Butler Banner

Genealogy Workshop Illuminates Past

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, housed in the CALS Roberts Library, hosted its annual genealogy workshop on Saturday, October 7, in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater. The Butler Center has been hosting this event since 2002.

 

The expert speaker this year was Ronnie A. Nichols, a descendant of a Black Civil War veteran and a scholar of the American Civil War,


Learn More

The Root Systems of History

My long-suffering colleague Ali Welky, who manages the Roberts Library and Encyclopedia of Arkansas blogs, occasionally complains that my own contributions here too often take the form of rambling ruminations upon some book I’ve recently read that take a long time to tie back into the work we do at the EOA, and sometimes tie in rather indirectly.


Learn More

Little Rock: A Changing City

From 1930 to 1960, the tallest building in Arkansas was the Hotel Ben McGehee. Located on the northwest corner of Main and Markham Streets in downtown Little Rock, the sixteen-story Art Deco structure was designed by architect Julian Bunn Davidson.

 

The Ben McGehee was a mid-grade hotel while the Hotel Marion,


Learn More

Art Still Abounds at CALS

With the Main Library now closed for renovations, the CALS art program has had to get, well, creative!

With the closing of the Galleries & Bookstore at Library Square to make way for “Mini Main,” there have been questions about how the library system will display art and care for the works of art it owns.


Learn More

Beyond the Surface: Little Rock’s Unseen CCC Parkitecture

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Arkansas is best known for its work on state highways and parks during the Depression era. Lesser known is its municipal work.

The CCC was created as the result of U.S. Senate Bill 8.598, which was signed into law on March 31, 1933. Those enrolled in the corps had to be between eighteen and twenty-five years old (later adjusted to seventeen through twenty-eight),


Learn More

Children of History

Moments in history sometimes stand out because of the audaciousness of the action. Looking beyond the moment to examine the root reveals fascinating facts, placing that moment in a new context.

One such moment is the Central High Desegregation Crisis that was spotlighted around the world in 1957–58. The pioneering Black teens were highlighted in news programming as they attempted to attend the supposedly desegregated Little Rock Central High.


Learn More

Women’s Equality in Arkansas

Women’s Equality Day is observed in the United States each year on August 26 to recognize the day in 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was officially certified and became law, guaranteeing women the right the vote. In 1971, Representative Bella Abzug of New York championed a bill in the U.S. Congress to designate August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.”

The resolution reads as follows:

Joint Resolution of Congress,


Learn More

Subscribe

Butler Banner Archive

The Butler Banner archives between 1999-2018 are available in PDF format only. The Butler Banner was our print newsletter.

> Check out the back issues

Permissions

We allow certain outlets to reprint our copyrighted Butler Banner or CALS Roberts Library blog posts with express permission. To seek permission, please email Glenn Whaley at gwhaley@cals.org.

Archives