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All History is Local

Examples of Project Topics

The Arkansas Memory Project Web pages cover a range of historical subjects and time periods, some emphasizing family history, others hometown history, and still others a recurring theme or issue in Arkansas history. All Arkansas Memory Web pages are based on primary source data.

Below are some examples of topics that students chose for the 1999 Arkansas Memory Project, which illustrate the variety of types of primary source materials that can unlock a state's history. The primary sources collected range from things commonly noticed by students (photographs, letters, newspaper clippings, oral history) to things typically overlooked (historical architecture, landmarks, certificates, keepsake clothing) and to the unexpected (court transcripts, streets, and soft drink bottles). In all cases, the students combined primary evidence with secondary sources to analyze their topics.

Family History:

• Civil War Handwritten Letters
  Handwritten letters with a transcription.
• The History of a Bohemian Immigrant Family
  Photographs and other documents.
• An Arkansan in WWII
  Patch from a World War II uniform.
• Plight of Black Farmers
  Certificate of award.

Hometown History:

• Camden Native Captures Oswald!
  Court transcript.
• The McCullough-Chichester House
  Local historical architecture photographs.
• The Old Hot Springs Bath House Row
  Photographs of historical architecture--from American Memory.
• In God We Trust
  Carbon copies of typewritten letters plus a telegram.
• The White River
  Black and white photographs from a personal collection.
• The Ark Tuberculosis Center of Booneville
  Oral history interviews with patients.
• Marion's Military Road
  Street/highway documentation.

Arkansas History Topics:

• Photos of Arkansas During Great Depression
  Black and white photographs from American Memory.
• The New Madrid Earthquake
  Nineteenth century newspaper accounts.
• Women's Suffrage in Arkansas
  Early twentieth century news clippings.

Second Year Student Projects

• Cassette tape recordings of the student's grandparents singing.
• Merchandise Web page of Elvis Presley's Graceland estate.
• Supposed grave marker of an Indian found on a historic farm site.