August 13, 1888

Marvin Elmer Oliver, an artist, farmer, and civil service employee in the Arkansas Ozarks, was born on Drakes Creek, a few miles southeast of Huntsville (Madison County). In 1955, he produced 400 copies of a book, Strange Scenes in the Ozarks, assembled primarily by hand, which attracted notice because of its unique artistic qualities. The text and illustrations, reproduced using the serigraph process, describe a way of life that, by the mid-1950s, was disappearing from the Ozarks. The distinctive illustrations make it an item of interest to collectors of Arkansiana and regional art.