by Austin DuVall
Join us on the morning of Aug. 13, 2022, atop Petit Jean Mountain for a special presentation by Dr. John Kirk, author of the new book, Winthrop Rockefeller: From New Yorker to Arkansawyer, 1912-1956.
Registration is $40, which includes all programming, lunch provided by the Institute, and a signed, hardback copy of Dr. John Kirk’s new book. The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and all members of the public are invited to attend but must pre-register using the link above.
The Institute will have some overnight accommodations available on a first come-first served basis for Aug. 12, 2022. To check availability and pay for your accommodations, call the Institute at (501) 727-5435.
Dr. Kirk will discuss his findings from the 12 years of research he conducted while writing the biography. Winthrop Rockefeller, a grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, left New York and moved to Arkansas in 1953. Less than a decade later he would run for governor, but what happened before his move south that resulted in the leader who broke the stranglehold of the one-party system in Arkansas? How does Rockefeller’s time in Arkansas continue to affect the state today?
Dr. Kirk is the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History and director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Later in the event, he will be in conversation with Rex Nelson, historian and journalist, and Janet Harris, Institute Executive Director/CEO.
Conversation topics will mirror those in Dr. Kirk’s book, including Winthrop Rockefeller’s childhood, education, work in the oil fields, military service, his first marriage, and the birth of his only child, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller.
To give you a taste of what to look forward to, Dr. Kirk recently spoke on Rex Nelson’s Southern Fried Podcast about his work and interest in Winthrop Rockefeller as a man, philanthropist, leader, and “Arkansawyer.”
