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Natural Connections: Paintings by Emily Moll Wood and Laura Brainard Raborn

Through Saturday, January 28, 2023

Loft Gallery, CALS Galleries & Bookstore at Library Square, Roberts Library

This exciting collection of paintings by Emily Moll Wood and Laura Brainard Raborn explores a visual dialogue with the natural world and nature’s deep connections to their own family histories.

On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed ending the fighting between the Allied nations and Germany during World War I. Known at the time as the “Great War,” the conflict had consumed the world for four long years and brought unprecedented death and destruction. The following year, President Woodrow Wilson commemorated the first anniversary of Armistice Day with the following words:

“To us in America the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service,

I’ve been pondering matters of terminology quite a bit here lately—namely, the limits of our words to capture anything like reality.

This stems, in large part, from my own research into racial violence. There are fantastic debates among historians, sociologists, political scientists, and more about whether the term race riot is a useful descriptor that should continue to be employed.

A portrait photographer’s hardest challenge is persuading people to sit or stand still. That was even more true in the old days when camera shutter speeds were slower and the slightest twitch blurred the picture. The problem was compounded with babies, who are notoriously difficult to persuade to sit still.

One trick old-time photographers used when they were asked to make baby portraits was hiding the baby’s mother in the photograph.

“All right, we’re going to do a quick mic test first. Could you introduce yourself—name, pronouns, title—and give just a little greeting? Then I’ll play it back and start the intro.”

As they ran through the line, I turned in my chair to flick a switch. Outside the recording room, a bright red light cast its cheerful message in the hall: RECORDING.

Steven Wise: O…Is for Ozarks

On view through Saturday, October 29, 2022

Loft Gallery, CALS Galleries & Bookstore at Library Square, Roberts Library

O…Is for Ozarks is made up of large pictures inspired by artist and naturalist Steven Wise’s study of the Ozark Mountains. (Click to expand the images.)

Johnnie B. Pugh was born Johnnie Beatrice Newton to Moses and Odessa Newton in Snyder, Arkansas, on October 1, 1926. Pugh was a nurse, maid, community activist, political leader, and businesswoman. Unfortunately, I was unaware of Pugh, her major and minor contributions, or her personal and professional achievements until I decided to pursue a Master’s in Library and Information Science with a concentration in archival studies and wanted some practical experience in the profession.

The history community is like an ecosystem, with its various parts drawing energy and nutrition from other areas and, in turn, contributing energy and nutrition to other parts in ways that might not be immediately perceptible.

This is a reality that confronts me nearly every day. You see, the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas does not exist,

For Hispanic Heritage Month 2022, the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies created a special webpage for researchers who want to learn more about the Latinx/Hispanic community of Arkansas: https://robertslibrary.org/hispanic-heritage/

The Butler Center also recorded nine oral history interviews with Arkansas community members who are either part of the Latinx and Hispanic communities in Arkansas or work closely in Latinx and Hispanic community development in the state.

Mariah Holyfield Roland was my grandmother’s grandmother. Family and friends called her “Skeet.” She was thin and tall like my grandmother, and it seems something about her reminded someone of a mosquito. The first six years of my life were under the roof of my grandparents, Willie Toombs and Lillie Stewart Toombs.

As a child,