Scope and Content Note

Thomas' research materials regarding the September 19, 1980, explosion of a Titan II missile near Damascus (Van Buren County), Arkansas, killing one Air Force soldier and injuring twenty-one others. Dr. Thomas collected clippings on the explosion from ten newspaper sources. Also included is one folder of his correspondence and notes on the explosion.

Scope and Content Note The collection consists primarily of Roy Edwin Thomas' oral history interview projects, writings, and research materials. Between 1970 and 1994, Thomas conducted more than a thousand oral history interviews, primarily with "old-timers" (those born circa 1870-1910) across Arkansas, the Ozarks, and Appalachia. Notably among these interviewees is musician Jimmy Driftwood. The collection includes audiocassette tapes with Thomas' recordings of these interviews, as well as Thomas' transcriptions,...