Archive for the ‘podcast’ Category

In addition to collecting and preserving Arkansas’s political and military history, the Old State House Museum also collects artifacts from Arkansas musicians.  From Johnny Cash’s guitar, to Louis Jordan’s saxophone, to Scott Joplin’s piano, the Old State House has acquired items from some of the most significant figures in the state’s cultural history.

Recently the museum has added to this impressive collection ninety-two pieces of music and political memorabilia from Butch Stone.  Stone, a manager, concert promoter, and native Arkansan, is best known for his work with Black Oak Arkansas and establishing Little Rock as a national tour destination.  In addition to the music memorabilia, the Old State House acquired Stone’s collection of political material, including numerous photographs with and letters from Arkansas politicians.

This episode of the Old State House Museum Collections Podcast covers the history of the prison system in Arkansas and the collection of objects acquired in 2008 from the Arkansas Department of Correction.  The collection consists of 236 objects ranging from the only two electric chairs used to carry out executions in the state of Arkansas, to inmate-made prison weapons, to the infamous Tucker Telephone.  As we have done in previous installments, we conducted an interview with an expert in the field, Dina Tyler, Public Relations Director for the Arkansas Department of Correction.   The podcast is embedded below as a YouTube video in two parts.  If you would like to subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, click here. (You must have iTunes installed on your machine.) If you would like to download a slightly smaller version of this episode directly to your hard drive, click here.

Part One

Part Two

 
   This episode of the Old State House Museum Collection podcast deals with our most current exhibit, Arkansas / Arkansaw : A State and Its Reputation. We feature an interview with the curator of the exhibit, Dr. Brooks Blevins, a professor of Ozark Studies at Missouri State University. Through his research and book commissioned by the Old State House, Dr. Blevins explores the origins of the states image as a backwards hillbilly state. The podcast is embedded below in three parts (YouTube only allows 10 minutes per clip).

You can download this episode by clicking here, or subscribe to our podcast thru iTunes by clicking here.

 
As promised, here is the extended audio version of our first podcast on the history of the University of Arkansas Medical School at the Old State House.  Additionally, I’ve upload the full 40 minute interview with Dr. Wolfe, for those who would like more information.

Audio Podcast

Full Interview with Dr. Jon Wolfe

    With this post we are proud to debut a new series of collections podcasts designed to focus on particular objects in the Old State House Museum Collection.  For the first podcast, we decided to look at the history of the building itself, as it is our largest and most important artifact. The Old State House has had numerous uses since the beginning of its construction in 1833, particularly after the state capitol moved to its current site in 1911.  Several organizations sought shelter at the Old State House prior to the building being re-purposed as a museum in 1949.  Some of these organizations include the Arkansas State Police, various women’s organizations, the American Legion, and so on.  But the group that came to dominate the building during this period was the University of Arkansas Medical School. 

   To learn more about the medical school at the Old State House, we visited Dr. Jon Wolfe from UAMS.  Dr. Wolfe has previously curated an exhibit on medical education at the museum and is certainly an expert on the subject.  The two-part video below is the result of our research and interview with Dr. Wolfe.  The images used are almost entirely from the Old State House collection and the UAMS Historical Collections.

Part One

Part Two

For more information about the history of the medical school, consult David Baird’s Medical Education in Arkansas, 1879 – 1978.

In the near future, we’ll be posting an audio version of the podcast to this site and iTunes.  Additionally, we will make the entire Dr. Wolfe interview available through this site.  To view all our videos, click podcast button in the menu bar at the top of the page. To subscribe to our podcast, click the appropriate button below.

We’ve officially begun recording our first podcast. The OSH Collections podcast, in an attempt to increase accessibility, will focus on some of the more interesting objects in our collection. While it can be awkward to step in front of the mic, I think we are off to a good start and should have something ready to post soon. As a teaser, our first topic is going to be the University of Arkansas Medical School’s use of the Old State House building between 1911 and 1935. Can’t wait to let everyone hear what we have been working on!  In the mean time, feel free to brush up on your Old State House and Medical School history at the following links: