October 8, 1956

James Kelly Hampson, an amateur archaeologist whose Nodena Plantation in Mississippi County yielded rich artifacts dating back hundreds of years, died. Hampson’s collection of about 40,000 items was subsequently donated to the University of Arkansas. A number of items are now displayed in the Henry Clay Hampson II Museum in Wilson (Mississippi County), which is managed by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Hampson was one of only a few amateur archaeologists to be honored with an obituary in American Antiquity.