Edward Harthorn, a senior history major at Williams Baptist College, was recently awarded the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives (NEARA) award from the Arkansas Historical Association. The award encourages primary document research at the NEARA in Powhatan Arkansas.

Anyone, professional or amateur, is eligible to submit a manuscript for the award, and a three-person panel representing NEARA and the Arkansas Historical Association determines the winner.

Harthorn’s paper, entitled “Pushing Him Back Over the Pulpit: David Orr and Religious Conflict in Early Arkansas,” discusses the “interesting (and violent)” episode involving Orr, a Mormon, and some local Baptists that occurred near current day Strawberry.

“Edward wrote this fine paper a few semesters ago in my History of Rural America class,” said Dr. Blake Perkins, assistant professor of history at Williams.

Harthorn will be presented with an award of $1,000 cash and a certificate at the association’s annual conference banquet on April 22, in Little Rock.

Williams is a four-year, liberal arts college at Walnut Ridge.