Bert Hiltebrand Photographs
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Scope and Content Note
382 positive prints, 5 1/4" x 4" to 8 3/4" x 6 1/2", of photographs made by Mena, Ark, commercial photographer Bert Hiltebrand, 1900-1930, of buildings, persons, scenes, and activities in and around Mena. Photographs pertain to: churches; schools; agriculture, lumbering and other industrial and commercial activity; social, cultural, and recreational activities. Most are mounted; some are captioned or identified with penciled notation on verso of mounting; few are dated.
Dates
- 1900-1930
Creator
- Hiltebrand, Bert (Person)
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
Bert Hiltebrand was a Mena, Arkansas-based photographer. He was born around 1870 in Indiana; in 1900, he married Grace Cleaver in Polk County, Arkansas.
The town of Mena, Arkansas, was founded with the coming of the Kansas City Southern Railroad in 1896. The town's location, at the western end of the broad valley of the upper Ouachita River, made it a logical shipping point for timber and agricultural products. Almost from its very beginning, Mena supported a population of around 4,000, together with all the supporting services usually found in a town of that size.
Around 1900 Mena had a commercial photographer, W.M. Caldwell, who apparently left not long after; little is known about him. Also around 1900, another photographer arrived, and stayed. Bert Hiltebrand would record much of the town's life for three decades, until his death in 1931.
A third photographer, L. Oscar Plaster, opened his business in Mena in November, 1918. Oscar Plaster operated his studio for 55 years, until his retirement in October, 1973. After Hiltebrand's death in 1931, Plaster and his wife bought the Hiltebrand studio from Hiltebrand's widow, including the photographs in this collection.
Extent
4 Linear Feet (8 boxes)
Arrangement of the Papers
Arranged in received order in five series, some of which are further arranged into subseries by topic.
- Series 1, General Views
- Series 2, Home and Families
- Series 2, Subseries a. Houses (no persons)
- Series 2, Subseries b. Houses with Persons in View
- Series 2, Subseries c. Individuals and Family Groups
- Series 3, Churches and Schools
- Series 3, Subseries a. Churches and Congregations in Mena
- Series 3, Subseries b. Churches and Congregations in Outlying Areas
- Series 3, Subseries c. Schools and Students in Mena
- Series 3, Subseries d. Schools and Students in Outlying Areas
- Series 4, Commerce and Government
- Series 4, Subseries a. Agriculture
- Series 4, Subseries b. Lumbering
- Series 4, Subseries c. Kansas City Southern Railroad
- Series 4, Subseries d. Commercial Buildings
- Series 4, Subseries e. Fairs, Exhibits, and Promotions
- Series 4, Subseries f. Government
- Series 4, Subseries g. Road and Street Construction
- Series 5, Social-Cultural-Recreational Activities
- Series 5, Subseries a. Lodges and Other Fraternal Groups
- Series 5, Subseries b. Musical Groups
- Series 5, Subseries c. Athletic Teams
- Series 5, Subseries d. Parades
- Series 5, Subseries e. Carnivals and Exhibitions
- Series 5, Subseries f. Baby Shows
- Series 5, Subseries g. Outings, Hunting
- Series 5, Subseries h. Easter and Christmas
- Series 5, Subseries i. Janssen Park
- Series 5, Subseries j. City Library
- Series 5, Subseries k. Disasters - As Diversions
- Series 5, Subseries l. Burial Customs
Acquisition Information
The Bert Hiltebrand Photographs were donated to Special Collections by Eloise Goodwin (Mrs. L. Oscar) Plaster of Mena, Ark., through Kenneth L. Smith of Fayetteville, Ark. in December 1980. Eloise Goodwin Plaster was the widow of L. Oscar Plaster, the photographer who bought Bert Hiltebrand's photography studio in Mena.
Hiltebrand had accumulated a great number of "leftovers": photographs that for one reason or another were not saleable. When he photographed groups, he made extra prints, hoping to sell them all to various members of the group. If they didn't buy, he set the prints aside. Also, with group photos, he took two poses and made prints of both poses in hopes that somebody in the group might prefer and buy a print of one pose or the other. Inevitably, he added more prints to his stack of unsaleables. Finally, he accumulated a mass of unsold prints that were of inferior quality, or that were of subjects (buildings, etc.) that nobody wanted.
After Oscar and Eloise Plaster acquired this accumulation of prints, they at times sold a few, and others were given away: Richard St. John, the editor of the Mena Star newspaper, picked out some of the best for their historic interest. But most of the Hiltebrand photographs remained with the Plasters, even after their retirement from the photography studio.
Oscar Plaster died on April 27, 1978. In early 1980, Eloise Plaster loaned some of the Hiltebrand photographs to the University of Arkansas Library for copying, and in the fall of 1980 agreed to donate the Hiltebrand photographs to the University, and to the Polk County Library, for preservation and use for their historic interest. The University has a "complete" collection of all the one-of-a-kind originals plus the best copies of the subjects having several-of-a-kind prints. The Polk County Library has the "next-most-complete" set of the photographs, for preservation and use at Mena.
(Eloise Goodwin Plaster, the widow of Oscar Plaster and donor of the Hiltebrand photographs, was born near Mena in 1907 and grew up in the Bethesda community not far south of Mena. She married Oscar Plaster in 1924 and was with him in their photography studio and gift shop until they retired in 1973.)
Processing Information
Processed by Samuel Sizer; completed March 1981. Some of the collection description was written by K. L. Smith in December 1980.
- Title
- Bert Hiltebrand Photographs
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Samuel Sizer; completed March 1981. Some of the collection description was written by K. L. Smith in December 1980.
- Date
- March 1981
- 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
University of Arkansas Libraries
365 N. McIlroy Avenue
Fayetteville AR 72701 United States
(479) 575-8444
specoll@uark.edu