Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics: A Gallery of Amazing Arkansans

Ted Richmond

Ted Richmond Throughout its history, Arkansas has been a land in which eccentrics and characters are amazingly common. Ted Richmond, of rural Newton County, would have to be considered among the elite of community oddballs.In Richmond’s case,Arkansas had a man with a mission to provide books for his isolated Ozark neighbors, an eccentricity that was long remembered in the hills and hollers of Newton County. James Theodore Richmond was born in Nebraska but grew up in Iowa.After serving as a soldier in France duringWorldWar I,Richmond set about wandering, an urge that resurfaced throughout his life. He studied for a time in Chicago, where he also worked as a reporter. He also attended a teachers college in Missouri, followed by a stint in an Illinois business college.Settling in Evening Shade,Missouri,Richmond worked as a magazine editor and postmaster. In addition to his editorial and postmaster stint, the Christian Science Monitor claimed in a  feature article that Richmond had worked as a “school teacher and Sunday school teacher, lay preacher, farmer, janitor, railroad section hand, mill worker, amateur photographer , cement plant straw boss, salesman, and operator of a mission for down-and-outers.” However,it was Richmond’sWilderness Library that was his passion. In  Richmond homesteaded “the roughest -acres I could find in fair Newton county,seven and a half miles northwest of Jasper.” On this rugged farm atop Mount Sherman, Richmond raised dairy goats and hogs. While goats and hogs paid the bills, Richmond’s passion lay in books. Not long after building a small log house on his homestead,Richmond conceived the idea of creating a library to bring books to the isolated homes in the Ozarks. He recalled later in life how he went into a cave near his home, “opened the Bible and prayed through the night that God would help me bring good books to bright mountaineers.” Like many writers on a mission,Richmond was something of a pro-  moter. He was able to get substantial publicity through the years, and afterWorldWar II he periodically undertook publicity tours.Books were donated from across the nation,and before long Richmond’s small cabin was packed. He then abandoned the cabin, leaving it filled with books while he built a larger house nearby. Ultimately, Richmond filled two houses with books, and a neighbor , Jeff Raney, voluntarily built a branch near the post office. Books were distributed from these libraries in a variety of means, mostly by hand. Sometimes neighbors would come to the unstaffed library and choose titles, leaving a list of books taken. Often Richmond delivered the books from a gunnysack slung across his shoulder, walking miles to reach the houses tucked in among the hills and hollows.In addition, he milked more than fifty goats twice daily. As a general rule, “Twilight Ted,” as Richmond was affectionately known, was warmly received by his neighbors. He partook in local activities, knew his neighbors, was always ready to help out in times of need, and seemed to be free of condescension. Richmond might have lived in rural isolation, but he certainly did not hesitate to travel nationally on behalf of his library. He gave lectures and made public appeals for books and money,which were often publicized in the news media. On one occasion, however, Richmond caused considerable discord in Newton County. In  the Saturday Evening Post sent a reporter to visit the Wilderness Library, and the resulting feature article portrayed Newton County as backward,a land “where the hand-hewn log cabin is still every man’s dwelling and the timber wolves howl by night.” Within a few days,  local citizens met and created the Newton County Betterment Group with the intention of disproving the “unmerited black eye” resulting from the Post feature.Richmond received a special invitation to attend the meeting , and he joined in the protests. Harriet Jansma, who has written about Twilight Ted, reported that the Wilderness Library was doomed even before the Post article appeared. In  the Arkansas General Assembly created a state library commission with the task of organizing county libraries. In  the NorthArkansas Regional Library was organized to serve Boone,Carroll, Marion,and Newton counties.Indeed,Newton County had two official branch libraries in operation when the Post reporter wrote his article. Ted Richmond  At some point not long after the Post article appeared, Richard set out on a fund-raising tour,but...