Creator

Date Original

1922

Description

This collection contains a card designed by Bernie Babcock featuring a poem and drawing by her dated 1922.

Biographical/Historical Note

Bernie Babcock (1868-1962) was born Julia Burnel Smade on April 28, 1868, in Unionville, Ohio, to Hiram and Elizabeth Smade. Julia was called Bernie by her friends and family. The Smade family moved to Russellville, Arkansas, where Bernie attended public school. Bernie enrolled at Little Rock College and attended for one year, but left to marry William Babcock at the age of 18. After her husband's death, she turned to writing to support herself and five children. In 1899, she began writing a weekly literary column in the Arkansas Democrat and later became the telegraph and society editor there. She also contributed historical and religious articles to national magazines and served as editor of the Arkansas Sketch Book. During her career, she published five books on the life of Abraham Lincoln. During the early 1900s, she was active in the women's suffrage movement and later in the Prohibition movement. In the 1920s, she helped create the Museum of Natural History in Little Rock and served as its director from 1928 to 1953, and during the 1930s served as the Folklore Editor of the Federal Writers' Project in Arkansas. Upon her retirement from the museum in 1953, she moved to Petit Jean Mountain to write, where she died on June14, 1962.

Physical Description

Document, 8.5" x 11"

Geographical Area

Arkansas; Ohio

Language

English

Identifier

SMC.028.030

Resource Type

Text

Collection

Bernie Babcock card, SMC.028.030

Publisher

Arkansas State Archives

Contributing Entity

Arkansas State Archives

Recommended Citation

Bernie Babcock card, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Rights

Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.

Disciplines

United States History

COinS