Dr. James Willis, University Historian
MAGNOLIA— Whenever someone asks Dr. James F. Willis why it took four years to write his recently completed centennial history of Southern Arkansas University, he replies with one word, research. Posing for a photo at the SAU Archives with the eleven boxes of notes he took while gathering information about SAU’s past 100 years, the retired SAU history professor estimated that stacked in a straight-line there would be more than ten running feet of notes.
Willis interviewed eighty-five former students and faculty members, taping more than 150 hours of memories about the school. SAU graduate students are transcribing those tapes so others interested in SAU history can more easily find relevant information rather than have to listen to hours of recollections not about their particular interest.
Willis made repeated visits to archives at the University of Arkansas campuses at Fayetteville and Little Rock and to the collections of the Arkansas History Commission at the state capitol. He read thousands of pages of old newspapers, legislative records, the papers of Arkansas’s governors from George W. Donaghey to David H. Pryor (later governor’s papers are not yet open to historians).
The most important sources for his research were located at the Columbia County Library and at SAU’s Magale Library. Microfilm of Magnolia’s newspapers, the Magnolia News, the Columbia Banner, and the Banner News, at the county library contained articles about SAU’s early history found nowhere else. Few copies of the Bray, the school newspaper that began in 1923, survive before the 1931 issues. For the first two decades of the school, except for Board of Trustees minutes, practically the only sources of information were Magnolia’s newspapers. For later decades, SAU Archives at Magale Library contain a wealth of materials, including the Bray, the Mulerider yearbooks, and other official publications, such as the Stater alumni magazine; board and numerous committees’ minutes; and many accreditation studies, reports, and photos.
The actual writing of the centennial history took much less time than the research. Willis credits Tom Forgey, retired SAU history professor, and Archie Monroe, a 1929 alumnus of the school, with their help in the writing stage. Willis said, “Tom is a much better writer than I am, and his careful editing improved every page of the book.”
As for Monroe, Willis declared, “Archie Monroe has forgotten more history about Magnolia and Columbia County than I will ever know. In fact, he has forgotten almost nothing, and his amazing memory helped me avoid mistakes.” The SAU centennial history includes much about local events and people, Willis said, because connections between the school and community have always been close.
Willis will sign books for purchasers at a 7 p.m. dinner on November 30 in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center at SAU. Tickets for the event are $15. Diners will also receive two free DVDs: Mulerider Memories, a historic campus tour of original school buildings since removed for new ones, and the Great Southern Arkansas Mule Ride, a film that captures the recent commemoration of the ride on mules that the school’s early football players made to McNeil to catch the train to away games. The 378-page history, Southern Arkansas University: The Mulerider School’s Centennial History, 1909-2009, will be available for $34.99. Royalties from book sales will benefit endowments of the SAU Foundation.
For reservations and more information, please contact the SAU President’s Office at (870) 235-4001.
