Tag Archives: Department of Parks Heritage and Tourism

Today at noon – Bill Worthen discusses Historic Arkansas Museum for Butler Center Legacies & Lunch

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Bill-Worthen_K0A4687-webAt Legacies & Lunch, Bill Worthen, director of the Historic Arkansas Museum, will discuss the museum’s history, placing emphasis on Louise Loughborough, founder of the museum, and Ed Cromwell, who led the museum after Loughborough’s death.

Worthen, a Little Rock native, is a graduate of Hall High School and Washington University, St. Louis. After teaching high school in Pine Bluff for three years, Worthen became director of what was then known as the Arkansas Territorial Restoration in 1972. In 1981, the organization became the first history museum in Arkansas to be accredited by the American Association of Museums. The museum was renamed the Historic Arkansas Museum in 2001 to reflect its expanded facility and mission. Worthen’s current research interests are the bowie knife, sometimes called the Arkansas toothpick, and the Arkansas Traveler, in its many forms.

Legacies & Lunch is free, open to the public, and supported in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Programs are held from noon-1 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. Attendees are invited to bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert are provided. For more information, contact 918-3033.

In concert tonight at Wildwood Park – Chamber Music Society of Little Rock presents Brooklyn Rider

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The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, in collaboration with Wildwood Park for the Arts, is proud to present Brooklyn Rider in its second concert of the season.

Hailed as “the future of chamber music” (Strings), the game-changing string quartet Brooklyn Rider presents eclectic repertoire in gripping performances that continue to draw rave reviews from classical, world, and rock critics alike. NPR credits Brooklyn Rider with “recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble”; the Los Angeles Times dubs the group “one of the wonders of contemporary music”; and Vice likens its members to “motocross daredevils who never screw up a stunt.”

Program:
Dig The Say – VIJAY IYER (b. 1971)
“Maintenance Music” – DANA LYN (b. 1974)
“Show Me” – AOIFE O’DONOVAN (b. 1982)
Ping Pong Fumble Thaw – GLENN KOTCHE (b. 1970)
John Steinbeck – BILL FRISELL (b.1951)
“Five-Legged Cat” – GONZALO GRAU (b. 1972)
Bradbury Studies – GABRIEL KAHANE (b. 1981)
String Quartet No.13, in A minor, Op. 29, D.804, “Rosamunde” FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)

Adult admission is $30 and FREE for students (K-College). Tickets available at the door or at www.ChamberMusicLR.com

This program supported, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Lost + Found: Saving Downtowns in Arkansas” exhibit by Old State House Museum and Cromwell firm runs through December 11

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The Old State House Museum and Cromwell Architects Engineers present a new exhibit: “Lost + Found: Saving Downtowns in Arkansas.” The exhibit will highlight eight different structures in Arkansas and raise awareness of the need for the preservation of Arkansas’s architectural heritage, and will be on exhibit for four weeks from November 13, 2015, until December 11, 2015.

“This exhibit takes a close look at eight pieces of Arkansas’s architectural heritage; some of those are in dire need of preservation, and others are outstanding examples of restoration and creative reuse,” said Bill Gatewood, Old State House Museum director. “The Old State House Museum is a natural venue for this exhibit, as the repository of the drawings of Charles L. Thompson and as one of the state’s earliest historic preservation success stories.”

“Lost + Found” highlights eight different projects completed or renovated by Cromwell during its 130 year history. These include projects in Little Rock (Little Rock City Hall, the Federal Reserve Bank Building and 615 Main Street), North Little Rock, (St Joseph’s Home for Children) Pine Bluff (the Temple Building and the Pines Hotel) and Hot Springs (the de Soto and Majestic Hotels). Many of these structures were designed by Charles L. Thompson, one of the founders of Cromwell and one of the most-known and prolific architects in Arkansas in the 20th century.

The Old State House Museum will also host several programs to showcase the exhibit. “Lost + Found” will take center stage on Second Friday Art Night at the Museum on Friday, November 13. The Museum will be open until 8 p.m. for the opening of the exhibit. On Thursday, December 3, at noon, Dan Fowler of Cromwell will present a Brown Bag Lunch Lecture chronicling his firm’s 130 year history. The Museum will also release articles weekly on its blog which will enhance the information provided in the exhibit. Admission is free to the Museum and all events.

About the Old State House Museum The Old State House Museum is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and shares the goal of all seven Department of Arkansas Heritage agencies, that of preserving and enhancing the heritage of the state of Arkansas. The agencies are Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Historic Arkansas Museum, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and the Old State House Museum.

About Cromwell Architects Engineers

Cromwell Architects Engineers is an international client-focused, integrated building services firm based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Celebrating its 130th anniversary in 2015, Cromwell is committed to the state of Arkansas and its people, who have been the foundation for its success. For more information, visit online at cromwell.com.

About Abandoned Arkansas

Abandoned Arkansas is dedicated to preserving Arkansas’ most precious history that may be on the verge of being lost forever. Through photography, video, articles and an active social media presence, Abandoned Arkansas documents the stories that go along with each structure. Online at abandonedar.com.

Suffragist Clara McDiarmid focus of Old State House Museum Brown Bag lecture today at noon

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OSH Brown BagToday at noon, the Old State House Museum Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series continues with Danyelle McNeill, Digital Archivist at the Arkansas History Commission, who will share her research on Clara McDiarmid, one of Arkansas’s most influential reformers in the nineteenth century.

She will be talking about Clara McDiarmid, her life and family and her work with suffrage and temperance. Much has been written about Clara, some accurate and some not so accurate.

 

The Old State House Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

HAM kicks off 75th Anniversary Celebration with Candlelight Gala

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HAM CandleThe biennial Candlelight Gala will usher Historic Arkansas Museum into its 75th Diamond Anniversary tonight.

The 20th Candlelight Gala will be a special night for friends, families and colleagues who value Arkansas heritage, history and the arts. Proceeds from the 20th Candlelight Gala will empower Historic Arkansas Museum to continue protecting and preserving our Arkansas heritage.

Historic Arkansas Museum is both a history and historic site museum. The museum’s mission is to communicate the early history of Arkansas and its creative legacy through preserving, interpreting, and presenting stories and collections for the education and enjoyment of the people who visit.

Founded in 1941 as the Arkansas Territorial Restoration, it was one of Arkansas’ first historic preservation efforts.  The museum of today has far exceeded what the founders could have envisioned.  It not only contains Little Rock’s oldest buildings but also some of its newest art.

Historic Arkansas Museum is led by longtime director Bill Worthen. It is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Sandwich in History at the Thomas M. Clifton house today

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sandwich Thomas M Clifton HouseThe monthly architectural history program “Sandwiching in History” visits the Thomas M. Clifton House, located at 1423 South Summit Street. The program begins at noon today.  A historian with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program delivers a brief lecture about the church before leading guests on a tour.

Located in the Central High School Neighborhood Historic District, this house was built about 1900 and features elements of the Craftsman and Colonial Revival styles. The first long-term occupant was Thomas M. Clifton, who worked in the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad shops.

Sandwiching in History is a program of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.  The AHPP is responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other DAH agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Historic Arkansas Museum.

Role of Arkansas in development of MLB focus of documentary at Clinton School

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The-First-Boys-of-SpringTonight at 6pm at the Ron Robinson Theater, the Clinton School will screen the new documentary The First Boys of Spring. 

Beginning in 1886, baseball spring training was held for the first time, not in Florida or Arizona, but in the Arkansas resort town of Hot Springs, and that’s where the annual rite caught on. For parts of eight decades, many of the best who ever played the game, came to Hot Springs to shake off the rust from winters to prepare for long seasons ahead, with such teams as the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Pirates—and the Negro League’s Monarchs, Crawfords, and Grays.

The First Boys of Spring is a one-hour documentary by award-winning filmmaker Larry Foley, narrated by Academy Award-winner Billy Bob Thornton. The film tells stories of baseball Hall of Famers who worked out, gambled and partied in Hot Springs, including Cy Young, Satchel Paige, Honus Wagner and baseball’s first superstar, Mike “King” Kelly. A central figure is a young Babe Ruth, who belted a 573-foot home run into the Arkansas Alligator Farm in March of 1918, while trying to convince Boston Red Sox management to play him every day, even though he was already the game’s dominant pitcher.

The First Boys of Spring is made possible by Visit Hot Springs, Arkansas Humanities Council, University of Arkansas, Munro Foundation, Morris Foundation, The Arlington Hotel Resort Hotel and Spa and the Department of Arkansas Heritage.