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White House Cook Book Want to cook like a renowned chef? This tome is loaded with more than recipes; in fact, the inside cover page lists its subheading as “cooking, toilet and household recipes, menus, dinner-giving, table etiquette, care of the sick, health suggestions, facts worth knowing, etc., etc., the whole comprising A Comprehensive Cyclopedia … Continue reading »

Louis “Moondog” Hardin, Jr. Sometimes these articles write themselves. Our curator, Alan Bufford, was researching last week when he stumbled upon an odd article about a local man who was renowned as a street musician in New York nearly 50 years ago. How did Alan inadvertently discover Moondog? He was researching Moondog’s father, Louis Hardin, … Continue reading »

Corner grocery stores In early Independence County history, grocery stores abounded since most families did not have a vehicle to drive to a grocery store. In 1887, 29 grocery stores dotted the small city of Batesville alone. Many of these stores relied on customers buying on credit, which was useful when a busy mom would … Continue reading »

Blowing Cave in Cushman Saturday was the 42nd Mid-South Archaeological Conference in Jonesboro. I was invited and spent the day learning about different facets of archeological digs and listening to detailed reports. During a break, I struck up a conversation with Scott Akridge, who was friends with the man who owned Blowing Cave! When I … Continue reading »