Interpreting the Hodges Collection at the Henderson State University Caddo Center

This website features short videos and 3D models of selected objects in the Joint Educational Consortium’s Hodges Collection of Native American Artifacts. It is intended to enhance the experience of both in-person and virtual visitors to the Henderson State University Caddo Center in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Interested in local history, Thomas and Charlotte Hodges assembled a large collection of artifacts during the 1930s and 1940s from archeological sites in Clark, Hot Spring, and Arkansas counties. The Native people who lived here prior to 1700 were ancestors of the Caddo and Quapaw. The Joint Educational Consortium, Inc., a cooperative educational venture between Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University, acquired the Hodges Collection in 1977. Since then, it has been curated by the professional staff at the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Henderson State University Research Station.

In 2019, we moved the Hodges Collection to open curation in the Caddo Center and used 3D scanning technology to document some of the unique and fragile objects. With grant funding in 2020, we created wall text, brochures, and this website to explain the significance of the collection and the history of Caddo people in the Arkadelphia area. We continue to develop new web content to interpret artifacts with interns in the HSU museum studies program. Visitors to the Caddo Center can access the video and 3D model pages via their smartphones or on a touchscreen monitor in the hall. The website extends this educational resource to more distant visitors.