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James O. Powell Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MC 1313

Scope and Content Note

The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, announcements, brochures, bulletins, newspaper and magazine clippings, pamphlets, photographs, programs, speeches, travel itineraries, and other materials associated with Powell's career as a journalist, primarily with the Arkansas Gazette.

Dates

  • circa 1949-1995

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Access Information

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Use Information

No Use Restrictions Apply.

No Interlibrary Loan.

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical Note

James O. Powell, born October 24, 1919, in Andalusia, Alabama, graduated from the University of Florida with Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism in 1942. After three and a half years' service in the armed forces in World War II, he worked as a reporter for the Alabama Journal (Montgomery), the Tampa Tribune, and the Miami Herald. In 1955-1956 he served in Washington, D.C., as administrative assistant to Senator George A. Smathers of Florida. He returned to the Tampa Tribune in 1956 as editorial writer, and later became an associate editor. Powell joined the Arkansas Gazette in 1959 as Editor of the Editorial Page. He was named editorial director in 1973, in which capacity he remained until 1985 when he became a senior editor. Powell retired from the Arkansas Gazette in 1987, taught journalism at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1988, and returned to the Arkansas Gazette in 1991 as a contributing weekly columnist until the Gazette's demise in October 1991. In 1992 he began writing a weekly column for The Jonesboro Sun, the Benton Courier, and the Warren, Arkansas, Eagle Democrat. Powell is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and Sigma Delta Chi, professional journalistic society. He has won awards for editorial writing from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the National Education Association, the Arkansas Council on Human Relations, and the American Jewish Committee. He was honored as a Poynter Fellow at Yale University.

Extent

15 Linear Feet (31 boxes)

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is organized into four series:

  1. 1, Correspondence and other papers, 1949-1994
  2. 2, Biographical and Personal records, ca. 1961-1995
  3. 3, Speeches and Clippings, ca. 1967-1995
  4. 4, Additional material received in May 1996

Acquisition Information

The James O. Powell Papers were donated to the Special Collections Division by James O. Powell on November 13, 1994. Additional materials (Series 4) were donated in May 1996.

Processing Information

Processed by Vera Ekechukwu, September 1995. Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Title
James O. Powell Papers
Status
Completed
Author
Vera Ekechukwu
Date
September 1995
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Department Repository

Contact:
University of Arkansas Libraries
365 N. McIlroy Avenue
Fayetteville AR 72701 United States
(479) 575-8444