Date of Award

12-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in History

Department

History & Political Science

College

College of Arts & Humanities

Abstract

The original Belding letters are part of the Belding-Gaines-Williamson Family Papers housed in the special collections section of the Riley-Hickingbotham Library at Ouachita Baptist University. Other original Belding letters are owned by Shawn Gibson of Texas, who is a direct descendent of the Belding family. The Beldings came to Hot Springs, Arkansas, after a brief stay in Virginia in 1828. Their letters are some of the only firsthand records of the Hot Springs Cases. The letters of the Belding and Gaines families begin in the 1840s and extend into the 1920s. This project focuses on the years surrounding the Civil War in Arkansas and Reconstruction. For this reason, the section of Belding Letters chosen for this project began in 1849 and concluded in 1887. The project consists of transcribing and annotating the letters of the Belding family. The footnote annotations expand upon the text and place the letters in context of the events transpiring in Arkansas when the letters were written.

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