Category: CALS Roberts Library Blog

If you have had the pleasure of reading our February blog post A New Face at the EOA, Alongside Older Ones, you know that I had the honor of taking over for the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas’s previous media editor, Michael Keckhaver (a.k.a. Sterno). Sterno left behind a legacy of nearly twenty years of work,

Pablo was a non-alcoholic drink created by Pabst Brewing Company in 1916. The company created the drink at a time when the temperance movement was gaining widespread support in the country. It was only a few years later that the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which outlawed alcoholic beverages, was passed. Prohibition lasted until 1933 when it was repealed via the Twenty-First Amendment to the U.S.

“Did you know that Arkansas is mentioned in the Bible? Yeah, there’s that verse that begins, ‘Noah stepped out of the ark an’ saw…’”

I heard that joke from a Baptist youth pastor back in the mid-1990s—a joke so groan-worthy I still remember it some thirty years later. It sprang to mind one recent summer morning when I was walking the dog.

Franklin Williams is one of many Arkansans who served in the armed forces of the United States during both World War II and the Korean War. His collection at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System contains a notable sample of the type of communications developed on behalf of those in military service in the middle of the twentieth century.

The bond between the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the Center for Arkansas History and Culture—a collaboration between the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) and the University of Arkansas Little Rock (UA Little Rock) that makes archival materials from both entities available to the public in the Research Room at the CALS Roberts Library—began as a dream of the possibility of connecting patrons with local history in an organized way that meets the standards of archivists and genealogists on a national level.

I always knew that June was Pride Month for the LGBTQ+ community, but I didn’t know until recently that July is Disability Pride Month. As soon as I found out, I got excited to create a program highlighting Arkansans with disabilities who have become known locally, nationally, and internationally for their incredible accomplishments.

The labels we assign to people in our lives are sometimes inadequate when describing their place in history. The names we call our grandparents are often different than the names their children assign to them or the names their friends and extended family assign to them.

I know my grandfather as “Paw Paw.” His name is Willie Toombs,

The Harrison-Jones Family Papers (MSS.12.21), although they are small collection, provide insights into a surprising variety of topics. Based on the personal papers of Eula Ruth Jones Harrison, the collection documents both the Jones family of Clark County and the Harrison family of Howard County. Of special interest is the material documenting the military service of Lewis T.

Summer @ CALS, the summer reading program at the Central Arkansas Library System, is in full swing, and this year’s theme, Color Our World!, celebrates making and enjoying art.

One of the ways we’re celebrating our colorful, art-filled world at the CALS Roberts Library is the Studio Scans program with the DIY Memory Lab.

For the first Lizard Luau of Summer @ CALS, the staff and patrons at the CALS Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center welcomed Megan, who works for Arkansas Reptile Rescue. I brought the lizard stickers and the reptile toys, the lizard coloring sheets, and the presentation full of pictures and factoids to the Children’s Library.