The Pryor Center hosted Dan Boice, Library Director at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and author of Naming Arkansas: Curious Place Names from Greasy Corner to Sock City, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, at 6 p.m. for a lecture titled "Place Names: Heritage, Hope, and Happenstance.” Who hasn't wondered about the origin of Arkansas place names like Smackover or Possum Grape? During his talk, Boice explored these places and others, examining how towns in Washington County, and across the state of Arkansas, got their unique names. Boice is a native of West Michigan, where his path to the major leagues was blocked when pitchers began throwing him curve balls. He attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and received master’s degrees in history and library science from the University of Michigan. Boice worked at academic libraries in Illinois, South Carolina, and Iowa before becoming the library director at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, where he continues to serve, in 2015. Boice has had a lifelong dilettante’s love for other languages, and especially for the etymological riches of English and its regional variants. In 2024 The History Press published his book, Naming Arkansas: Curious Place Names from Greasy Corner to Sock City. Little Rock Public Radio airs his notes on place names called "Naming Arkansas" on KUAR.
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
