50 years of ‘Arkansas’ Gift to the Nation, America’s Gift to the World’

Celebratory seal for the Buffalo National River anniversary.

In March of 1972, Congress established the first national river — the Buffalo. Located in Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains, the Buffalo National River is, in the words of native songwriter Jimmy Driftwood, “Arkansas’ gift to the nation, America’s gift to the world.”

2022 will be the 50-year anniversary of this nationally and regionally significant event. In celebration, the Chancellor’s Fund for Research and Innovation is supporting a series of university and community events engaging the river’s historical, cultural and environmental importance.

Organized by the U of A Humanities Center and the University Libraries, these lectures and panels will bring scholars from the arts, humanities and sciences together with community members and organizations. Event recordings will become the cornerstone of the Digital Buffalo website.

In addition, the Digital Buffalo site will link to documents from Special Collections important to the Buffalo, maps of the region from the Center for Arkansas Spatial Technologies, interviews with Ozark Society members from the Pryor Center for Oral and Visual History, and artifacts from the Arkansas Archaeological Survey.

Find out more about the project; keep up to date on upcoming events with the community calendar; watch the gradual population of the site with documents, maps and letters; and keep an eye out for upcoming programming.

Spring Programming

“The Buffalo National River and the Indigenous” under the direction of George Sabo of the Arkansas Archaeological Survey and Sean Teuton, director of Indigenous studies

“The Buffalo National River in Arkansas the Nation” under the direction of Melanie Griffin of University Libraries, Jared Phillips of International Studies and David Scott Cunningham of the U of A Press.

Summer Programming

“The Buffalo National River and the Visual Arts” under the direction of Austen Bailly of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Angie Albright of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History.

“The Buffalo National River and Music” under the direction of Bob Cochran of the U of A’s Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies.

Fall Programming

“The Buffalo National River and Environmental Concerns” under the direction of Bill Schwabb of the U of A’s Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History and Steve Boss of Geosciences.

“The Buffalo National River in Folklore and Literature” under the direction of David Scott Cunningham of the U of A Press and Virginia Siegel of the University Libraries’ Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts Program.

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.