"Hardison also pursued his idea of establishing a park on Petit Jean Mountain, heading a campaign to have land deeded to the federal government for a national park. When that fell through, he and his associates approached the state government, which established Petit Jean State Park in 1923. Afterward, Hardison continued efforts to publicize and enhance the new attraction through letters, articles, and speeches. Hardison’s “Legend of Petit Jean” became a popular story, and he wrote two pamphlets under the series title “A Place Called Petit Jean,” covering area folklore, geology, paleontology, natural history, the history of Anglo-American settlement, and archaeology. The latter subject specifically focused on Petit Jean Mountain’s rich concentrations of aboriginal rock art, much of which Hardison personally discovered and catalogued. In 1929, the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society awarded Hardison the Cornelius Amory Pugsley Award (bronze medal) for his service in the Arkansas State Park movement." - Encyclopedia of Arkansas