Category: CALS Roberts Library Blog

As an intern with the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies this summer, I combed through the Small Manuscript and Arkansas Labor collections for any materials that dealt with labor organizing in the state. I found, among other things, strike songs penned by railroad workers, frantic telegrams dictated by union officials, and descriptions of blackened eyes and terminal illness from the children of coal miners.

Andrew Hamilton (Drew) Lander was a businessman and civic leader who spent five years as a member of the Little Rock City Council. His letters, donated to the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies by his family, reveal a different part of his life, when he was serving in the United States Army before and during World War II.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the CALS Roberts Library and the CALS DIY Memory Lab recently launched a new initiative designed to help Arkansas faith communities preserve and interpret their historical records. Supported with funds from the Mellon Foundation, the Religious Community History Seminar brings together ten diverse faith communities from across central Arkansas to explore archival preservation,

Although it is not as prominent as the Baptist or Methodist Churches in Arkansas, the Episcopal Church with its fifty-plus congregations holds a significant place in the history and culture of the state. Recently the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies has made its collection, the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas records (BC.MSS.10.27),

On September 3, 2025, a man named Vernon Patton was attacked by a black bear in Franklin County, an attack that ultimately proved fatal. An Arkansas Times article on the subject speculated that this attack “may be the state’s first since before the Civil War.” This was based upon a statement made by Keith Stephens,

In Arkansas, the battle over books has deep roots. Long before recent headlines about banned titles and library protests, communities across the state were already wrestling with who makes decisions about what content citizens can access.

From comics to LGBTQ+ literature, the fight over books in Arkansas has reflected broader struggles over race,

As part of the grand reopening of the reimagined CALS Main Library on October 4, 2025, the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will be unveiling a temporary display on the history of the Central Arkansas Library System in the lobby of the CALS Roberts Library. This display will expand on the content of a permanent timeline that will soon adorn a wall on the first floor of Main.

The Black business district of Little Rock known as West Ninth Street thrived after World War II but was erased during federal Urban Renewal efforts in the 1950s and ’60s.

The history of Ninth Street will always live. My siblings and I exist because we are historical markers of Ninth Street.

As the cataloging and serials librarian at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, I have the privilege of getting up close and personal with new acquisitions for the Research Room of the CALS Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art.

I will admit that getting some items cataloged can be tedious and time consuming,

Fall is in the air, and with it comes chances for some fun (and free!) art experiences at CALS!

Upcoming Workshops and Activities

Two chances for printmaking with Perrion Hurd! 

Sat., September 20, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (drop in any time during this period) 

Sat.