Volume I. Quilts and textiles, Ceramics, Silver, Weaponry, Furniture, Vernacular architecture, Native American art -- volume II. Photography, Fine art.

This study of Pope County, Arkansas in the 1850s represents an analysis of the pioneer decade of an upper South region largely settled by yeoman farmers; the presence of slaves constituting approximately ten percent of the population also enables one to view that peculiar institution in a non-plantation environment. As we celebrate the century mark of the 1890 census, which inspired Frederick Jackson Turner's study of the influence of the frontier on the American experience, historians turn anew to examine the influence of that frontier. Today insights provided by computer assisted quantification, "thick description" of social anthropologists and the concept of the New Social History shed additional light on that quest for meaning. This study is a first-rate example of the New Social History in practice. Contents: The Beginnings; Communications and Transportation; Agriculture; Table Fare; Artisans, Business and Professional Activities; Disorder and Crimes; Morbidi Mortality; Marriage; We are Family; Education; Religion; Slavery; and Moving In-Moving Out.

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1: They Sought A Land -- Chapter 2: The First Migrations, 1850-1852 -- Chapter 3: Building a Community, 1853-1855 -- Chapter 4: Economic Prosperity -- Chapter 5: "Carolina" in Pope County -- Chapter 6: Pisgah in the Civil War -- Chapter 7: Pisgah Home Front in War and Reconstruction -- Chapter 8: Rebuilding Pisgah -- Notes -- Sources -- Index

"The information condensed into this single reference volume will be valuable to general readers of all ages, libraries, museums, and scholars."--BOOK JACKET.

Arkansas's Old State House, arguably the most famous building in the state, was conceived during the territorial period and has served through statehood. A History of Arkansas's Old State House traces the history of the architecture and purposes of the remarkable building. The history begins with Gov. John Pope's ideas for a symbolic state house for Arkansas and continues through the construction years and an expansion in 1885. After years of deterioration, the building was abandoned by the state government, and the Old State House then became a medical school and office building. Kwas traces the subsequent fight for the building's preservation on to its use today as a popular museum of Arkansas history and culture. Brief biographies of secretaries of state, preservationists, caretakers, and others are included, and the book is generously illustrated with early and seldom-seen photographs, drawings, and memorabilia.