Isabel France Papers
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Select files to request
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains professional, personal, and family correspondence. Correspondents include Booth Campbell, Orval Faubus, Walter J. Lemke, Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni, Sid McMath, Vance Randolph, Otto E. Rayburn, and others. The collection further contains personal papers; photographs; newspaper clippings of France's column Hills of Home (ca 1936-1961) as well as its manuscript and typewritten form; newspaper clippings of her column Shepherds Springs (ca 1953-1959); newspaper clippings about France; other clippings, sorted by topic, collected by France; and miscellaneous printed material. It also contains diaries, guest books, notebooks, and several files of France's drafts of various literary writings.
Series five of this collection contains Maud Duncan material. Duncan, often referred to as Arkansas's dean of women journalists, was a print shop owner and a publisher of The Winslow American newspaper. Duncan was born in Washington County, Arkansas, and was educated by her father, Dr. Albert Dunlap, a celebrated early physician and churchman of Ft. Smith, Arkansas, and by private tutors. She attended Cane Hill College, and later received a teacher's certificate. She also studied pharmacy and became the second woman pharmacist licensed in Arkansas. She began practicing pharmacy in Winslow in 1906. Duncan and her husband, Gilbert Nelson Duncan, founded the The Winslow American in 1908. They worked side by side in the printing business until Mr. Duncan's death in 1918. Maud Duncan continued printing the newspaper singlehandedly almost until her death in 1958. She was an honorary life member of the Arkansas Press Association. Her papers consist of correspondence, The Winslow American newspaper, photographs, and miscellaneous papers.
Dates
- 1906-1963
Creator
- France, Isabel, 1898-1963 (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
Isabel France (1898-1963) known as the "writing woman of the Ozarks" was the author of Hills of Home column in the Arkansas Gazette as well as in Fort Smith, Tulsa, and St. Louis newspapers. In her column, France wrote for twenty-five years about the beauty of Arkansas's mountains, the Ozarks, its people, and her own life.
France graduated from Van Buren, Arkansas, High School in 1915, obtained her teacher's license the same year, and taught in Van Buren Public Schools. She later also attended the University of Arkansas.
Extent
10.8 Linear Feet (22 containers)
Arrangement of the Papers
This collection is organized into five series:
- 1, Correspondence, personal papers, and photos (Boxes 1-7), 1906-1963
- 2, Newspaper columns (Boxes 8-16), 1906-1963
- 3, Newspaper clippings and printed material(Box 16), 1906-1963
- 4, Journals, Visitors/Guest Books, Notebooks, and Drafts (Boxes 16-21), ca 1934-1962
- 5, Maud Duncan Papers (Box 22), ca 1906-1959
Acquisition Information
The University of Arkansas Libraries received the Isabel France Papers from her surviving family on August 15, 1999.
Processing Information
Processed by Vera Ekechukwu, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in November 1999.
- Arkansas Folklore Society
- Campbell, Booth (Correspondent)
- Duncan, Maud Dunlap, 1873-1958
- Faubus, Orval Eugene, 1910-1994 (Correspondent)
- Journalists -- Arkansas
- Marinoni, Rosa Zagnoni, 1888-1970 (Correspondent)
- Women authors, American -- Arkansas
- Title
- Isabel France Papers
- Author
- Vera Ekechukwu
- Date
- 1999
- 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