The Rotary Club of Warren met Tuesday, August 8 with Rotarian Dr. Bob Smalling introducing the program of Dr. John Davis.
Davis is the Executive Director of the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History at the University of Arkansas. He is also serving as a professor in the college’s Department of Political Science.
A guest at Rotary before, Davis just recently accepted the position after serving on the UAM faculty for a number of years and he was very excited to be back in Southeast Arkansas after his original meeting with the Rotary Club was postponed in June.
Davis explained his role and what the Pryor Center does, which is tell stories of Arkansans and not just political either.
He mentioned the KATV Collection project where they are in the process of digitizing years of their broadcasts and news reels beginning in the 1960’s and told the group about some of the footage of Pink Tomato Festivals and other mentions of Warren he and his team had come across so far.
He has a real passion for the state’s history and spoke about the importance of preserving these stories because paper and tapes and other means of preserving can get lost or damaged very easily. He ended the program by answering a few questions from those in attendance.
