Category: CALS Roberts Library Blog

The CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies’ recently processed Abramson family papers showcase the personal and business life of a prominent family from Holly Grove in Monroe County, Arkansas. They owned vast tracts of land in Monroe and Lee Counties, much of which was worked by tenant farmers, and also owned and operated the cotton gin,

People across the country watched the Oscars on Sunday to celebrate all the big movies of last year. In this previous blog post, I took a more local view, writing about finding out that the movie Best Pancakes in the Country was filming here in the Little Rock area. In various interviews,

Researching family history is always a journey. This week, that journey took me to the discovery of a relative I had never heard of. A routine review of databases revealed names that were familiar in my research but included a child I did not know: Leslie Eugene Toombs. His last name was transcribed as “Traubs.” His parents were listed as Willie and Adeaner Toombs.

Organized by the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (ACNMWA), the exhibition Arkansas Women to Watch 2026: Words Become Matter is on view through April 18, 2026, in the Underground Gallery at the CALS Roberts Library (401 President Clinton Ave.). Roberts Library visiting information is at https://robertslibrary.org/visit/location-hours/.

Now in its fourth year, the Black Family Expo was held this year in the recently renovated CALS Main Library, taking over the entire fifth floor. The expo took place over three hours on Saturday, February 7, and we had more than 300 participants throughout the event. Fourteen family and organizational tables were set up to share stories and resources with visitors,

With Lunar New Year beginning today, February 17, I’ve been digging through old boxes and bins at my parents’ house, searching for photos and videos of how my family has celebrated this holiday over the years.

Lunar New Year is one of the most significant celebrations in Chinese culture. It is a holiday dedicated to honoring the people who came before us—our ancestors and past loved ones—as well as a time to celebrate the fresh start and fortune of a new year in the lunisolar calendar.

In the year 2026, it is common to see people using personal phones with features that combine technology from the last one hundred years into a small hand-held device. These cellphones, smart watches, or hands-free technology allow you to talk to others, take pictures, do research, or navigate to locations you have never visited.

Nicolas Cage was in Little Rock last month.

I learned this fact from a recent short piece in AY Magazine noting that filming for the movie Best Pancakes in the Country, starring Cage, was starting to wrap up. Apparently, the action movie has exactly one setting,

The bronze statue of Icarus and Daedalus has been part of the Central Arkansas Library System’s art collection since 1967. It was created in 1965 by Philadelphia artist Evangelos Frudakis (1921–2019) and donated to CALS in 1967 by Raymond Rebsamen, a businessman active in downtown revitalization and a leader of the Urban Progress Association.

Since its beginnings, the Central Arkansas Library System has helped patrons with genealogical research. A donation from the Richard L. Butler family enhanced the collection and elevated the service to the community with the establishment in 1997 of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, now housed in the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library for Arkansas History &