This Day in History: "Day of Infamy"

On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered this "Day of Infamy Speech." Immediately afterward, Congress declared war, and the United States entered World War II.

On December 8, at 12:30 p.m., Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and, via radio, the nation. The Senate responded with a unanimous vote in support of war; only Montana pacifist Jeanette Rankin dissented in the House. At 4 p.m. that same afternoon, President Roosevelt signed the declaration of war.

Roosevelt misplaced his reading copy immediately following the speech; it remained missing for 43 years. Instead of bringing the reading copy back to the White House for Grace Tully to file, the President evidently left it in the House chamber, where he had given the address. A Senate clerk took charge of it, endorsed it "Dec 8, 1941, Read in joint session," and filed it. In March 1984 an archivist located the reading copy among the Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46, located in the National Archives building, where it remains today.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the speech at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: The Articles of Confederation

After considerable debate and alteration, the Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. This document served as the United States' first constitution, and was in force from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present day Constitution went into effect.

On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed three committees in response to the Lee Resolution. One of these committees, created to determine the form of a confederation of the colonies, was composed of one representative from each colony with John Dickinson, a delegate from Delaware, as the principal writer.

The Dickinson Draft of the Articles of Confederation named the Confederation "the United States of America," provided for a Congress with representation based on population, and gave to the national government all powers not designated to the states. After considerable debate and alteration, the Articles of Confederation were adopted by Congress on November 15, 1777. In this "first constitution of the United States" each state retained "every Power...which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States," and each state had one vote in Congress. Instead of forming a strong national government, the states entered into "...a firm league of friendship with each other..."

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the Articles at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: Second New Deal

In this radio address, President Franklin Roosevelt announced a second set of measures to combat the Great Depression, which become known as the Second New Deal. These included a series of new relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration.

In this campaign speech delivered at Madison Square Garden on October 31, 1936, Roosevelt responded to considerable criticism that the New Deal had not done enough by emphasizing his administration’s continuing plans for relief, reform, and recovery. Historians have often referred to this initiative as the Second New Deal. The major legislation that came out of the so-called Second New Deal was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act, the Social Security Act, and the Wealth Tax Act, which brought about a sudden increase in taxes on the wealthy and created new and larger taxes on excess business profits, inheritances, large gifts, and profits from the sale of property.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the address at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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Researching the Central High Crisis: Video Footage

The Butler Center is home is numerous audio-visual resources related to the Central High crisis. Many of these you can view online from the comfort of your own home. Here are a few selections to get you started. Click the link to open the video in a new window.

This home movie footage from September 23, 1957, shows Little Rock city police escorting the Little Rock Nine into a side entrance of Central High School while a mob gathers in front of the school. [bc.av.570923.01]

This footage from September 25, 1957, shows the Little Rock Nine being escorted through the front entrance of Central High by the 101st Airborne Division. [bc.av.570925.01]

In May 1958, Ernest Green became the first African American graduate of Central High. This footage shows the graduation. [bc.av.5805xx.01]

This haunting footage from September 1958 shows empty Central High and Horace Mann buildings during the "lost year." [bc.av.5809xx.01]

Central High School, Little Rock, Ark., 1960

PHO.2.A.14

For more information about the resources available at the Butler Center, please call 501-320-5700 or email arkinfo@cals.org.

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This Day in History: Central High School

This executive order of September 23, 1957, signed by President Dwight Eisenhower, sent Federal troops to maintain order and peace while the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, AR, took place.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the executive order at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: The Treaty of Paris

The American War for Independence (1775-83) was actually a world conflict, involving not only the United States and Great Britain but also France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The peace process brought a vaguely formed, newly born United States into the arena of international diplomacy, playing against the largest, most sophisticated, and most established powers on earth.

The three American negotiators, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, proved themselves to be masters of the game, outmaneuvering their counterparts and clinging fiercely to the points of national interest that guaranteed a future for the United States. Two crucial provisions of the treaty were British recognition of U.S. independence and the delineation of boundaries that would allow for American western expansion.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the treaty at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: Social Security Act

On August 14, 1935, the Social Security Act established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped.

Before the 1930s, support for the elderly was a matter of local, state and family rather than a Federal concern (except for veterans’ pensions). However, the widespread suffering caused by the Great Depression brought support for numerous proposals for a national old-age insurance system. On January 17, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a message to Congress asking for "social security" legislation. The same day, Senator Robert Wagner of New York and Representative David Lewis of Maryland introduced bills reflecting the administration’s views. The resulting Senate and House bills encountered opposition from those who considered it a governmental invasion of the private sphere and from those who sought exemption from payroll taxes for employers who adopted government-approved pension plans. Eventually the bill passed both houses, and on August 15, 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the Social Security Act at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: Voting Rights Act

This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

Because the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most significant statutory change in the relationship between the Federal and state governments in the area of voting since the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, it was immediately challenged in the courts. Between 1965 and 1969, the Supreme Court issued several key decisions upholding the constitutionality of Section 5 and affirming the broad range of voting practices for which preclearance was required.

The law had an immediate impact. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new black voters had been registered, one-third by Federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only 4 out of the 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was readopted and strengthened in 1970, 1975, and 1982.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the act at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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New resource for researching Congressional history

The Butler Center is pleased to provide a new resource for researching Arkansas U.S. members of Congress. At http://www.butlercenter.org/congress, you will find a list Arkansas senators and representatives, as well as corresponding links to Encyclopedia of Arkansas articles, links to an individuals donated papers, and links to related manuscript collections held by institutions across the state.

We hope this will be an invaluable starting point for those of you researching Arkansas politicians. Please contact us if you have additional information about related collections not linked on this page.

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This Day in History: Desegregation of the Military

After [World War II], President Harry Truman, Roosevelt's successor, faced a multitude of problems and allowed Congress to terminate the FEPC. However, in December 1946, Truman appointed a distinguished panel to serve as the President's Commission on Civil Rights, which recommended "more adequate means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the people of the United States." When the commission issued its report, "To Secure These Rights," in October 1947, among its proposals were anti-lynching and anti-poll tax laws, a permanent FEPC, and strengthening the civil rights division of the Department of Justice.

In February 1948 President Truman called on Congress to enact all of these recommendations. When Southern Senators immediately threatened a filibuster, Truman moved ahead on civil rights by using his executive powers. Among other things, Truman bolstered the civil rights division, appointed the first African American judge to the Federal bench, named several other African Americans to high-ranking administration positions, and most important, on July 26, 1948, he issued an executive order abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering full integration of all the services. Executive Order 9981 stated that "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." The order also established an advisory committee to examine the rules, practices, and procedures of the armed services and recommend ways to make desegregation a reality. There was considerable resistance to the executive order from the military, but by the end of the Korean conflict, almost all the military was integrated.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of Executive Order 9981 at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: The Civil Rights Act

[The Civil Rights Act], signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

In a nationally televised address on June 6, 1963, President John F. Kennedy urged the nation to take action toward guaranteeing equal treatment of every American regardless of race. Soon after, Kennedy proposed that Congress consider civil rights legislation that would address voting rights, public accommodations, school desegregation, nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs, and more.

Despite Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson just a few hours after House approval on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the official act at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: The United Nations

On June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, the United Nations was established. Article 111 of its charter indicated that "The present Charter, of which the Chinese, French, Russian, English, and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America. Duly certified copies thereof shall be transmitted by that Government to the Governments of the other signatory states."

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the charter at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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This Day in History: The Louisiana Purchase Treaty

Robert Livingston and James Monroe closed on the sweetest real estate deal of the millennium when they signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris on April 30, 1803. They were authorized to pay France up to $10 million for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas. When offered the entire territory of Louisiana—an area larger than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal combined—the American negotiators swiftly agreed to a price of $15 million.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the treaty at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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From the National Archives:

Did you know that the National Archives has a YouTube series dedicated to interesting items in their collections? The short videos are absolutely fascinating.

From the YouTube description:

This Inside the Vaults video short details fascinating but little-known items in the holdings of the National Archives, including the Polar Collection, the patent for the Eskimo Pie, and State Department cables concerning the abominable snowman.

Supervisory Archivist Pat Anderson shows items from the Polar Collection, which consists of donated documents and artifacts from polar explorers, both north and south. Robert Peary's collected papers, Dayton Brown's paintings from the North Pole, and explorer Paul Siple's penguin carvings are among the holdings. Anderson also shows the patent granted to the developer of the original Eskimo Pie in 1922. Archivist Mark Murphy shows one of his favorite document collections: State Department cables containing regulations of the Government of Nepal for expeditions in search of the yeti, also known as the abominable snowman.

Inside the Vaults includes highlights from the National Archives in the Washington, DC, area and from the Presidential libraries and regional archives nationwide. These shorts present behind-the-scenes exclusives and offer surprising stories about the National Archives treasures. See more from Inside the Vaults at http://bit.ly/LzQNae.

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Arkansas and the Great War - a new resource from the Butler Center

World War I, the first major conflict of the twentieth century, lasted more than four years, involved fifteen nations, and resulted in the deaths of at least 8.5 million soldiers worldwide. July 28, 2014, will mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war, and the Butler Center is pleased to announce the creation of Arkansas and the Great War, an online resource for researchers interested in learning more about Arkansas’s involvement with the war.

Approximately 200,000 Arkansans registered for military service after the United States entered the war in 1917. Arkansas was also home to Camp Pike (now Camp Joseph T. Robinson) in North Little Rock and Eberts Training Field in Lonoke County. Camp Pike began the war as the home of the 87th Infantry Division and later served as a replacement training facility after the division deployed to France. Eberts Field was one of the leading aviation training bases in the nation, training soldiers from around the country for military duty.

Highlights of the Butler Center’s World War I–related collections include letters from a U.S. Marine, correspondence from a soldier who served in a balloon company, correspondence of a soldier who served in a field hospital, photographs and materials from Camp Pike and Eberts Field, and draft registration records, as well as a wealth of secondary materials related to the war.

This online resource Arkansas joins FORGOTTEN: The Arkansas Korean War Project and A Nation Divided: Arkansas and the Civil War, two award-winning online collections created by the Butler Center to promote a better understanding and appreciation of Arkansas’s military history.

Visit the website for more information.

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This Day in History: The Louisiana Purchase Treaty

Robert Livingston and James Monroe closed on the sweetest real estate deal of the millennium when they signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris on April 30, 1803. They were authorized to pay France up to $10 million for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas. When offered the entire territory of Louisiana—an area larger than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal combined—the American negotiators swiftly agreed to a price of $15 million.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the treaty at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.

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Arkansas Power & Light Company Preferred Stock

The following items can be found in MSS 06-16, the Couch-Remmel Family Papers.

Arkansas Power & Light Company Preferred Stock Booklet, 1927.
Series I, Subseries I, Box 3, File 17

Arkansas Power & Light Company Preferred Stock Department Postcard, Undated.
Series I, Subseries I, Box 3, File 18

Arkansas Power & Light Company Preferred Stock November 22nd Price Flyer, Undated.
Series I, Subseries I, Box 3, File 20
*This post first appeared on the blog in June 2008.

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Childbirth at St. Vincent Infirmary

[click to enlarge]
This is the room rate schedule for the maternity annex at St. Vincent Infirmary in 1939. Depending on her ability to pay, a woman could choose between a number of air-conditioned rooms.

You can view this document in the Arkansas Small Manuscript Materials, File 148. You can learn more about the history of St. Vincent Infirmary on the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

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Arkansas History Hub Has Launched!

The Butler Center and the Department of Arkansas Heritage have launched the Arkansas History Hub. The Hub is an interactive tool that assembles resources from history institutions across the state into a centralized, easy-to-use website. It features searchable databases of lesson plans, field trip destinations, classroom presentation materials, and professional development opportunities.

Click here to visit The Hub.

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Featured Manuscript Collection: July/August

Barnett Family Collection
MSS 07-52
Finding Aid
Rent Contract on Highway Sign-Board, October 19, 1936. Location in collection: Series I, Box 7, File 11.
Brothers Ira N. II, Charles A. and James F. Barnett, sons of Ira Barnett I and Mary Louise Simpson Barnett of Sharp County, Akansas, formed the family’s first business in Batesville at the end of the 19th century. The brothers first worked at the general store owned by their uncle, R.D. Williams, and in 1895 they bought him out. In 1903 they incorporated Barnett Brothers Mercantile. They remained in business at the same location until 1988, when the Barnett Department Store closed.

In addition to the general merchandise store, the Barnett Brothers, a designation maintained by the family through four generations, operated a number of other businesses in Batesville and Independence County over the years. These included retail and wholesale grocery and dry goods stores, a farm supply store, and farm equipment distributorship.

Mail order for cement, August 6, 1926.
Location in collection: Series I, Box 5, File 14.
Christmas gift certificate, 1959 (cashed 1960).
Location in collection: Series I, Box 7, Item 13.
The Barnett Brothers partnership, along with individual family members, were also active in real estate, lumber, farming and banking enterprises. They served on the boards of various community improvement efforts, such as the Curia Drainage District, and were active in First Methodist Church of Batesville.

The Barnett family collection contains business records, documents and correspondence dating from 1879 to 1988.
The earliest documents, journals and ledgers pertain to the operation of the R.D. Williams Mercantile, continuing with similar records for Barnett Brothers Mercantile and the other Barnett family enterprises. Documents include records of land transactions, crop mortgages, account collections, land development, timber industry, and both individual and corporate income taxes.

Image to Left: Balance sheet, January 1, 1926. Location in collection: Series I, Box 1, File 45.

This information is taken from the finding aid. This collection was processed by Carolyn Cash and Shirley Schuette, Manuscripts Department.

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