Category Archives: History

DOWNTON ABBEY marathon this weekend at Ark Arts Center

Posted on by

arkartsWhile Kenwood House may have better art than Downton Abbey, the latter certainly has the former beat in the drama department.  This weekend, in conjunction with the Treasures of Kenwood House exhibit, the Arkansas Arts Center is showing a marathon of the first three seasons of “Downton Abbey.”

Though the Dowager Countess Grantham may not know what a weekend is, the Arts Center does.  The staff realizes it will take an entire weekend to screen the episodes of this Emmy winning series.

The marathon kicks off on Friday night at 6pm with season one.  It will pick up on Saturday at 6pm with the second season.  The third season will start showing on Sunday morning at 11am.

The programs will be screened in the lecture hall, which features a large screen covering most of a wall.  The screenings are free of charge.

a1dowton-abby-opening-credits1

Korean War focus of 3 Exhibits this week

Posted on by
koreanwarThis week there are exhibits on the Korean War on display at three different locations in Central Arkansas — the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Arkansas State Capitol and Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.  This year marks the 60th anniversary of the ending of the three year conflict.
The Korean War has often been overshadowed by other conflicts, such as World War II and the Vietnam War. Much of the history of the war exists only in the memories and mementos of its veterans. Approximately 6,300 Arkansans served in the war, including six who received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In addition to the displays this week, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is gathering Arkansas-related Korean War materials to preserve this important history.

On Wednesday, July 24 at 10am, there will be a ceremony at the Arkansas State Capitol in the second floor of the rotunda.

The Butler Center is located at 401 President Clinton Avenue in Little Rock.
The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs is located at 2200 Fort Roots Dr # 65  in North Little Rock.

Mount Holly continues Saturday Summer Special Events

Posted on by

Flag Day 4Mount Holly Cemetery, burial site of Little Rock Mayors, Governors, Senators and Pulitzer Prize winners, will host another in their Garden Series today at 9:00am.

Presented by the Downtown Dames, this month’s event features a program on water gardening.

The Mount Holly Garden series is presented by the Downtown Dames. A $5.00 suggested donation benefits Mount Holly. Refreshments served and we always have door prizes. Ample parking inside the cemetery and along 13th Street.

Entrance will be via the 13th Street gate only.

The next program will be on August 17.

Founded in 1843, Mount Holly has been called “The Westminster Abbey of Arkansas.” Thousands of visitors come each year. Those interested in history come to see the resting places of the territorial citizens of the state, including governors, senators, generals, black artisans, and even a Cherokee princess.

For others the cemetery is an open air museum of artistic eras: Classical, Victorian, Art Deco, Modern––expressed in gravestone styles from simple to elaborate. Some come to read the epitaphs that range from heartbreaking to humorous to mysterious.

The cemetery is maintained by the Mount Holly Cemetery Association, a non-profit organization with a volunteer Board of Directors. The cemetery is located at 1200 South Broadway in Little Rock, Arkansas. Gates are open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. in the summer.

Rembrandt Lecture at Arkansas Arts Center tonight

Posted on by
Rembrandt van Rijn Portrait of the Artist, ca. 1665 Oil on canvas Kenwood House, English Heritage, Iveagh Bequest (88028836) Photo courtesy American Federation of Arts

Rembrandt van Rijn
Portrait of the Artist, ca. 1665
Oil on canvas
Kenwood House, English Heritage, Iveagh Bequest (88028836)
Photo courtesy American Federation of Arts

Tonight at the Arkansas Arts Center, there is a lecture in conjunction with the Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London exhibit.

The Arkansas Arts Center is presenting “Rembrandt and Fallibility,” a lecture by Jon L. Seydl, the Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos, Jr., Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, 1500-1800, at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The program begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception followed by a 6 p.m. lecture at the Arkansas Arts Center.  The admission is $10 for non-members; free for members and students.

A specialist in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italian art, Seydl was awarded a B.A. in Art History from Yale University in 1990, and then earned his M.A. (1998) and Ph.D. (2003) in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania, writing his dissertation on images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the eighteenth century. His exhibitions include Rembrandt in America (2011-12); The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection, on Pompeii in the modern imagination from the eighteenth century to the present day (2012-13); and is currently planning projects on Golden Age Seville, the Renaissance painter Savoldo, and art in the age of Shakespeare.

Attendees are welcome to stay after the lecture to view Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London during the exhibition’s special extended hours.

Best Impressions restaurant will also be open during the extended hours.

Arts Council announces Gov Arts Award recipients

Posted on by

Arkansas_Arts_Council_logo_2The Arkansas Arts Council has announced the recipients of the 2013 Governor’s Arts Awards.

They are:
Arts Community Development Award – Bob Ford and Amy Herzberg (Fayetteville)
Arts in Education Award – Paul Leopoulos (North Little Rock)
Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts Award – Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, PLLC (Little Rock)
Folklife Award – Paula Morell (North Little Rock)
Individual Artist Award – Robert Hupp (Little Rock)
Patron Award – Lee and Dale Ronnel (Little Rock)
Lifetime Achievement Award – Billie Seamans (McGehee)
Judges Special Recognition Award – Farrell Ford (Arkadelphia)

The awards will be presented in the fall.

Last Week of “Jazz Through the Eyes of Herman Leonard”

Posted on by
Dinah Washington photo by Herman Leonard

Dinah Washington photo by Herman Leonard

Fans of jazz, photography or American popular culture in the 20th Century have one more week to see the exquisite exhibit “Jazz Through the Eyes of Herman Leonard.”  The exhibit, which opened in March, closes on July 21 at the Clinton Presidential Center.

Herman Leonard was a popular and influential photographer well into the 2000s, but is best known for his crisp, high-contrast black and white images of famous jazz performers from the 1940s and 1950s.

The exhibit features the who’s who of this uniquely American music.  If you have a favorite jazz singer, musician or composer, Herman Leonard photographed them – and they are featured in this collection.

Leonard caught the eye of jazz fans around the world, and Bill Clinton is no exception. Clinton called Leonard: “The greatest jazz photographer in the history of the genre” and has several Leonard prints hanging in his office in Harlem.

This exhibit features over 40 large-format black and white prints made and signed by Herman Leonard. To help tell the story of the artists in the images personal objects will accompany the stunning Leonard images.

Little Rock Look Back: Mayor James A. Woodson

Posted on by

IMG_0298On July 14, 1848, future Little Rock Mayor James Alexander Woodson was born in North Carolina.  The son of two prominent eastern families, he and his parents moved to Pine Bluff in 1849.  His father died within two weeks of the families arrival in Arkansas.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted as a drummer boy in the Ninth Arkansas infantry but was discharged because of his youth. He worked as a clerk at a general store in Pine Bluff. After the Civil War ended, he attended school in Virginia and Maryland before returning Pine Bluff. Upon his return he worked in the steamboat business and eventually started working in railroads. He was instrumental in putting together one of the forerunners of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and worked for them for 18 years.

Woodson moved to Little Rock in March 1881 and continued working for the railroad until 1891.  Working in the mercantile business allowed him more time to be engaged in civic affairs.  In 1895 he was elected mayor.   He handily defeated former mayor W. G. Whipple who was seeking to return to office.

During Mayor Woodson’s tenure, he oversaw renovations of Little Rock City Hall (which was located at the time on the north side of Markham between Main Street and Louisiana Street).  He also championed the construction of a city hospital and the first free bridge across the Arkansas River.  Mayor Woodson was reelected in April 1897 and April 1899.

In April 1890, he resigned to take over the Arkansas and Southwestern Railway.  After restoring it to sound financial footing, he later led the Arkansas Asphalt Company.  That company provided the first asphalt for paving Little Rock city streets.

Woodson served as a director of the Little Rock board of trade (forerunner to the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce), director of the Mercantile Trust Company and president of the state board of trade (forerunner of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce).

Woodson married Virginia Lanier in 1868.  They had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood.  Mayor Woodson died on October 19, 1908 and is buried in Mt. Holly Cemetery.  His wife lived until 1937 and is buried next to him.  Also buried in Mt. Holly are their children James Alexander, Benjamin Morehead and Gertrude Woodson Hardeman; each of whom died before their mother.  Mrs. Hardeman’s husband and son are also buried in Mt. Holly.