The Sequoyah National Research Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received nearly $58,000 to create an interactive history of the Trail of Tears in Arkansas utilizing touch-screen technology. 

The Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council awarded the center a $57,960 grant to create a touch-screen surface table that will incorporate the center’s existing research to create a visual journey of the Trail of Tears in Arkansas.

“We are very pleased to undertake this project that will allow educators and the general public to access the Trail of Tears materials in a new, more approachable format,” Archivist Erin Fehr said. “The subject of Indian removal can be a difficult one to approach, but by using touch-screen technology, we hope to engage learners in a way that brings the past to life.”

The project will include maps of removal routes of the five tribes that journeyed on the Trail of Tears, key sites along each tribe’s routes, historical information, photographs, timelines, and documents.

The Sequoyah National Research Center will also create a companion website so researchers around the world can access the project, which will aid educators in telling a more complete history of the Trail of Tears through Arkansas that encompasses all five tribes.

For more information, contact Fehr at 501-569-8336 or ehfehr@ualr.edu.

In the upper right photo, Archivist Erin Fehr at work in Sequoyah National Research Center’s archives. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/UA Little Rock Communications.