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The CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas (EOA) posted our annual April Fools’ Day entry today, this time about a little-known Andrew Lloyd Webber musical partially set in Arkansas, and while everyone seems to appreciate them, you should know that I’m not just making stuff up. Or that I’m not making everything up in these entries.

It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,—
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!—
It is the cause.
—Othello, Act V, Scene 2

Tracing the origin of any particular event can be an activity fraught with frustration.

Let’s take this example: On February 23,

Laura Cornelius Conner was a social reformer from Woodruff County, Arkansas, and the only woman appointed by Governor Thomas McRae to the short-lived penitentiary board in the 1920s. During her time on the board, Conner became a vocal advocate for prison reform, ultimately leading to her being shut out by her fellow members.

This month marks the twentieth year that CALS has participated in the beloved downtown Little Rock event 2nd Friday Art Night (2FAN). Celebrate with us this Friday!

Second Friday Art Night

March 14, 2025, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.  

CALS Rock It!

This month, March 2025, marks my twentieth year of wearing the title of Genealogy and Local History Specialist at the Central Arkansas Library System. I have consistently worked outside the home since age twelve, but before this, I had never kept a job for longer than five years. Most previous positions couldn’t hold my attention long.

You probably don’t regularly check the Staff or Contact Us pages on the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas (EOA) website, but if you happened to click on either of those recently, you might have noticed a new name in the mix: Starr M. Carr.

Michael Keckhaver (a.k.a.

Eliza Jane Ashley, known by those close to her as Liza or Janie, spent more than thirty years as the cook for the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. Serving from the administration of Governor Francis Cherry to that of Bill Clinton, she played a central role in the lives of the state’s political elite.

People regularly reach out to the Roberts Library to ask their most pressing questions about Arkansas history.

Sometimes we get a question from someone who needs help locating an Arkansas-based historical journal, or a phone call from someone who is interested in an Arkansas author whose volumes are held in our closed stacks.

Throughout February, and all year long, you can engage with Black history in many ways with the Central Arkansas Library System.

Black Family Expo

CALS community engagement coordinator Jessica McDaniel and community outreach archivist Danielle Afsordeh organized the first Black Family Expo at the Josephine Pankey Community Center for Black History Month in 2023,

I didn’t know my grandfather. Every time I would ask about him, I’d hear a mix of responses: “Gong Gong was frugal.” “He loved ‘Edelweiss.’” “He gave a lot of lectures.” But my dad always said, “He was a great father.” And while I never knew him (he died several months after I was born),