Diane Blair and Geleve Grice Papers Donated to Mullins

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jim Blair, retired general counsel of Tyson Foods, donated two significant document collections to the University of Arkansas Libraries: the photography collection of Arkansas native Geleve Grice and the personal and professional papers of Blair’s late wife, Diane Blair.

Grice (1922-2004) began his professional career as campus photographer for Arkansas AM&N College in Pine Bluff (now UAPB) in 1947 and for 40 years operated his own commercial photography studio in Pine Bluff. He was also a photojournalist for the Arkansas State Press and for television stations KARK and KTHV. Before public schools were integrated, Grice traveled the state with a trunk full of caps and gowns to shoot class pictures and graduation portraits in African-American schools.

The collection includes images from three major areas: Grice’s commercial images of African-American individuals and their families, images taken to satisfy Grice’s artistic and documentary impulse that showcase a wide range of individuals engaged in everyday moments throughout south Arkansas, and photos of historic occasions and noteworthy visitors - such as Silas Hunt’s enrollment at the University of Arkansas Law School or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s commencement address at Arkansas AM&N in 1958. Taken together this remarkable collection includes thousands of images providing an irreplaceable portrait of south Arkansas culture and heritage. In 2003, Robert Cochran, professor of English, and the UA Press published a biography of Grice using images from the collection titled “A Photographer of Note: Arkansas Artist Geleve Grice.”

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Diane Blair (1938-2000) graduated from Cornell University in 1959. In 1963, she moved to Arkansas, earned a master’s degree in political science from the U of A in 1967, and began teaching at the university, rising through the ranks to full professor in 1990. Blair’s areas of expertise focused on Arkansas’ state and local government and on women in politics. She was appointed by Gov. Dale Bumpers in 1971 to chair the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, by Gov. David Pryor in 1976 to chair the Commission on Public Employee Rights, and by Gov. Bill Clinton in 1980 as commissioner of the Arkansas Educational Television Network, on which she served until 1993 and which she chaired in 1986 and 1987.

President Clinton appointed Blair to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board of Directors in 1993, on which she served two terms. In 1993, she served as a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She published two books on Arkansas politics, “Silent Hattie Speaks: The Personal Journal of Senator Hattie Caraway” (Greenwood Press, 1979) and “Arkansas Politicians and Government: Do the People Rule?” (University of Nebraska Press, 1988). She received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Arkansas in 2000.

Jim Blair has long been a supporter of the University Libraries. In 1985, while serving on the University Board of Trustees, Jim and Diane Blair made a gift of a 1634 edition of Sir Walter Raleigh’s “Historie of the World” to the libraries. Upon presenting the book, Jim Blair noted that this gift was a representation of the Blairs’ commitment to see the university grow and flourish, which could happen only with a strong library.

“These two collections represent a quantum leap for us,” said Tom W. Dillard, head of the University Libraries Special Collections Department. “The Geleve Grice photographs are without peer, and the Diane Blair Papers are a trove of information on modern American and Arkansas politics. Through the donation of her papers, Diane Blair's contributions to Arkansas studies will continue even after her untimely death.”

The gift also includes a gift of $75,000 to defray the costs of processing the collections.  “Getting collections in the hands of researchers is a top priority of the University Libraries,” said Carolyn Allen, dean of University Libraries. “Jim Blair understands and supports that process. We are extremely grateful for his continued support of the Libraries.”