Month: October 2020

Genealogy is a search for your spiritual past. Standing in the present, someone guides you to a moment when you did not exist physically. Gathering evidence of those who prepared a path for your entry into the world sheds light onto who you have become.

Why do certain childhood memories remain strong while others fade?

Today we are used to political campaigns filled with sound bites and fifteen- or thirty-second commercials. When Sid McMath ran for office in Arkansas in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he often bought large blocks of radio time to broadcast campaign events or to address the people.

The Sid McMath Collection (BC.MSS.18.33) at the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies contains examples of such broadcasts,

For almost forty years, the Concordia Association, a social club established in 1864 to serve the Jewish community in Little Rock, leased space in various downtown buildings. Their meeting rooms, known at each location as Concordia Hall, often also served other Jewish organizations, as well as non-Jewish groups and individuals.

In 1882, the Concordia Association arranged with liquor distributors Max Hilb and William Probst to include a second story on their new building at 409 E.

I’m writing this on October 1, the first anniversary of the day I acquired the title of manager at the CALS Roberts Library. I knew that the work would present challenges. I didn’t expect, however, that more challenges than ever would come from outside the building, the system, the city, the state, and the country.