Category: CALS Roberts Library Blog

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,

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.

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,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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,

Some years back, my wife and I rented a cabin in Ponca near the Buffalo River. The idea was to snuggle down for a cold weather spell over Thanksgiving week,