Monday, November 4, 2013

Featured Manuscript Collection

City of Little Rock Collection
MSS.07.51

Finding Aid
Box 22, File 26: Housing Authority, Urban Progress Association, Inc., Sneak Preview of Central Little Rock Urban Renewal Project, ca. 1965

The City of Little Rock Collection currently contains 29 ledger and record books, which hold city ordinance publication records, financial records, including those dealing with taxes and bond issuance, as well as the day to day transactions of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas. The collection also includes reports from the Mayor and other city officers and information about planning and maintenance of the various city parks and facilities.

Boxes 1-13 contain the financial records, boxes 14-16 contain property tax assessments, and boxes 17- 18 contain records of the Board of Public Affairs and the Board of Health, respectively. Boxes 19-21 contain record books of city ordinance proofs of publication, and box 22 contains the reports from the mayor and city officers, city planning information, and parks and recreation department reports.

Ordinances passed by the city government were posted in the local newspapers. These postings were recorded in record books with a clipping of the posted ordinance from the newspaper, sometimes accompanied by a certified document with the city seal and mayor’s signature.

Two books contain the records of two city boards, the Board of Public Affairs and the Board of Health. The Board of Public Affairs dealt with taking bids for city projects, from paving to construction, and the care and feeding of city service animals. Information about the existence and location of various landmarks of the time, when particular streets might have been paved and who would have done the work can be found in this record. The Board of Health Record records actions taken to address unsanitary conditions and outbreaks of disease in the city.
Box 17, File 1: Record Book, Board of Public Affairs, January 3, 1898-September 15, 1911

Various day to day financial transactions are recorded in some of the ledgers showing the routine business of the city--some include expense records, others include tax collection records from various individuals and businesses.

Records for the sale and maturity dates of various bonds are recorded in many of the various ledger books available in the collection. Many of these were for special projects, such as the construction of Robinson Auditorium, the airport, parks, and other city maintenance and improvement.

Box 3, File 1: Ledger Book, Bonds, various accounts, June 30, 1924-May 1940

While the majority of the collection is in the form of large ledger and record books, there are also smaller items, such as pamphlets and booklets. Most of these are reports from the Mayor and other city officials to the City Board or Reports of the Parks and Recreation Department. Other materials deal with the planning and development, or redevelopment, of the city. Some of these plans are evident today, and some, like a planned sports arena complex on the riverfront at Markham and Main, never made it past the planning stages.
Box 22, File 26: Housing Authority, Urban Progress Association, Inc., Sneak Preview of Central Little Rock Urban Renewal Project, ca. 1965

This collection is currently available and open to the public in the research room of the Arkansas Studies Institute and will be added to from time to time as additional related materials are accessioned and processed.

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