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William "Bill" Wauters Hughes Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MC 1573

Scope and Content Note

Materials in the collection include correspondence, military papers, press releases, unpublished manuscripts, drafts of writings, photocopies of genealogy research, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and photographs.

Dates

  • 1888-2004

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Access Information

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Use Information

Use restrictions apply: Copies of William "Bill" Wauters Hughes Papers may be made for research use only. William "Bill" Wauters Hughes material may not be published without permission from the copyright holder.

No Interlibrary Loan.

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical Note

William “Bill” Wauters Hughes was born on June 3, 1918 in David City, Nebraska to William and Elzada Hughes. In 1936 Bill graduated from College View High School, located in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he got his first journalistic experience working as the editor of the yearbook. Bill attended the University of Nebraska and worked at a soda shop in a department store to help pay for his expenses. In this position Hughes met Winifred “Mickey” Bruce, whom he married on June 26, 1941. During World War II Hughes served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Riley, Kansas and in the Signal Corps in Fort Avonmouth, New Jersey. The Hughes’ lived and traveled together and had their first daughter, Kathryn "Kitty," born on May 17, 1943, in Fresno, California. Shortly after Kathryn was born, Bill was deployed to the China-Burma-India Theater with the Signal Corps as a Second Lieutenant. Hughes spent two months in China, eight months in Burma, and eleven months in India. He was honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant on January 1, 1946.

Hughes returned to the U.S. and continued his studies at the University of Nebraska, graduating with a degree in journalism in the summer of 1946. Hughes’ first position was with the Holdrege Daily Citizen in Holdrege, Nebraska. In the spring of 1947 he was appointed city editor of the North Platte Daily Telegraph. Hughes worked for nine years at the Arkansas and Rio Grande Valley bureaus of the United Press International and one year as a general assignment reporter for the Arkansas Gazette.

From 1960 to 1988, Hughes worked as the Director of Information at the University of Arkansas. In this position Hughes prepared speeches and press kits, and authored Archibald Yell, a biography of Arkansas’ second governor. During his tenure at the University of Arkansas, Hughes married his second wife, LaVerne Anderson, on December 3, 1980. From 1988 until his death in 2003, Hughes was a regular columnist for the Northern California weekly newspaper, the Oakland Post. He was also the editor of the monthly newspaper for his retirement community, the Diamondhead Focus, from 1998-2003. Bill Hughes died on November 26, 2003.

Extent

8.5 Linear Feet (7 boxes)

Arrangement of the Papers

Materials are arranged by topic.

Acquisition Information

The William "Bill" Wauters Hughes Papers were donated to Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, November 2, 2004 by LaVerne Hughes and Kathryn Hughes.

Processing Information

Processed by Andrew Donovan; completed December 2010.

Title
William "Bill" Wauters Hughes Papers
Status
Completed
Author
Andrew Donovan
Date
December 2010
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Department Repository

Contact:
University of Arkansas Libraries
365 N. McIlroy Avenue
Fayetteville AR 72701 United States
(479) 575-8444