Programs

The Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art (including CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas) offers programs and guest speakers to groups of all sizes and ages. We will come and speak to your civic, religious, family reunion, and other community groups about Arkansas history, CALS Art Collection, Butler Center of Arkansas Studies collections, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, and Personal Archiving/DIY Memory Lab. Programs and guest speakers are available in person within the CALS service area (Pulaski and Perry Counties Arkansas) and virtually anywhere in the world.

To schedule a program or speaker, please contact Heather Zbinden (Programs & Website Coordinator) at hzbinden@cals.org.

Most programs are 30 to 35 minutes in length plus time for questions unless otherwise noted.

Adult and All Ages

Program: Bitter Sacrifices: Japanese American Incarceration in World War II Arkansas
Description: Between 1942 and 1945, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast were incarcerated at ten centers around the country, including at Rohwer and Jerome, Arkansas, for looking like the enemy. The CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies holds the single largest collection of art and writing from the camps. Learn about this dark chapter in American and Arkansas history and see some of the creative works left behind.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 35 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

Program: Chasing the Dress: An Arkansan in the Court of Tsar Nicholas II
Description: Katherine Carson Breckinridge of Pine Bluff attended the wedding and coronation of Nicholas II. How did an American woman adapt to the grandeur and majesty of life within a 300-year-old Imperial dynasty? Did she get pulled into the regal life of the gilded palaces, court dress, and rubbing shoulders with royalty? Or did she stick to the principles she was raised with – economy of person and strict Presbyterian doctrine? Her letters give us insight into the life of an Arkansan in the court of Tsar Nicholas II.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

Program: History Is Written By The Defeated: How Arkansas Got Its Confederate Monuments
Description: As the American Centennial celebrations took shape in 1876, southern women began to shape the narrative of Lost Cause. By the 1920s the United Daugthers of the Confederacy had erected monuments and statues to the Confederate dead all over the South and dozens in Arkansas. These monuments would continue to cast a shadow on American history into the 21st century.  Learn about these monuments in Arkansas, the women behind them, and the myths they perpetuate.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

Program: Arkansas Women in Wartime
Description: Learn about Arkansas women’s assistance on the home front and abroad during World War I and World War II from the CALS Butler Center collection.
Speaker: Danielle Afsordeh
Length of Program: 1 hour (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

 

Program: Beyond Polka and Pierogi: Pulaski County’s Little Poland
Description: Learn about the rich history of the Marche community and see some of the photographs and documents that have been collected as part of an ongoing community engagement initiative.
Speaker: Danielle Afsordeh
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

Program: Crafting History: The Suffrage Movement in Arkansas
Description: Learn about the fight for women’s suffrage in Arkansas from the collections of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. This session also includes instructions and a template for creating your own suffrage pennant.
Speaker: Danielle Afsordeh
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  All ages

Program: Highlighting Little Rock’s Historically Black Communities
Description: Hear an overview of Little Rock’s historically Black communities and their enduring significance. The talk will highlight related materials from the CALS Butler Center collection.
Speaker: Danielle Afsordeh
Length of Program: 1 hour (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

 

Program: Threads of History: Arkansas Women and Embroidery
Description: Learn about the history of women and embroidery in Arkansas from the collections of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. This session also includes a handout with beginner embroidery stitches and a supply list for a beginner project.
Speaker: Danielle Afsordeh
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  All ages

Program: Unfinished Business: The Fight for the ERA in Arkansas
Description: Learn about the fight for the creation and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Arkansas and create reproductions of vintage women’s movement campaign buttons from the CALS Butler Center collection.
Speaker: Danielle Afsordeh
Length of Program: 1 hour (with activity & questions)
Age Group:  All ages

Program: Bitter Sacrifices: Japanese American Incarceration in World War II Arkansas
Description: Between 1942 and 1945, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast were incarcerated at ten centers around the country, including at Rohwer and Jerome, Arkansas, for looking like the enemy. The CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies holds the single largest collection of art and writing from the camps. Learn about this dark chapter in American and Arkansas history and see some of the creative works left behind.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

The CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas has a list of programs on their website – https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/programs/

Program: Are You My Mother?: Searching for My Mother in the 1950 Census
Description: Genealogists have always known about missing relatives hiding in the census. But when it is your own mother, grandmother, and aunt, how do you know when to stop searching? Follow one historian’s search for her mother in the 1950 United States Census and learn about the family lore that solved the puzzle.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 35 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

Program: Getting to Know Your Historic Home
Description: Learn about resources available through the Central Arkansas Library System to research your historic property and its inhabitants with a property research demonstration.
Speaker: Danielle Afsordeh
Length of Program: 1 hour (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

 

Program: Getting Started With Genealogy at CALS
Description: The Central Arkansas Library System subscribes to many genealogy databases including Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com, Fire Insurance Maps Online, and others. Learn how to use them, where you can access them, and when it is time to get off the computer and explore what we have to offer in the Roberts Library Research Room.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

Program: Mobile Memory Lab
Description: Request the Mobile Memory Lab for your event, festival, or family reunion group. A CALS Roberts Library staff member will bring the Mobile Memory Lab, set it up, and scan a limited number of items for guests. Great paired with the Personal Archiving program.
Speaker: Staff Member
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

Program: Personal Archiving: The Basics of Saving Your Family Papers
Description: Learn how to organize your personal papers, photos, scrapbooks, and other items to digitize and store them for future generations. And find out more about CALS DIY Memory Lab and how to use it to preserve your family history.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 45 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Adults

 

 

School Groups

Program: Bitter Sacrifices: Japanese American Incarceration in World War II Arkansas
Description: Between 1942 and 1945, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast were incarcerated at ten centers around the country, including at Rohwer and Jerome, Arkansas, for looking like the enemy. The CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies holds the single largest collection of art and writing from the camps. Learn about this dark chapter in American and Arkansas history and see some of the creative works left behind.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 35 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Grades 9 through 12

Program: History Day Brainstorm
Description: Jumpstart your student’s National History Day experience with this brainstorming session with a historian. We will explore the annual History Day theme, see what Arkansas history topics fit the theme, and talk about primary and secondary sources.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 35 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Grades 9 through 12

 

Program: Bitter Sacrifices: Japanese American Incarceration in World War II Arkansas
Description: Between 1942 and 1945, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast were incarcerated at ten centers around the country, including at Rohwer and Jerome, Arkansas, for looking like the enemy. The CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies holds the single largest collection of art and writing from the camps. Learn about this dark chapter in American and Arkansas history and see some of the creative works left behind.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 35 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Grades 6 through 8

Program: History Day Brainstorm
Description: Jumpstart your student’s National History Day experience with this brainstorming session with a historian. We will explore the annual History Day theme, see what Arkansas history topics fit the theme, and talk about primary and secondary sources.
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden
Length of Program: 35 minutes (with questions)
Age Group:  Grades 6 through 8

Most school programs below are 20 minutes in length plus time for questions.

Program: How Many Limbs Make Up Your Kinship Tree?
Speaker: Heather Register Zbinden

Most school programs are 20 to 30 minutes in length and should be paired with other activities in the River Market District such as the Museum of Discovery, William J. Clinton Presidential Library, or Witt Stephens Jr. Nature Center. 

Program: Archives Activate
Description: Learn about what an archive is and how to use the materials we have.
Speaker: Butler Center for Arkansas Studies staff
Age Group: Middle School/High School
Group Size: Up to 47 students (plus teachers and chaperones).

Program: History Day Brainstorm
Description: Jumpstart your student’s National History Day experience with this brainstorming session with a historian. We will explore the annual History Day theme, see what Arkansas history topics fit the theme, and talk about primary and secondary sources. This onsite version includes a tour of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
Speaker: Roberts Library staff
Length of Program: 35 minutes (with questions)
Age Group: Middle School/High School