Skip to main content

Upchurch Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MC 197

Scope and Content Note

The papers, photographs, genealogical information, diplomas, and clippings refer to Fredrica and Grace Upchurch's parents, their brother, and sisters. There are also papers, including itemized accounts of daily expenses Fredrica and Grace Upchurch maintained over a sixty-year period, and photographs concerning the University of Arkansas, Arkansas State Normal School (later renamed Arkansas State Teachers College), and Fort Smith public and private schools.

Dates

  • 1879-1984

Creator

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

Negatives are not available for research.

No Interlibrary Loan.

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

Biographical Note

J. Frank Upchurch and his wife, Kate Miller Upchurch, and four daughters, Fredrica, Grace, Josephine, and Nellie, moved from Hackett to Fort Smith shortly after their only son, Frank, died from the flu in 1918. Fredrica Upchurch taught elementary school in the Fort Smith area from 1920-1968. Her younger sister, Grace, began working in the University of Arkansas library as a student in 1927. After graduation she became a full-time employee, where she remained for over forty years. The papers in this collection primarily concern Fredrica and Grace Upchurch.

Fredrica Upchurch graduated from Arkansas State Normal School in 1915 with a degree in education. She then received her Bachelor of Science Education in 1928 from the University of Arkansas and five years later earned a Masters degree from Columbia University in New York City. Fredrica Upchurch taught elementary school at Stuttgart (Arkansas County), (1916-1917), Hackett (1917-1918), Belle Point (Sebastian County), (1919-1921), and was at Duval Elementary in Fort Smith from 1921-1960. After her retirement from Duval, Fredrica Upchurch taught eight more years at Fort Smith's Christ the King Catholic school. In 1969, Miss Upchurch received the Golden Apple Award from the Fort Smith Classroom Teachers Association for excellence in teaching.

Grace Upchurch enrolled at the University of Arkansas in 1927, where she worked as a student assistant in the library, then located in Old Main. After her graduation in 1929, the library employed her on a full-time basis. She did take time off, however, to earn a bachelor of arts degree in library science from the University of Illinois in 1933. At her retirement in 1970, Grace Upchurch had worked forty-three years at the University Library.

Extent

5 Linear Feet (9 Boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement of the Papers

Materials arranged by format.

  1. Series 1. Family Materials
  2. Series 1. Subseries 1. The Upchurch Family
  3. Series 1. Subseries 2. Fredrica Upchurch
  4. Series 1. Subseries 3. Grace Upchurch
  5. Series 2. Expense Accounts
  6. Series 2. Subseries 1. Fredrica Upchurch's expense records
  7. Series 2. Subseries 2. Grace Upchurch's expense records
  8. Series 3. Photographs, Post Cards, and Sketches
  9. Series 3. Subseries 1. Upchurch and Miller family photographs taken in the Fort Smith or Hackett area
  10. Series 3. Subseries 2. Hackett and Fort Smith. Subjects include schoolchildren, bank building, coal miners, and an aerial view of Fort Smith
  11. Series 3. Subseries 3. Arkansas State Normal School students
  12. Series 3. Subseries 4. Fredrica Upchurch and Duval Elementary school students
  13. Series 3. Subseries 5. Christ the King school class photographs
  14. Series 3. Subseries 6. Fredrica Upchurch's retirement party
  15. Series 3. Subseries 7. University of Arkansas
  16. Series 3. Subseries 8. Fort Smith (lithographic post cards) and University of Arkansas
  17. Series 3. Subseries 9. Prints of sketches of University of Arkansas buildings by Carl Nelson
  18. Series 4. Volume 1: Photographs of Grace Upchurch's retirement from the University of Arkansas Library

Acquisition Information

Papers and photographs of the Upchurch family of Hackett and Fort Smith (Sebastian County), Arkansas, were donated by Miss Grace Upchurch (1902-1987) of Fayetteville to Special Collections on March 24, 1974.

Separated Materials

The following item has been removed to Manuscript Oversize Box 1: Scrapbook by Fredrica Upchurch on Fort Smith, c. 1935.

The following items have been removed to Manuscript Oversize Box 3: Fourteen diplomas, 1913-1933. and One Uncle Sam United States defense bonds and stamps poster published by Gruen Watches, 1941.

Processing Information

Processed by Susan Lynn Parks; completed in March 1988.

Creator

Source

Title
Upchurch Family Papers
Status
Completed
Author
Susan Lynn Parks
Date
March 1988
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Materials are 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