FedEx Delivers Major Gift for Pryor Center

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – FedEx Corp. is helping the University of Arkansas save Arkansas stories and share Arkansas history with a $100,000 gift to the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History.

“Thanks to the generosity of FedEx, the Pryor Center will be able to add to its growing collection of Arkansas oral and visual history,” said Chancellor G. David Gearhart. “The Pryor Center has recorded thousands of hours of interviews and yet is still just scratching the surface in terms of the amount of state history it will save and share.”

Since the Pryor Center was established in 1999, it has recorded and collected hundreds of stories told by the people who lived and influenced Arkansas history. The interviews are a priceless resource for historians, researchers, teachers, students, documentary filmmakers and anyone else who wants to know more about Arkansas history.

Presently, the center is investing in a mobile interviewing and editing facility or “story bus.”

The Arkansas Story Bus will allow the center to demonstrate oral history methods and technical processes in schools where students would not otherwise have exposure to recording, preserving and distributing Arkansas history. The bus will also allow representatives from the center to visit communities and partner with local historical organizations across the state. As a result, the Pryor Center will be able to connect Arkansas history to the world, told by the people who have lived in the state and created it themselves.

“The Pryor Center is extremely appreciative of this wonderful gift from FedEx,” said former U.S. Sen. David Pryor. “There’s no shortage in the amount of diverse and compelling stories about Arkansas history that deserve to be saved and shared. This gift will allow the center to continue to document history that’s simply not available anywhere else. Every Arkansan who cares about our history should be very grateful for this generous gift.”

Pryor, along with his wife Barbara, helped found the center to collect and preserve Arkansas heritage and share it with Arkansans and the rest of the world.

“Most of the contributions we receive come from Arkansans who take pride in the state’s history and want to help us preserve it,” said Randy Dixon, director of the Pryor Center. “But in this case the gift is coming from a company located out of state. I think that speaks volumes about FedEx and its interest in supporting our region and state.”