Bass Reeves clay model approved

The Bass Reeves Legacy Initiative is an organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the story of U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.
The group’s first task is a monument honoring Bass Reeves. The sculpture is by noted Oklahoma artist Harold Holden. The project will cost approximately $300,000.
A couple of weeks ago, some members of the Bass Reeves [...]

About the Newseum…

I’ve mentioned my trip to the Newseum but I don’t think I’ve taken time to post much about the visit.
Very quickly the other day, I showed a friend all the photographs we took during our visit — from the Berlin Wall gallery to the cafeteria, and even a photo of the amazing Wolfgang Puck lunch we [...]

Tim Russert Observation for America #3

October 22, 2007, the late Tim Russert addressed the Public Relations Society of America’s international conference in Philadelphia. In his memory, and as an effort to promote the tenets he enthusiastically practiced and communicated, www.tracyplaces.net is highlighting brief excerpts from my notes that Sunday afternoon in our nation’s birthplace.

Always the historian — looking for [...]

World War II US D-Day invasion tank unearthed in France – Telegraph

I work on the third floor above Garrison Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas and I sometimes tease that the history is so rich that occasionally I hear 100 year old gunfire on the sidewalk below me.
Think, though, what it must be like to find a tank under the street of an old city.
Council workers [...]

Air Force Memorial — WWII vintage fly-over

This is very cool.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – First he waited for President Bush aboard Air Force One to clear the runway.
Then the 85-year-old pilot throttled forward for a ride few will ever take. In a plane few will ever pilot.
For the next 10 minutes, “The General” owned the airspace over Washington, D.C.
At 1:15 p.m., he [...]

An iconic image — do facts back up the 30 year old perception of millions?

The Soiling of Old Glory won Pulitzers.
The image is iconic. It does not simply reproduce an event; it crystallizes something out of life itself.
A new book now suggests that previous and subsequent shots taken by the photographer seem to suggest a slightly different story — that one man was trying to protect another for being [...]

Arkansas’ state newspaper endorses governor’s check

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette has been incredibly supportive of the quest for the Marshals Museum — writing wonderful editorials and providing ample coverage along the way. Here’s a bit of the most recent editorial from Saturday’s edition.
It should prove a boon to Fort Smith and Arkansas in general. And by the time the marshals museum [...]