Dixon donates SBC scrapbooks to Ouachita library
February 05, 2018
- Sarah Davis
Mary Betty “Snookie” Dixon donated her grandmother’s scrapbooks to Ouachita Baptist
University’s Special Collections, housed in Riley-Hickingbotham Library. These seven
scrapbooks detail the family’s road trips to the Southern Baptist Convention annual
meetings from 1943 to 1969.
“I hope these scrapbooks will shed light on an era of Southern Baptist life where
there was joy, fellowship, worship and learning about needs in our world,” Dixon said.
“For my grandparents and my parents, the travel to a new place was filled with wonder
as they had opportunity to explore God’s world. The time together at the conventions
were missions focused and prayerful and the return home was reflective.”
Snookie Dixon is married to Bill Dixon, former dean of students and vice president
for student services at Ouachita. Snookie earned her master’s degree from Ouachita
and taught Christian ministry classes part-time while serving as minister of education
and administration at First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia before she retired.
Snookie (Powers) Dixon’s father and grandfather were Baptist ministers and attended
every annual Baptist convention from 1943 to 1969. Her grandmother’s scrapbooks detail
each trip, including the vehicle they drove, the route they took and convention programs.
The books include a list of expenditures made on each trip including the cost of food,
fuel and lodging. There are photos and postcards of sights they saw along the way,
photos of convention personalities and write-ups of major issues discussed at the
convention.
“These scrapbooks are right after World War II, and they give us a fascinating and
humanizing look at an institution during a formative era,” said Dr. Ray Granade, Ouachita
director of library services and professor of history. “It was a different America,
and the scrapbooks give us information in a different way than if we picked up a history
book about the United States in the post-war era. They are more intimate, and they
are an intellectual treasure.”
The scrapbooks are preserved in OBU’s Special Collections and can be accessed by the
public. For more information, contact Riley-Hickingbotham Library at (870) 245-5119.
By Sarah Davis // Photos by Rachel Bruton
February 5, 2018
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