The Encyclopedia of Arkansas’s latest entry — on Pallbearer, the Little Rock doom metal band — marks a significant milestone: 8,000 published articles.

A project of the Central Arkansas Library System, the encyclopedia is a rich repository of information about the state’s history, art, culture, geography, economics, folklore and much more. Easily accessible and constantly updated, it is an invaluable educational resource. It’s like an Arkansas-specific Wikipedia but with more built-in features and ways to explore its pages. We here at the Arkansas Times crib from it often. 

More entries are already on the way. Guy Lancaster, editor of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas and an eclectic content contributor to the Arkansas Times, said there are “another 20-plus that we’ll be uploading next week.

“Last year, we uploaded 413 entries. So at this pace, entry 9,000 isn’t that far off,” Lancaster said in an email. “Thanks to everyone who keeps writing, reviewing, donating, and encouraging!”

The encyclopedia, a project of CALS’ Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, first went live in 2006, with 700 entries. In the nearly two decades since then, it has grown more than 12 times its original size and added features like quizzes and the county explorer. 

Martin Parets of Atlanta is responsible for the 8,000th article, in which he described Pallbearer as a “source of pride for Arkansas’s music scene alongside bands such as Rwake and Terminal Nation.” 

We agree. With five albums under their belt and write-ups in publications like The New York Times and Forbes (and the Arkansas Times), Pallbearer is a most worthy subject for the 8,000th article.

(Speaking of, Pallbearer has a gig coming up on June 7 at the Mutants of the Monster fest in North Little Rock.)