just before the Saturday evening banquet of the annual meeting of the Arkansas Archeological Society in Little Rock. Presentation of the award, “for his dedication to Arkansas history,” came as a surprise to Stewart-Abernathy, who has been with the Archeological Survey, a research unit of the University of Arkansas System, for 33 years. According to the NEH website, “NEH Chairman’s Commendations are given to citizens who have made extraordinary efforts to bridge cultures, promote civility, preserve our legacy, and advance humanistic endeavors.”

Also attending annual meeting was Paul Austin, executive director of the Arkansas Humanities Council. Stewart-Abernathy has been an enthusiastic participant in the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s and the Arkansas Humanities Council’s dual programs promoting preservation of Arkansas’s at-risk cemeteries.

The text of the commendation well summarizes Stewart-Abernathy’s career, and his many contributions to Arkansas history:

“Dr. Leslie C. “Skip” Stewart-Abernathy refuses to forget what time has buried, In more than three decades of working with the Arkansas Archeological Survey, he has expanded regional history to acknowledge forgotten communities of Cherokee and African Americans, and added many layers of detail to standard, often simplistic accounts of Ozark history and culture. He has trained countless volunteers, from young students to enthusiastic retirees, spreading his infectious love of history across the seventy-five counties of the state and multiplying the research capabilities of the Arkansas Archeological Survey. In his work on lost elements of culture, from sunken steamboats to forgotten African-American cemeteries, he inspires us to remember our heritage, the lives of our people, and the meaningfulness of their passing.”

Stewart-Abernathy’s publications include monographs on Old Davidsonville, the short-lived 1815–1830 Randolph County seat, now preserved as Historic Davidsonville State Park; an archeological study of the Moser site, a late 19th century Ozark farmstead that shattered the “backwoods” myth and demonstrated participation in the wider U.S. economy; and Ghost Boats of the Mississippi, a summary of archeological salvage of boatwrecks at West Memphis exposed by the 1988 drought. He has also done major archeological work at Historic Washington State Park, has studied Old Settler Cherokee communities in Arkansas, and many other projects.