1940’s – Mount Gillard Baptist Church

1940’s – Mount Gillard Baptist Church

The congregants of Mount Gillard Baptist Church in Auvergne pose outside their church in the early 1940’s. The church was the central element of social life in most parts of Arkansas at this time, in white communities as well as black. (Courtesy of James Logan...
1940’s – Aerial view of Newport

1940’s – Aerial view of Newport

An aerial view of Newport shot in 1940 shows the bend in the White River on the north side of town, with the blue bridge spanning the river and leading into the business district. Clearly, the devastation of the 1926 fire has been overcome, and a prosperous little...
1930’s – Pickens Black

1930’s – Pickens Black

Born a slave in Alabama about 1861, Pickens Black Sr. moved to Arkansas as a teenager, worked on the railroad, and started buying land, eventually amassing more than 8,000 acres. Black and his sons ran a plantation that included a cotton gin, sawmill, and grain...
1939 – Jacksonport School Children

1939 – Jacksonport School Children

These schoolchildren of Jacksonport pictured in 1939 with their teachers, Charles and Thelma Warlow, are identified by last names only. They are, from left to right, (first row) Seymore, Gullett, unidentified, and Davis; (second row) Dyke, Turner, Wilson, Dunham,...
1930’s – Workers outside the Button Factory

1930’s – Workers outside the Button Factory

The workers outside one of the button factories in Newport ham it up for the camera, perhaps aware that they will soon appear on postcards that will travel all over country. They seem blissfully unaware that their industry is over harvesting the White River’s...