Archivist to publish 225-page UCA history

Jimmy Bryant, director of UCA Archives and Special Collections, has compiled the history of UCA in his book, "The Centennial History of the University of Central Arkansas," due out the first week in December.
Bryant said this is his first book and he has been working on it since January 2006. The book traces the history of UCA from 1907 until 2007, with a little information from 2008.
Bryant said the administration asked him to create the book which was submitted to Donning Company Puublishers in May 2008.
“They asked me and initially [the administration] thought the book would be written in 12 months ... but when I started writing and found out the great need for research I knew it couldn't be done in a year, so actually it turned out to be a 29 month project," Bryant said.
Bryant's book is about 225 pages. He had to work with a word limit, which came out to 52,500 words and 310 pictures.
“I wrote the book based on presidential administration. I had to find some way to organize it ... and then I looked for the bigger, what I thought more important, events that happened during that time because I had a restriction on how many words I could use. Of course, I had to make the best use out of the space I had," Bryant said.
The book consists of 10 chapters. The first eight trace the different UCA president's and the events that happened during their administration. Chapter nine includes music organizations, school spirit groups and traditions. Chapter 10 is devoted to UCA athletics.
Bryant said while he discovered a lot of different things about UCA while writing the book, one of the aspects he found most interesting was how UCA became the University of Central Arkansas. Under UCA President Silas Snow, State College of Arkansas became UCA. Bryant said the college tried to get university status before 1975, but resistance came from legislators in the northwest and northeast about changing the schools name again.
“Snow proposed the name State University of Arkansas, SUA, that's what he wanted. The people from northeast Arkansas didn't like that name because they said it was too close to Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas did not like that name, they said it'd be confusing and they suggested a name that used the word Central," Bryant said. "Snow did not like that, in fact, Snow said 'It's imperative that the word Arkansas and university be in there somewhere but I would never support a move to use the word central in our name.' Obviously we obtained the name University of Central Arkansas while he was president, so I find that kind of ironic."
Bryant said the amount of changes UCA sees in the book is interesting. From having a farm on campus to desegregation, UCA changed it's culture along with the times.
“The thing that strikes me most about the book is how change continues and we keep moving forward in different areas. Also what strikes me is the difficult job of being president. After studying all the presidents from Doyne to Hardin, I know it is a very difficult job because the president is concerned of course with faculty, staff, physical plant, future plans, present needs, so there are just many things a president has to do and it's a very difficult job," Bryant said. "I've developed a deeper appreciation for the presidency after studying what these presidents had to go through."
Bryant said student life has changed drastically in 100 years.
“When we think of recreation now, we think of going to a football game or going to a concert on campus," Bryant said. "During the earliest years recreation was, in one case about 1912 or so, 100 female students were chasing a rabbit on a football field for fun. And also at the same time one of the things that girls and boys liked to do in large groups was possum hunting. That's something we don't do anymore. How many UCA students do you know that go possum hunting?"
English Professor Michael Schaefer helped do the final edits on the book Bryant said.
Schaefer said the book is a good representation of the changes UCA has seen in the past 100 years.
“I thought it was really interesting. He's done a tremendous amount of work putting it into a timeline that gives you the whole kind of culture the university has created. [UCA] developed basically from a one building teacher institute to what it is now," Schaefer said.
Bryant said the book will cost $37.83, tax included. About 2,000 copies will be printed and some will be available to read in Torreyson Library and the UCA Archives.
The book will be sold in the UCA Bookstore and Bryant said he is working on selling it in other locations.
Bryant, who was raised in England, Ark., on a farm, has a close connection to UCA. Bryant began attending UCA in 1972 and received his Bachelor of Arts and master's degrees in History. In addition to being a director, Bryant is an assistant professor for an American Nation II course.
Bryant's wife Jann Bryant also works at UCA as the Director of the UCA Community School of Music since 1990. His son, Zach Bryant graduated from UCA with bachelor and master degrees in music. He is currently working towards a doctorate at University of Southern Mississippi. His daughter Melanie Bryant is a senior at UCA, working toward her degree in nutrition.
Bryant said he has been a part of the UCA community now for 36 years. Bryant is one of seven certified archivists in Arkansas. In addition to his jobs at UCA, Bryant is a justice on the quorum court, which includes being chair of the county services committee, member of the finance committee and member of the new courthouse task force committee.
Bryant said with all his other obligations, he had to work around the clock on this book to complete it.
“The truth is I worked many hundreds of hours overtime. I worked nights and weekends on this book," Bryant said. "Many nights at home, many nights here in my office ... I did work on it during the day when my other duties related to my job had been satisfied. It was just my life for 29 months. It was very difficult to have a full-time job and complete a project like this."
Even though Bryant worked extensively on the book, he will not receive any monetary compensation for the book.
“I signed over all author's rights to UCA to help defray the cost of printing the book, so I'm not getting paid to do this," Bryant said.
When the book comes out in December, Bryant said he will most likely be doing book signings on campus.
Bryant has already been researching his second book "Bears on the Battlefield," which will be about 46 UCA alumni who were killed in World War II, and said he will begin actively writing it after his current book comes out. Bryant said the best thing about the centennial history book is everyone can actively see the progression UCA has made in 100 years.
“I think the biggest thing the book will do is give people a sense of who we are and where we came from," Bryant said.

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