Our Library

The Garland County Historical Society maintains a research library specializing in Arkansas and Garland County history. Subject matter includes categories such as:

  • Department of Interior/National Park Service -- planning documents for Hot Springs Reservation/National Park
  • Arkansas history, including back issues of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly
  • Reports issued by the Arkansas state government
  • Arkansas and local tourist guides
  • Historical data on neighboring counties, including some of the annual journals published by their historical societies
  • Garland County history, including:
    • Biographies and memoirs
    • Printed explorer and pioneer journals and letters
    • All back issues of the Garland County Historical Society Record
    • School yearbooks
    • Church histories
    • Hot Springs city ordinances
  • Local and general genealogy information (described more fully at Vital Records)
  • Native American history collection donated by local historian Marcus Phillips
  • Vertical files comprised of over 110 linear feet and containing a vast body of news articles, magazines, advertising material for local businesses, legal documents, personal letters, and other ephemera (more information and subject index at Vertical Files)