Dear Members, I have been seeing more info on the 'proposed' archives facility that was promised to be done in 2008... you might recall our discussion a couple of years ago when the AR State Park closed the archives in Powhatten, Lawrence Co., AR, to have the docs stored at another place when the full-time librarian retired..... [you might recall as well, that Lawrence Co., AR is the mother of all counties, many in MO as well as a large part in AR. The Powhatten Museum housed docs which showed the early history WiTH signatures of early MO/AR and those important and well-known people of history]... One of our interested researchers, Audrey in TN, has done some further checking to see when the facility will be open to the public... She writes the following: "I have talked to the AR Hist Commision and I hope all Lawrence County researchers and other interested genealogists will do the same ..so that they know they have the support of people other than me. As well as talking to AR History Commission, I called Powhatan State Park. In both instances, I asked about the proposed Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives facility to be at Powhatan Historic State Park with a planned state of the art vault to hopefully someday house the records ...also along with many duplicate records now at AR History Commission. The person I spoke to at AR Hist Comm told me what she could about the subject and I have emailed Dr. Wendy Richter...who I am sure will reply soon. Dr. Wendy Richter Arkansas History Commission One Capitol Mall Little Rock, AR 72201 Phone: 501.682.6901 Fax: 501.682.6916 Email: wendy.richter@arkansas.gov The problem is, as I understand it, that AR History Commission and AR State Parks have a design for the facility, but have been unable to obtain funding from the Legislature ..funding to either build the facility and/ or to staff it. Since it it not even built yet, the funding issue must be #1 for the facility itself. The commission meets every odd year ..and the last communications / minutes I have seen online were the end of 2006. We genealogists with an interest in preserving and making available the records need to step up to grease the wheels of bureacracy and write letters to the Legislature of AR ....as well as the AR Parks. The people involved in these groups stay busy planning and disussing and meeting, etc. and have some lofty goals, but nothing will happen for them or for 'us' unless their projects are funded by the State of Arkansas. The only name I have found so far to write is a person with AR Dept of Parks and Tourism (one of the organizations in charge of the old records). They have the same street address as AR History Commission in Little Rock. Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism Room 4A 910 One Capitol Mall Little Rock, AR 72201 I wrote to them a few years ago to a Mr. Davies during the original discussions about the fate of the old records ... and I am writing him again to let him know the facility and the records are STILL an important issue. I hope more people here will do the same. Info online at . . . Arkansas.com Write to: Richard W. Davies Executive Director Arkansas Dept of Parks and Tourism Phone: 501-682-2535 Fax: 501-682-2383 Email: richard.davies@arkansas.gov WE all should also write the Lawrence County Arkansas Historical Society. Lloyd Clark is a busy teacher in Walnut Ridge, so it takes some patience to manage to contact him. I found a link at Arkansas Online that showed him (or perhaps it is a son with the same name?) and a Robert F. Thompson to be candidates in the AR Nov 7 general election and non-partisan runoff 2007...Clark and Thompson were running for the State Senate, District 11. Below is the only address I have so far found for contacting Lloyd Clark...(who is who we must contact to gain any kind of access to the stored subject records in Jonesboro at AR State Univ.) Lloyd Clark, President Lawrence County, Ar. Historical Society 415 Eastwood Cr Walnut Ridge, Ar. 72476 Here is another possibly helpful link ... http://www.arkansas.gov/about_arkansas.php?... for Arkansas Government as to history and genealogy. On that link you will find the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, though they seem to be focused on Historic sites rather than records ... they are perhaps involved on some level ... ARKANSAS HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center Street - Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Phone: (501) 324-9880 - Fax: (501) 324-9184 - E-Mail: info@arkansaspreservation.org Thanks for any help! If those of you who live in AR and know who in the Legislature to most effectively write, please provide us with contact addresses." Since they have let this drop when we didn't hold them to the 'fire' as it were, its time we all step up and show our support and outrage that the facility which was productive and working, closed only to show us that the government knows nothing about holding promises and keeping their word.... please share this with any and all lists you are on.... let's get to work and 'get her done'!! Lanita in MO