Archivist’s departure worrisome for future

I have made extensive use of the county archive for research purposes in the past six years. As archivist, Tony Wappel has been an invaluable resource in my investigations. The difficulty I encountered in my sole experience of searching for a record in Benton County made me even more fully appreciate how lucky we’ve been in Washington County with an easily accessible, well-organized and well-curated archive managed by a professional archivist.

It is so unfortunate that current usage statistics bring up questions about staffing for the archive. In my opinion, County Judge Joseph Wood is making a mistake in using such statistics to assess the value of full-time supervision for the collection and for professional staffing. However, as that is the state of affairs, I have a couple of ideas to contribute to the debate on how to proceed:

1) Solicit grants to fully digitize as many additional documents as feasible and possible, honoring any and all privacy concerns, and place these online for public access.

2) Work cooperatively with the Washington County Historical Society, faculty members associated with the Special Collections at the University of Arkansas, and the county judge and Quorum Court to consider creating an internship for graduate students in an appropriate discipline. The intern(s), who could receive pay and/or academic credit, could supervise the collection during public hours, and might also oversee digitizing records, if funding were available. Well-trained docents might also be useful in maintaining access.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of maintaining this superb collection of documents under the guidance of trained and professional staff. The public deserves adequate access. The further development of the collection is also a concern. Perhaps some version of the ideas I have presented might help the Quorum Court creatively solve the current dilemma.

MARGARET HOLCOMB

Fayetteville