Digital Collections and New Directions for the Special Collections at University Libraries

U of A Libraries, Special Collections, PC1916

Dr. John W. Gardner, secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson, giving the commencement address in Razorback Stadium in 1967. Gardner was on the cover of Time the same year this speech was given (PC1916 and part of the Libraries' latest digital Collection, Commence and Go Forth).

Every October, during American Archives Month, Special Collections likes to share resources from the archives that have been used in significant research projects or have received particular attention. Because so much of the department's recent efforts are making more material available outside of the department through digital projects, those are the collections being highlighted this year.

The latest digital collection from Special Collections at University of Arkansas Libraries is "Commence and Go Forth: University of Arkansas Commencement Speeches." Curated by University Archivist Amy Allen, the collection allows alumni, students and researchers around the globe to study all of the advice, philosophical statements, and words of encouragement offered to university graduates over more than 130 years. 

The collection currently features text from 44 speeches given at U of A commencement ceremonies between 1947 and 2007, including speeches by Hubert Humphrey, Wilbur Mills, Brooks Hays, and Rodney Slater, among others. Viewers can read the published versions of the speeches, along with notated manuscripts and other drafts from personal and university archives. The collection will grow as more speeches are found in the months and years to come. The project was coordinated by Amy Allen and Angela Fritz, with additional collaboration by Lee Holt, Deb Kulczak, Martha Parker, Janet Parsch, and Heath Robinson.

Recently, Special Collections released two major digital projects that both demonstrate the national and international significance of the holdings. The Ozark Folksong Collection, officially released in August, and "Fay Jones and Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture Comes to Arkansas," released earlier in the year, are just two examples of the growing initiative of the Libraries to make unique and rare materials in Special Collections more visible and accessible to students and researchers around the world.

"Fay Jones and Frank Lloyd Wright" includes 137 images, drawings, and documents. The project was completed through collaboration between University faculty and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. In part, the exhibit was intended to highlight the connection between Arkansas's renowned architect, Fay Jones, and his mentor Wright, in anticipation of the arrival of the Wright-designed Bachman-Wilson House, being relocated to Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas. The digital exhibit includes examples of both architects' work, the influence of Wright on Jones's philosophy and design, as well as the lasting friendship between the two men.

Joshua Youngblood and attendees at the opening of the Ozark Folksong Collection search the collection online.

The Ozark Folksong Collection is our largest digital collection to date. More significantly, it represents one of the most extensive collections of Ozark folksongs ever collected and made available digitally. For the first time, more than 4600 audio recordings of songs and stories, many with fully searchable transcriptions, collected by University professor and folklorist, Mary Celestia Parler, and her students and assistants between 1949 and 1965, are now available online. As significant as these projects are, we have much more in store.

As a land grant college, the University of Arkansas has always provided services and research on agriculture. Special Collections holds hundreds of published newsletters, reports, circulars, and other publications produced by the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture and its extension services, as well as the historical archives of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Services (MC1145). This summer, the Libraries received funds from Project CERES, an agricultural serials preservation project sponsored by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL).

The project will create a full-text searchable digital collection of over four hundred publications of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service Circular, spanning 1914-1945, and a complementary project will digitize the remaining circulars from 1946-1991. These projects will bring together the work of Agricultural Science Librarian, Necia Parker Gibson; Special Collections staff; and the Libraries' recently established digitization department. Project CERES is a collaboration between United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN), Agricultural Network Information Collaborative (AgNIC), and CRL.

Special Collections is also continuing social media campaigns through coordinated work with the entire University Libraries. A new blog showcasing Special Collections' projects, new collections, and news from around the Libraries, 365 McIlroy, is the latest channel the Libraries are using to promote Special Collections events and new content, along with active presences on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other platforms.

Going forward, the people of Arkansas, university students, K-12 students, and researchers around the world will be able to explore the wide-ranging resources from Special Collections. Through these digital initiatives, University of Arkansas Libraries is enabling unprecedented access to our rich collections while promoting rediscovery, reimagining, and reconnection for diverse audiences. In the future, our "virtual patrons" will also be able to do more, from researching regional music to exploring Arkansas's history, with digital resources.