Former Secretary of State Sharon Priest has donated her papers to the University of Central Arkansas Archives. Priest visited the archives on Tuesday to meet with Director Jimmy Bryant and the rest of the staff. A reception will be held in the summer of 2007 at which time the collection will be open to the public.”This is a wonderful gift,” said UCA President Lu Hardin. “As the first woman secretary of state in Arkansas history, Mrs. Priest’s collection will be extremely valuable to historians as well as a great asset for our students. I want to thank her for this splendid gift and also for her public service.”
First elected in 1994, Priest did not seek reelection in 2002. She was president of the National Association of Secretaries of State and chair of the National Election Standards Taskforce. In her dual roles as Arkansas’ top election official and president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, Priest was an outspoken advocate of careful change in elections and was quite successful in her efforts. She got mandatory poll worker training done, an election study commission passed and military and overseas ballots counted.
Elected to public office six times, Priest served in Little Rock as a member of the board of directors, vice mayor and mayor. She has been a board member of Women Executives in State Government and National League of Cities, and a member of the Arkansas Women?s Leadership Forum. She received the Public Administrator of the Year Award from the Arkansas Society of Public Administration in 2001.
Priest is also a member of the board of trustees of Leadership Greater Little Rock, the governing board of Good Shepherd Ecumenical Retirement Center and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Priest is now executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership.
?I am elated that Sharon Priest has donated her papers to the UCA Archives,” Bryant said. “Her papers cover the time from when she was a member of the City of Little Rock Board of Directors to when she served as Secretary of State to her current position as Executive Director of The Downtown Partnership in Little Rock.
Her collection contains a large number of photographs, personal correspondence, professional correspondence, policy manuals and other items pertinent to her career.”
He continued, “I also want to acknowledge the role that Dr. Hampton Roy had in helping me to acquire the Priest collection. Dr. Roy, a Little Rock ophthalmologist is best known for his pioneering work in eye surgery. He is a longtime friend and benefactor of the UCA Archives and made the initial contact with Secretary Priest on UCA?s behalf. The Priest collection is approximately 50 linear feet in size and will take about four to five months to process.”
