BENTONVILLE, Ark.—Scattered remnants of Howard W. Evenden’s life were placed gently on a table at the Benton County sheriff’s office.

Family members are frozen in sepia-toned photographs. Soldiers walk beside a World War I tank down an unknown road in Europe. An envelope torn on one side is postmarked 1944 from someone in Iowa and addressed to Evenden in Rogers.

A suitcase containing pieces of Evenden’s history was found Thursday morning on a residential driveway in Rogers.

Deputies looked through the photographs and material, dating as far back as the 1800s, for clues about whom the suitcase belongs to.

“I don’t think this has been opened for 60 years,” said Sgt. Rich Conner.

Deputies said they found several photographs of a man they believe is Evenden. There is also a 1937 Iowa driver’s license that listed Evenden as 56 years old.

The sheriff’s office is looking for information about the whereabouts of Evenden’s family so they can return the lost luggage.

Conner did some online research and found that a Howard W. Evenden died in 1957 and was buried in the Fayetteville National Cemetery.

The trail to Evenden’s past generally leads back to Iowa but other material mentions places in Arkansas, New York and Wyoming, Conner said.

Newspaper clippings were tucked into albums, some detailing adventures of pilots. A Converse Gas and Oil stock certificate in mint condition was bought in 1931 for four payments of $12.50. A lease to a farm in Guthrie County, Iowa, from 1931 was purchased for $440.

“This is somebody’s life,” said Deputy Doug Gay, public information officer.

One photo album was not like the others. It contained numerous black-and-white photographs of war zones in Europe during World War I.

In the pictures, soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder, grins on their faces, maybe during a quiet moment at their camps. Others depict them hunched over in trenches. In another, a German tank is in disarray on the side of a road.

Deputies have exhausted their search online, Conner said. The next step is to contact local museums if no one claims the suitcase, he said.

Anyone with information about the items can contact the sheriff’s office at (479) 271-1008.