Julia Burnelle Smade Babcock, "Indomitable Arkansan"
Bernie Babcock was the author of many literary and historical works, including The Soul of Ann Rutledge, concerning the courtship between Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge, and articles on Native Americans and African Americans for the 1930s Federal Writers' Project. She was later known as the founder and curator of the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities in Little Rock.
Julia Burnelle (Bernie) Smade Babcock was an Arkansas literary author, historian, and naturalist, among many accomplishments. Her papers are housed with the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, The Bernie Babcock Collection, 1855-1996, UALR.MS.0092.
Babcock was born in Union, Ohio, on April 28, 1868, the first of six children, to Hiram and Charlotte Smade. The Smades raised their children with a freedom uncharacteristic for that time. At the age of three, Babcock told a teacher that a horse pulled his lip back and bit her head off, while on her way to school. When the teacher complained to Bernie’s parents about this lie, the mother defended Babcock’s imagination by stating that it was a sign she would become a writer.
She did just that when she became an adult. Determined to make a living for herself and her five children after the death of her husband, William, Babcock published many significant literary and historical works, including The Soul of Ann Rutledge, concerning the courtship between Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge, and articles on Native Americans and Africans Americans for the 1930s Federal Writers' Project
Babcock would later be known as the founder and curator of the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities in Little Rock, which was ultimately housed in the Arsenal Building on City Park grounds. Today the building is known as the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. Babcock retired from the museum in 1953 and moved to a small house on top of Petit Jean Mountain, where she passed June 14, 1962.
Literary Talent
Babcock turned to writing as a way to support her family after the death of her husband, William Franklin Babcock, in 1897. She explored many controversial subjects, including race relations, temperance, politics, and evolution, in her books Mammy, The Daughter of the Republican, A Political Fool, and By Way of the Master Passion.
By the early 1900s, her youngest child started school, freeing Babcock to pursue paying work outside of the home. She went to work for the Arkansas Democrat as editor of “The Society Page” and book reviews.
After five years at the Arkansas Democrat, Bernie resigned in order to become editor and publisher of The Sketch Book, a southern magazine known for photography, paintings, drawings, stories, and poetry. The magazine was published from 1906 through 1909.
For the Love of Lincoln
In the late 1910s, Babcock became fascinated with the love story between Ann Rutledge and Abraham Lincoln. She first read about the story in the Ladies Home Journal and decided to pursue further research. Babcock went to California to interview Ann’s younger sister to verify the romance, and she obtained written accounts from Ann’s older brother, who had been Lincoln’s friend.
Because of Babcock’s early fascination with the Rutledge/Lincoln romance, she developed into one of the country’s leading experts on Lincoln for her time. Writing to the Library of Congress while researching Lincoln, she discovered that the Library contained over 50,000 books and papers on the the country’s sixteenth president and related materials. Babcock preferred to find primary source material on Lincoln through correspondence with people who had personally known him. Babcock’s thorough research ultimately added to the wealth of Lincoln scholarship.
Babcock went on to write four more books concerning the country’s sixteenth president: The Soul of Abe Lincoln (1923), Booth and the Spirit of Lincoln (1925), Little Abe Lincoln (1926), and Lincoln’s Mary and the Babies (1929).
Federal Writers' Project
The late 1920s and early 1930s saw great economic hardship for Arkansas and its people due to drought, floods, and the onset of the Great Depression. Babcock and her family were no exception to these dire conditions.
In November 1935, the Federal Writers’ Project was created, and Babcock was hired as Folklore Editor for Arkansas. This was a statewide project, with twenty-five to fifty people on the payroll at any given time.
Oral historians during this period interviewed people all over the state with emphasis on gathering information about folklore, Native American lore and African American history. Materials collected included Stories of the Counties, Folkways in Arkansas, The Negro in Arkansas, A Guide to North Little Rock, and Guide to Arkansas Caves.
While holding the title of State Director of the Federal Writers' Project, she oversaw interviews with nearly a thousand ex-slaves and with a number of members of a voodoo organization.
A Museum for Arkansas
In the late 1920s, Babcock discovered an additional passion: a love of nature, which resulted in the creation of a museum of natural history for her city and state. This museum was in response to critics like H. L. Mencken, who had criticized the state for its backward culture and impoverished people. As a response to Mencken's criticism, Babcock established a quality museum to challenge the state’s reputation as a cultural wasteland.
Babcock displayed exhibits in a storefront on Main Street, Little Rock. She exhibited many interesting pieces, including “King Crowley,” allegedly an image of an early Native American, decorated with copper eyes, silver pupils, and a copper heart below the neck. Babcock was convinced of the item’s authenticity, but critics challenged her stance.
In 1927, Babcock obtained the third floor of City Hall for the newly created Museum of Natural History and Antiquities. (See UALR Seminar in Public History Files on MacArthur Park, 2012: UALR.MS.0199). In 1928, Babcock was named director of the museum and worked diligently to acquire and borrow exhibits from museums across the country. Private citizens assisted Babcock, donating pioneer and war memorabilia as well as Native American artifacts.
In 1941, The Arsenal Building at City Park (now MacArthur Park) was vacant. Babcock seized the opportunity and convinced Fred Allsopp, a prominent Little Rock citizen, to provide funds for moving the museum’s treasures into the building.
Babcock retired from her position as museum director in 1953 at the age of eighty-five and started her new life on top of Petit Jean Mountain, on land which she had purchased earlier. On April 28, 1962, Babcock celebrated her ninety-fourth birthday at her mountain home, aptly named Journey’s End. She passed on June 14 of that year while working on manuscript, a fitting end for a talented writer.