The University of Central Arkansas Archives is in the process of uploading issues of The Scroll and historic photos to Flickr.
President Tom Courtway recently said that Archives Director Jimmy Bryant should put past issues of the Scroll and historical UCA photographs online.
The archives are dedicated to acquiring important historical Arkansas documents and preserving them for the benefit of future generations, according to the archives’ website.
The website also says the collection ranges from military and environmental documents to those concerning mass
communication, sports, political history, art and religion.
“Most people understand that an archive holds old documents and old photographs. However, they may not fully understand why we have those things,” Bryant said.
“From almost 400 large manuscript collections a researcher can determine what life was like at a point in time. One can determine what concerns people had, what they did for entertainment, how they made their living and how they solved problems. It is a stream of continuous information that tells a story and provides us with useful information that impacts how we make decisions,” Bryant said.
The archives are public access and receive almost 1,500 visitors each year.
They were created in 1986 and have now outgrown their housing in Torreyson Library.
Bryant said one of their two storage rooms has a storage system that involves the shelves being assembled on tracks allowing them to be pushed against the wall.
The other storage room uses traditional shelving that is less spatially efficient.
Bryant has requested $10,000 in funding for new shelving to keep up with storage demands.
These photos are held on a Flickr account named UCA Archives.
Library Technical Assistant Aryn Denette is in charge of expanding the archives’ online presence.
