From week to week
Is your life unfocused? Do the weeks seem to drag by? If so, then I have a cure for you: begin writing a weekly newspaper column. No sooner have I met one Thursday deadline than another is looming. I live a life of Thursdays.
My goal is to write 45 original columns each year, which is not so daunting now that I am retired. Deciding on a topic or theme is certainly a challenge. The ideal topic is one with some current relevancy—hence my column last June called “Protectors of our Wildlife” in honor of the centennial of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
I am drawn to topics with which I already have some familiarity. Two drawers in my desk contain about 75 files on topics ranging from abortion to Yell County. Some of these files have grown over several years and are laden with sources. Others contain only a scrap of information.
My file on William Quesenbury of Fayetteville yields this tantalizing description by literary historian Ethel C. Simpson: “William Minor Quesenbury (1822-1888) . . . was something of a renaissance man, according to frontier Arkansas standards at any rate. He was a newspaperman, a musician, an artist. He traveled with other frontiersmen to the gold fields of California, to Texas, to the Indian Territory. He had the keen senses of the artists—an eye for memorable detail, an ear for distinctive speech. The attitude conveyed by his published writings combines a zest for life and a fertile imagination. Finally, a wry sense of humor brought his experiences into a distinctive focus.” Quesenbury deserves a column in 2016. Sometimes I am prompted to undertake a column on a topic suggested by a reader. In 2012 I received a request to do a column on textiles in Arkansas history. I begged off at the time, but in the interim I have accumulated several citations on the history of textile production. Let me know if you know of any interesting stories on carding, spinning, or weaving. And one must not leave out the quite sophisticated weaving and plaiting done by prehistoric Arkansans.
A friend gave me a Grimes Kola bottle for Christmas—reminding me that I need to undertake a study of long-gone Arkansas-made soft drinks. Grimes Kola was made in Walnut Ridge. I have already written about Grapette soda, which was bottled for decades in Camden and which has made a resurgence in recent years. I am especially seeking information on Clem Cola, which was bottled in Malvern and which locals recall with misty-eyed enthusiasm.
I am continuing to research the history of Chinese immigrants to Arkansas. I published a column on this topic back in 2003, but I keep running across the most tantalizing tidbits of information. Though the Arkansas Gazette had previously opposed recruiting Asians to work in Arkansas, in 1872 the paper reported that “Ah Maun and six fellow Chinese” who had settled in Crittenden County two years earlier “have already established themselves as proficient farmers.”
While the newspapers might have acknowledged the work ethic of Chinese settlers, they were always eager to connect the Chinese with opium consumption. In August 1892 the Gazette reported that “the police made another raid Sunday night on a gang of Celestials who were ‘hitting the pipe,’ as in the vulgar parlance the smoking of opium is called.” Chinese immigrants were often referred to as Celestials. Interestingly, a Little Rock circuit court in 1893 refused to convict one Chinese defendant because he was smoking opium in his own home.
Some prospective column topics turn out to be exceedingly difficult to pin down. For example, I have kept a file for years on the Henley-Barnett feud in Searcy County, but it is very hard to figure out. This conflict was no small affair, with numerous people being killed. Just before Christmas in 1933 a street battle broke out around Alf Henley’s restaurant in Marshall, and the governor sent the National Guard to patrol the streets. Movietone News made a newsreel on the feud in 1934, titling it “Little Chicago.” The feud is a touchy subject in Searcy County to this day. Maybe for my own safety I should pass up this topic?
While I have written columns on various medical topics, numerous diseases remain to be studied. The yellow fever epidemic of 1878 is interesting not only because of the devastation the epidemic brought, but also because it forced Arkansas communities to address the need for quarantines, though a state department of health was still almost 30 years in the future.
Other topics I hope to address in 2016 range from foodways—which have a particular appeal to me—to recreation. Of course, I will continue to report on developments on the larger Arkansas history scene.