Tag Archives: CALS

Legacies & Lunch today: Women During the Civil War

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howardArkansas women faced monumental challenges during the Civil War. To commemorate Women’s History Month, Rebecca Howard will speak about women during the Civil War era for the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies’ Legacies and Lunch program on Wednesday, March 6, at noon in the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street.

Howard’s presentation will focus on the stories of northwest Arkansas women who faced hardships including starvation, displacement, and harassment. She uses diaries, newspaper articles, government claims, and service and pension records to illustrate the experience of a variety of northwest Arkansas women, from the perspectives of Union and Confederate, rich and poor, black and white.

Howard is currently a PhD candidate in History at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She completed her undergraduate work at Texas A&M. A northwest Arkansas native, Howard is focusing her dissertation work on that region during and after the Civil War.

The Butler Center’s Legacies & Lunch program is free and open to the public and supported in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Attendees are invited to bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert will be provided.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). It was founded in 1997 to promote the study and appreciation of Arkansas history and culture. The Butler Center’s research collections, art galleries, and offices are located in the Arkansas Studies Institute building at 401 President Clinton Ave. on the campus of the CALS Main Library. For more information, call 918-3086.

CALS celebrates READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY in honor of Dr. Seuss

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CALS Celebrates Read Across America Day

read_across_americaOne fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. 

Celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) at events during Read Across America Day. Crafts and parties encourage patrons to pick a book and read with the whole family.  All events are free and open to the public.

Activities started yesterday and continue today.

At Park Plaza Mall from 11am to 2pm, there are Read Across America Day crafts.  Events at Park Plaza Mall are provided by the new Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th Street, which will open to the public on March 16.

A Dr. Seuss Birthday Party will take place at the Fletcher Library today at 10am.  In addition, a Bilingual Dr. Seuss Birthday Party will be at the Main Library at 10:30am.

On Monday at 6pm, the McMath Library will host a Dr. Seuss Pajama Party.  Let’s face it, most Dr. Seuss characters look like they are wearing pajamas.

On Wednesday, the Terry Library will host a Dr. Seuss Birthday Sock Hop at 6:30pm.  No word on whether they will be Hopping on Pop.  So go and find out.

CALS libraries in Little Rock include:

  • Main Library, 100 Rock Street;
  • Dee Brown Library, 6325 Baseline Road;
  • Fletcher Library, 823 North Buchanan Street;
  • Oley E. Rooker Library, 11 Otter Creek Court;
  • Terry Library, 2015 Napa Valley Drive;
  • Thompson Library, 38 Rahling Circle;
  • Williams Library, 1800 Chester Street;
  • McMath Library, 2100 John Barrow Road.

CALS libraries in surrounding communities include:

  • Max Milam Library, 609 Aplin Avenue, Perryville;
  • Maumelle Library, 10 Lake Pointe Drive, Maumelle;
  • Esther D. Nixon Library, 703 W. Main Street, Jacksonville
  • Amy Sanders Library, 31 Shelby Drive, Sherwood

Friday Faces of February: Andrew Carnegie

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andrewcarnegieThis Friday’s face is a bronze plaque of Andrew Carnegie. It can be found in the first floor of the main building of the Central Arkansas Library System.

A Scottish immigrant to the US, he amassed a great wealth as an industrialist, chiefly in the steel industry.  He started funding libraries in the 1880s.  He set up the Carnegie Corporation and used that as one of his avenues for philanthropy, especially for the establishment of libraries.

There were several Carnegie Libraries built in Arkansas.  Little Rock’s first public library, which opened in 1910, was one of these libraries.  It was located at the southwest corner of 7th and Louisiana.

The original building was razed in 1964, but the four columns which were on the front facade now stand outside the current Main Library building at 100 Rock Street.

2013’s first 2nd Friday Art Night!

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Start the New Year off right by visiting the various sites participating in 2nd Friday Art Night.  Downtown from 5pm to 8pm tonight, there are museums and galleries staying open later with great art, music and refreshments.

Here are a few highlights:

Christ Church (509 Scott Street) features an exhibit entitled “Beating Hooves.”  Featuring pen and ink drawings by Mary Shelton, this exhibit focuses on horses and jockeys in the horse racing milieu.  It is a perfect way to get in the mood for racing season at Oaklawn.  The exhibit runs through March 3.

Old State House (300 West Markham) will offer live music by Geoffrey Robson and David Gerstein.  These two master musicians will perform duos for violin and cello, featuring works by Beethoven, Schubert, and Zoltan Kodaly. Robson is violinist and associate conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Gerstein is principal cellist of the ASO.

Historic Arkansas Museum (200 East Third Street) opens a new exhibit entitled “Marty Smith: Perfect Balance.”  It will be in the second floor gallery.  Continuing exhibits include “Beyond the Expected: Norwood Creech, Paulette Palmer and Edward Wade, Jr.,” “Recent Acquisitions: A Collection Vision, 2008 – 2012,” and “We Walk in Two Worlds.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies of the Central Arkansas Library System is also opening a new exhibit tonight.  In the Clinton for Arkansas exhibition, selected materials from the Bill Clinton State Government Project depict Clinton’s political career in Arkansas and its impact on the state. Items representing both politics and policy are featured, including materials from his run for Congress in 1974 and his term as attorney general, as well as from his twelve years as governor. In addition, the exhibition highlights campaign memorabilia from 1974 through his second presidential bid in 1996.

Legacies & Lunch: Annie Abrams

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The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will host Annie Abrams as the speaker for Legacies & Lunch on Wednesday, December 5, at noon in the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street.  Abrams has been involved in Arkansas politics for over 60 years and will discuss experiences gained with her many civic and political duties.

Abrams has served as a consultant to many Arkansas governors, including Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers, Bill Clinton, Jim Guy Tucker, and Mike Beebe. She currently serves on the board of directors for Our House and as commissioner for the Fair Housing Commission.

The Butler Center’s Legacies & Lunch program is free and open to the public, and supported in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Attendees are invited to bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert will be provided.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is a department of the Central Arkansas Library System. It was founded in 1997 to promote the study and appreciation of Arkansas history and culture. The Butler Center’s research collections, art galleries, and offices are located in the Arkansas Studies Institute building at 401 President Clinton Ave. on the campus of the CALS Main Library.

Legacies and Lunch: Deering Discusses Fisher and Political Cartoons

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John Deering, Chief Editorial Cartoonist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, will discuss the history and importance of cartoons created by George Fisher.  The talk takes place today as part of the monthly “Legacies & Lunch” program.

Fisher was a political cartoonist for more than 50 years whose work influenced and helped define Arkansas politics and politicians for a generation.

Among his legacies were Orval Faubus and the Farkleberry Tree (pictured at right), Bill Clinton graduating from buggy to tricycle to bike to pickup, David Pryor and his coon dog, Frank White and his banana and the Old Guard Rest Home.

Legacies & Lunch is sponsored in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert are provided.

It will take place in the Darragh Center inside the main library building.  The program starts at 12noon and ends at 1pm.  The program is free.

Darragh Distinguished Lecture Tonight at CALS

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Henry Petroski, the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and professor of history at Duke University, will give the Fred K. Darragh Jr. Distinguished Lecture tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street.

In his talk, Why Ships Sink and Bridges Fall Down, Petroski will discuss how success and failure are related to each other from engineering and design perspectives. His newest book, To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure, is about why ships sink, bridges collapse, and engineered systems of all kinds can misbehave. The lecture will be followed by a book signing and reception.

Seating is open, and reservations are requested, but not required, to Lee Ann Blackwell, CALS PR Specialist, or 918-3029.

Petroski has written broadly on the topics of design, success, and failure, and the history of engineering and technology. His seventeen books on these subjects include To Engineer Is Human, Design Paradigms, and Engineers of Dreams, which deal principally with large structures like bridges. He has also written about small, common things in his books The Pencil, The Toothpick, The Evolution of Useful Things, and Small Things Considered. His most recently published books include An Engineer’s Alphabet: Gleanings from the Softer Side of a Profession, which is a collection of serious and not-so-serious observations, lists, reflections, and speculations relating to the engineering profession.