tHE WHITE COUNTY ARCHIVES
"The major function of the society will be to discover and collect any
material that may help to establish or illustrate the history of the area."
-The Constitution of White County Historical Society, White County Heritage Vol. 1980
The quote above has been interpreted many ways over the years. Today, one of the ways we put this into action is our archive!
What will happen to those old photos you have in your closet after you're gone? What would happen if your house was destroyed by natural disaster? We understand that White County history is the compilation of all of her residents histories. Without your photos, stories, letters, documents, and heirlooms, we will miss out on a majority of White County history that can never be retrieved.
This is why we are putting a special focus on our archive. We hope that no one in White County is left wondering what will happen to their old photos, items, videos, letters, and documents.
Thankfully, Harding University's Archive and Yesteryear have provided their services at no charge, but the remaining expenses are funded by citizens like you who want to provide a better understanding of the past and present to those in the future. Please consider donating to help the archive acquire much needed organizational and archival equipment.
Special Features of the White County Archives
Digital Preservation by Scanning
The Use of Items for Publications (Heritage, Newsletter, and other books)
Aid in History and Genealogy Research
Physical Preservation of the Original Items
The Presentation of the Archives Collection Online for Viewing
The Donation Process
We know that if you are on this page, it is most likely that you have an interest in history. With that, it may be hard to donate the original photos, letters, documents, and items to us. Although we encourage the donation of the originals so that we can preserve them for years to come, we understand! This is why, in partnership with Yesteryear in Downtown Searcy, we gladly accept scanned/digitized versions of your originals.
Whether you want to donate the original copy or the digitized version, we ask that you take any items pertaining to White County history to Yesteryear. There, they will digitize the item and provide us with the original and/or digitized version. Yesteryear does this for no charge for the White County Historical Society as a way to give back to the community!
Yesteryear
121 West Market Ave
Searcy, Arkansas 72143
We will ask you to fill out our donation form so that we are able to label the item with your information and give you credit wherever it is used.
Public Access to The digital archive
Harding University in Searcy has graciously allowed us to partner with their archive to provide digital access to our archive! Harding already provides online access to their archive here:
https://scholarworks.harding.edu/archives_special_coll/
With their partnership, we will begin posting the digital archives that we have hopefully by the end of 2020. Of course, as more items are donated, more items will be uploaded. Here is the link to our digital archive:
(The link will be posted as soon as it is launched. You will also be able to find the link on the home page.)
physical preservation of originals
The original copy of items can tell a lot about the history of the item. Paper type, ink type, and even carbon dating are some of the few things we can determine with the original item. We appreciate digital donations (espeically whe the original item is digital), but the preservation of the originals are very important as well.
We are currently fundraising for the Pioneer Village Museum which will include an archive for preserving White County original items. In the meantime, we are organizing the items and preserving them in protective sleeves, archival boxes, and other methods to preserve what has been donated to us.