Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Photo Exhibit To Be Presented

The Arkansas Territorial Restoration (ATR) will host People of the Rackensack, a traveling photographic exhibit that provides insight into the traditional folk culture of Arkansas's Ozark Mountains.

The exhibit will open with a free reception with live music on Sunday, August 17, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the ATR Reception Center, and will remain on view through September 15. The Territorial Restoration, a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, is located at 200 East Third Street in downtown Little Rock.

People of the Rackensack contains Vaughn Brewer's 1970's photographs of members of the Rackensack Folklore Society, and text panels taken from oral history interviews with the subjects.

Created by the Ozark Heritage Institute, the exhibit is sponsored by the University of Central Arkansas and was supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Jimmy Driftwood and other Stone County citizens started the Rackensack Folklore Society in 1961 for the preservation of music and folk culture in the Ozark Mountains. During the 1970s, the late Vaughn Brewer photographed many of the members and conducted oral history interviews with them. The photos and interviews were donated to the Ozark Heritage Institute at University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

Music at the reception will be performed by David and Donna Peterson of Peterson's Original Ragtime Band. Playing hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer and guitar, they will present the traditional music and dance of the Ozarks -- fiddle tunes, songs and ballads of Jimmy Driftwood and the Rackensackers of Stone County.

David Peterson is Director of the Ozark Heritage Institute.

The Arkansas Territorial Restoration is a historic site museum encompassing some of the oldest buildings in Little Rock. Guided tours of five early 19th century houses are given hourly from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except noon), Monday through Saturday, and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Tours cost $2 for adults, $1 for senior citizens and 50 cents for children.

Admission is always free to the Reception Center, which houses the exhibit and the museum's store selling the works of over 200 Arkansas craftspeople.

The Department of Arkansas Heritage (DAH) and its six state agencies seek to recognize the state's heritage and enhance Arkansans' quality of life through the discovery, preservation and presentation of the state's natural, cultural and historic resources.

DAH agencies are Arkansas Territorial Restoration, Arkansas Arts Council, Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and Arkansas Commemorative Commission, which directs the work of the Old State House and Trapnall Hall.