With their cameras and notebooks in hand, photographers Sabine Schmidt and Don House embarked on an ambitious project to document the libraries committed to serving Arkansas’s smallest communities. Remote Access is the culmination of this fascinating three-year effort, which took the artists to every region of their home state.
Schmidt’s carefully constructed color images of libraries and the communities they serve and House’s rich black-and-white portraits of library patrons and staff shine alongside the authors’ personal essays about their experiences. The pages here come alive with a deep connection to Arkansas’s history and culture as we accompany the authors on visits to a section of the Trail of Tears near Parkin, to the site of the tragic 1959 fire at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, and to Maya Angelou’s childhood home in Stamps, among many other significant destinations.
Through this testament to the essential role of libraries in the twenty-first century, Schmidt and House have created a clear-eyed portrait of contemporary rural life, delving into issues of race, politics, gender, and isolation as they document the remarkable hard work and generosity put forth in community efforts to sustain local libraries.
Sabine Schmidt holds an MA in American studies from the University of Hamburg and an MFA in literary translation from the University of Arkansas. Her work has appeared in many publications, including National Geographic and the German edition of Rolling Stone, and her Paper House series led to an installation commission from the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. She won an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council in 2018.
Don House has been photographing the people and landscapes of Arkansas for nearly four decades. His images have appeared in numerous exhibitions and in publications as diverse as Woman’s World and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Buffalo Creek Chronicles, Not a Good Sign, and the children’s book Otto’s Great Adventure.
Robert Cochran is professor and chair of American studies at the University of Arkansas and director of the Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies.
“What a wonderful, lovely book this is: a much-needed celebration of rural libraries, librarians, and readers.”
—Keith Carter, author of From Uncertain to Blue
“Photography’s unique power is in its ability to draw forth and cauterize memory. There is an urgency for projects like Remote Access. Time is running out for documenting the vernacular, the rural, the folks who decide to stay and invest in their communities. Communities that, from the window of a car, appear to have been left behind by the contemporary world. Praise be to the Schmidt-House team for bearing witness, and to those folks with the title ‘librarian,’ for doing the curative work of holding on to place.”
—Maxine Payne, photographer and professor of art, Hendrix College
“Remote Access was a delight to read. There were times when I smiled, when I shed a tear, and when I thought, ‘Yes, they got it.’ The rich story of public libraries and their value to a community.”
—Carolyn Ashcraft, former Arkansas State Librarian
A central focus on a single state, combined with openness to the widest imaginable range of topics—these are hallmarks of The Arkansas Character series from the University of Arkansas Press, produced jointly by Fulbright College’s Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies and the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. The editor seeks in-depth portrayals of insufficiently celebrated accomplishment (and insufficiently rebuked foul behavior) in all arenas of human endeavor. Equally welcome are accounts of big-screen events and famous players (office holders, rock stars, movers and shakers) and adventures of local legends, unheralded artisans, stars of unlit stages. “The classic is the local fully realized,” wrote William Carlos Williams, “words marked by a place.” But not only words. Every form of excellence (and outrageousness) rooted in this place.
Series Editor’s Preface
PREFACE: A Word About Librarians
INTRODUCTION: Walking to Fayetteville: One True Photograph • ROBERT COCHRAN
PROLOGUE: The Guidance of Strangers • SABINE SCHMIDT
1. St. Paul Public Library: St. Paul, Madison County
2. Greenland Public Library: Greenland, Washington County
3. West Fork Municipal Library: West Fork, Washington County
4. Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library: Eureka Springs, Carroll County
5. Twin Groves Branch Library: Twin Groves, Faulkner County
6. Calhoun County Library: Hampton, Calhoun County
7. Smackover Public Library: Smackover, Union County
8. Kingston Community Library: Kingston, Madison County
9. Cotton Plant Branch Library: Cotton Plant, Woodruff County
10. McCrory Branch Library: McCrory, Woodruff County
11. Marked Tree Public Library: Marked Tree, Poinsett County
12. Cabe Memorial Public Library: Stamps, Lafayette County
13. Tollette Branch Library: Tollette, Howard County
14. Horatio-Garner Memorial Library: Horatio, Sevier County
15. Norman Library: Norman, Montgomery County
16. Millie M. Brooks Library: Wrightsville, Pulaski County
17. Driftwood Library: Lynn, Lawrence County
18. Parkin Branch Library: Parkin, Cross County
19. Ashley County Library: Hamburg, Ashley County
20. Conway County Library Bookmobile: Morrilton, Conway County
21. Charleston Public Library: Charleston, Franklin County
EPILOGUE: The Kindness of Strangers • DON HOUSE
Acknowledgments
APPENDIX A: People and Places Photographed
APPENDIX B: Technical Details
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Winner, 2024 Arkansiana Book Award, Arkansas Library Association
