Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History

The Buddy Hayes Park in Fayetteville is opening today! Check out the park and look for our QR code there.

For more than 50 years, Buddy Hayes was a familiar face in Fayetteville. He was a musician, shoeshiner, veteran, community leader, and friend whose kindness crossed every line that often divided people during his lifetime.

Known for his trumpet playing and his integrated orchestra, Buddy brought people together through music and community. Fayetteville will honor his legacy with a park bearing his name in the neighborhood he called home.

Join neighbors, friends, and family as we celebrate the opening of Buddy Hayes Park and recognize a life that helped shape Fayetteville's story.

Opening Ceremony
• Wednesday, June 17 at 4:00 p.m.
• Buddy Hayes Park - across from the Yvonne Richardson Community Center
For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.GoPlayFay.com

Happy Statehood Day! Arkansas became a state on June 15, 1836. A recording of last year's Washington County Historical Society Statehood Day event with Mark Pryor is now available to view on our website. Happy 190th birthday, Arkansas!

Go to https://tinyurl.com/yecxt4nc for the event.

We have a newsletter! If you're on our mailing list, you've already seen the first issue. If you're not on our list, you can visit https://tinyurl.com/yeva6b6p to read it, then message us with your email so you don't miss the next one. You'll get to see events, content we've uncovered in our archives, and what we're working on for future projects. Get the scoop!

John G. Williams, founder of the University of Arkansas architecture program, passed away in May of 2008. The Pryor Center recorded his memorial service, hosted by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, as well as short interviews of some of the attendees, who shared memories of Professor Williams. On the anniversary of the memorial, the collection has been made available on our website. Visit https://tinyurl.com/d4dnjtyf to see them.

In our interview, John Philpot talks about his father, pictured here at top left next to a cookstove, and some of the jobs he held throughout his life.

"He spent some of his early days before and after World War I working for an outfit called the Wrought Iron Range Company out of St. Louis. They manufactured wood cookstoves, the Home Comfort range, and it was a good one. And my dad—in the early days they would send teams out, sales teams out to everywhere in the boondocks... and they went out selling, delivering, and collecting for these ranges in a wagon and team. And so my dad saw all of Arkansas, most of—well, it was part of Oklahoma, part of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, part of Tennessee, part of Missouri in a wagon and team. He knew the geography, believe me. And he was a outstanding salesman."

For more, visit Philpot's interview page on our website at https://tinyurl.com/yvxk5fc6