The Parapet Project

To top off (literally, or maybe, literarily) the new library in the renovated Fones Hardware Building, CALS set out to develop a list of authors to immortalize in stone at the top of building.


The Parapet Project provoked some rather colorful commentary from the community. For example:

“Bobby [Roberts], it appears you’ve been out in the sun too long without a hat and consequently have turned up with your dipstick about an inch shy of your oil. Metaphorically speaking, of course. . . . I refer to the plan to put the names of authors hammered into concrete all around the parapet of the building. It looks nice . . . but will eventually cause you to lose whatever fragile grip on reality you currently have. . . . You have put yourself directly into the path of a runaway locomotive.” Frank Fellon, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, March 13, 1995

But eventually, the parapet prevailed. Nominations from the public poured in and the committee members labored over the tough task of creating a ballot. Library card holders voted on a number of authors from twelve major categories: Arkansas, Applied Science, Pure Science, Social Sciences, Philosophy & Religion, History, American Literature, Children’s Literature, Southern Literature, Poetry, Popular Fiction, World Literature.

The end result — the winners of the literary death match — can be seen atop the Main Library. And, as far as I know, everyone walked away from the project with their sanity intact.

Author nomination form, 1995

Vote Flyer, Front and Back, 1995

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The Cox Building

Thomas Cox & Sons Machinery Company as it appeared in Little Rock and Pulaski County Arkansas Illustrated, a book published in 1907.

Thomas Cox first entered the machinery business in Dardanelle in the late 1800s, but later expanded his business into Little Rock’s “machinery market” in 1905. The office and salesrooms of the Thomas Cox & Sons Machinery Company were located at 322-324 East Markham Street, while the warehouse and boiler platform were located catty-corner from this office at Second and Commerce Streets. The company’s wrecking plant was located in east Little Rock.

The Thomas Cox & Sons Machinery Company’s warehouse was constructed around 1906. The curve of the warehouse’s south wall resulted from the presence of railroad tracks. A 1907 description of the company lists the warehouse as carrying: “a most complete line of general mills supplies and [as] the general agents for the DeLoach saw and single mills, the Houston, Stanwood & Gamble engines and boilers, the Straub Machinery Co.’s corn mills, and the Farquhar threshing machine and portable outfits…” This machinery company went out of business in 1925, but the building was used as a warehouse until 1999.

Capital improvement bonds approved by Little Rock voters in 1998 allowed the Central Arkansas Library System to transform the warehouse into what is now known as the Cox Creative Center. Since its restoration in 2001, the adaptive reuse of the Cox Building allows this antiquated structure to function as a book and gift shop, art gallery, and meeting area for library events.

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Fones Brothers Warehouse

After opening a metal shop in Little Rock in 1859, Daniel G. Fones founded a hardware business in in 1865. When his brother, James A., joined the business a few years later, the company became known as the Fones Brothers. In August of 1888, the business incorporated as a stock company and became the Fones Brothers Hardware Company. The hardware company operated out of multiple locations in Little Rock during its many years of operation.

The last of these locations was on Second and Rock Streets, the current site of the Main Branch of the Central Arkansas Library System. The Fones Brothers Hardware Company opened at this location in early 1921 and carried “a full line of shelf goods, heavy hardware, implements, stoves, refrigerators, screen doors, wire and builders’ hardware.” A January 1921 Arkansas Gazette article describes the construction of the final Fones Brothers Warehouse. The warehouse was built of “reinforced concrete construction and [was] fire proof, and [was] further protected by a Globe Automatic Sprinkler system.” This article states “the floor loads by this building are the heaviest of any building located in Arkansas” and also notes the presence of “two micro-leveling electric elevators.” The railroad running south of the Cox Building ran along the north side of the Fones Brothers Warehouse and allowed the company to “unload seven carloads of stock at one time.” The Gazette also reports the presence of segregated toilet and shower facilities.

The Fones Brothers Hardware Company in 1977. Photograph by Ken Hubbell.

The Fones family sold the company in 1983 and operations ceased in 1987. In 1993, citizens approved a bond allowing the Main Library to move into the Fones Brothers Warehouse from its former location on Louisiana Street. The new Main Library opened in a renovated Fones Brothers Warehouse in 1997.

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Arkansas Studies Institute: The Move, Week Three

This week we moved the first batch of our books over to the Arkansas Studies Institute. To do this we used an ingenious system created by CALS own Jennifer Chilcoat. In the system, numbered green slips of paper went into the first book on a shelf and corresponding red slips of paper went into the last book on a shelf. The books were removed from their cozy shelf home, loaded on book carts, and trucked to the new building. On the ASI side of the equation, staff matched the numbers on the green and red slips to the number assigned to the new shelving. All that was left at that point was to reshelf the books and repeat. 500 times.

Next week the rest of our books will make the long journey across the street and the remaining Butler Center staff will settle in to their new office space. Although still empty, the new research room is starting to take shape.




And look! The first batch of boxes from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock arrived as I wrote this post and is waiting to be loaded onto shelves.



Please remember that the Butler Center is still closed and will not reopen until March 23rd.

Contributed by Stephanie Bayless, Manuscripts Department.

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Arkansas Studies Institute: The Move, Week 2

We are in the middle of week two of the move to the ASI. We moved 3000+ boxes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The boxes are all snug in their new homes and manuscripts staff is settling in to our new office space.

Most of the boxes made the trip over on book carts. Here are the first few carts loaded up and ready to go.

Processed collections went straight into compact shelving in the new archival storage addition.


Unprocessed collections are stored in the manuscripts department office/processing area where staff are slowly trying to get set up in their new space.



Upstairs, the rest of the ASI anxiously awaits staff. Here is a sneak peak of the area:




Contributed by Stephanie Bayless, Manuscripts Department.

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Arkansas Studies Institute: The Move

The Butler Center has been a whirlwind of activity as we have started moving to the new Arkansas Studies building. This week, 2600+ boxes from the Clinton Gubernatorial Project made the journey across the street and into the new compact storage. Their old shelving soon followed and left a large empty spot in our storage area.

Encyclopedia of Arkansas staff is going to round out this week by moving their supplies today. Starting Monday, the manuscripts department will be moving, so I have spent this week preparing our collections. Thankfully, my wonderful co-workers have jumped in to help me when they had some spare time even though the job isn’t that glamorous. Special thanks go out to Sara and Jamie who spent hours helping me number each and every box with a neon sticky note.

To make the move easier and faster, we are numbering our boxes in order with a sticky note. Instead of having to read the collection number/box number/etc. to determine what goes where, we can simply load the boxes by the number on the sticky. By the time I left yesterday, we had labeled about 2900 boxes (and I'm not done yet!). The end result looks something like this:




Having severely underestimated the number of sticky notes required, Sara and I visited two Office Depot locations and relieved them of their stock of 4x6 super sticky neon post-its. She was gracious enough to let me take her picture as she negotiated our plunder.



One week down! Don’t forget: The Butler Center research room will be open next week, but manuscript collections will not be accessible until we reopen in the Arkansas Studies Institute.

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Arkansas Studies Institute: The Move

It has started!

If you are planning to visit the Butler Center in the next couple of weeks, you will want to pay close attention to this schedule.

Beginning next Monday (Feb. 23rd), the Manuscripts Department will close. No manuscript collections will be available for patron use.

On Monday, March 2rd, the Butler Center research room will close.

We will reopen in our new home at 401 President Clinton Avenue on Monday March 23, 2009. Stay tuned for more details as the situation progresses.

In the meantime, check out the Butler Center website for sneak peeks in the "Countdown to ASI" featured on the main page.

You might have already noticed that the blog has gotten pretty quiet. I previously mentioned that we would start to feature glimpses into the move and that is coming up next week. For now, I (with the rest of the BC staff) am up to my neck in boxes and packing tape. Posts about our collections, including the featured manuscript collection for March/April, will be suspended for now. When we get settled across the street, I’ll jump back in with regular posting and I’ll see about tackling some of the suggestions you emailed me in response to this post.

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Update: Arkansas Studies Institute

The Arkansas Studies Institute is starting to look more like a building and less like a twisted lump of dust and metal; there is even a wall where there used to be only a large gaping hole. The anticipation of moving into our new digs is growing (along with the dread of actually having to move our collections).

These photographs were all taken in early August by Kathryn Heller, the Butler Center's Programming and Outreach Coordinator. More has been done in the past couple of weeks; check out what is new with our live web camera.

Here you can see the Rock Street side of the building. The main entrance will be on the corner of Rock and President Clinton--right where you see the metal start to curve around.


This is the back corner of the building. Walk past that tree, drop down into the basement, and you will find yourself right on top of my desk. Although I don't suggest that because you will also find yourself facing a very angry archivist.


A view of the construction from above. This picture was taken in my current office--notice the difference between the view here and the possible view from the basement. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.


The crane in action. That equipment is going down into the underground parking, not on top of the building as you might think.

Contributed by Stephanie Bayless, Manuscripts Department.

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Fones Brothers Warehouse

After opening a metal shop in Little Rock in 1859, Daniel G. Fones founded a hardware business in in 1865. When his brother, James A., joined the business a few years later, the company became known as the Fones Brothers. In August of 1888, the business incorporated as a stock company and became the Fones Brothers Hardware Company. The hardware company operated out of multiple locations in Little Rock during its many years of operation.

The last of these locations was on Second and Rock Streets, the current site of the Main Branch of the Central Arkansas Library System. The Fones Brothers Hardware Company opened at this location in early 1921 and carried “a full line of shelf goods, heavy hardware, implements, stoves, refrigerators, screen doors, wire and builders’ hardware.” A January 1921 Arkansas Gazette article describes the construction of the final Fones Brothers Warehouse. The warehouse was built of “reinforced concrete construction and [was] fire proof, and [was] further protected by a Globe Automatic Sprinkler system.” This article states “the floor loads by this building are the heaviest of any building located in Arkansas” and also notes the presence of “two micro-leveling electric elevators.” The railroad running south of the Cox Building ran along the north side of the Fones Brothers Warehouse and allowed the company to “unload seven carloads of stock at one time.” The Gazette also reports the presence of segregated toilet and shower facilities.

The Fones Brothers Hardware Company in 1977. Photograph by Ken Hubbell.
Both photographs are available in the Butler Center photograph collection.
The Fones family sold the company in 1983 and operations ceased in 1987. In 1993, citizens approved a bond allowing the Main Library to move into the Fones Brothers Warehouse from its former location on Louisiana Street. The new Main Library opened in a renovated Fones Brothers Warehouse in 1997.

Contributed by Jamie Metrailer, Clinton State Government Project

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The Cox Building

Image: Thomas Cox & Sons Machinery Company as it appeared in Little Rock and Pulaski County Arkansas Illustrated, a book published in 1907.

Thomas Cox first entered the machinery business in Dardanelle in the late 1800s, but later expanded his business into Little Rock’s “machinery market” in 1905. The office and salesrooms of the Thomas Cox & Sons Machinery Company were located at 322-324 East Markham Street, while the warehouse and boiler platform were located catty-corner from this office at Second and Commerce Streets. The company’s wrecking plant was located in east Little Rock.

The Thomas Cox & Sons Machinery Company’s warehouse was constructed around 1906. The curve of the warehouse’s south wall resulted from the presence of railroad tracks. A 1907 description of the company lists the warehouse as carrying: “a most complete line of general mills supplies and [as] the general agents for the DeLoach saw and single mills, the Houston, Stanwood & Gamble engines and boilers, the Straub Machinery Co.’s corn mills, and the Farquhar threshing machine and portable outfits…” This machinery company went out of business in 1925, but the building was used as a warehouse until 1999.

Capital improvement bonds approved by Little Rock voters in 1998 allowed the Central Arkansas Library System to transform the warehouse into what is now known as the Cox Creative Center. Since its restoration in 2001, the adaptive reuse of the Cox Building allows this antiquated structure to function as a book and gift shop, art gallery, and meeting area for library events.

Contributed by Jamie Metrailer, Clinton State Government Project

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Arkansas Studies Institute

If you have been in the downtown Little Rock area recently, you probably noticed the construction going on near the Main Library. Maybe you said "What in the world are they doing there?" or you saw the sign and thought "What exactly is an Arkansas Studies Institute?" (Or maybe you were just angry because part of the street was closed and it ruined your entire day. Yeah, we are sorry about that.) Well, don't worry. We are here to answer your questions.

The Arkansas Studies Institute (ASI) is a joint project of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR).

The Institute will be housed in three buildings located in the River Market District and adjacent to the CALS Main Library. The Institute will be the state’s most comprehensive free-standing facility dedicated to the study of Arkansas. Here students, scholars, and tourists can gather to learn more about the people, places, and events that shaped the past and guide the future of Arkansas.


Drawing of the Completed ASI.
CALS has long been involved in revitalizing the River Market District. The development of the ASI complex will continue that tradition through the renovation of two historic buildings on President Clinton Avenue. A new archival storage building is being constructed on the site. The ASI will house several organizations including the Butler Center of Arkansas Studies, staff from UALR’s Archives and Special Collections department, UALR’s Urban Studies Institute, and the Arkansas Humanities Council. In addition, the Clinton School of Public Service, which offers the nation’s first master’s degree in public service, will have classrooms, faculty offices, and a student commons area in the ASI.

Research materials in the ASI will include the papers of six Arkansas governors, including those of Bill Clinton, which are currently in the custody of CALS, and those of Carl Bailey, Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers, Frank White, and Jim Guy Tucker, which UALR maintains. Vast amounts of other Arkansas-related material from the Butler Center and from UALR’s holdings will be publicly available in the ASI. Also in the building will be a museum and historical gallery, four art galleries, and numerous public meeting spaces.

The ASI represents a major initiative to interpret and experience Arkansas’s past, present, and future. The Institute will unite major collections of invaluable documents, photographs, lesson plans, and art from the Butler Center and from UALR. Not only will future historians benefit from this gathering but many other people from Arkansas and from other places as well will get to share the beauty and history these two restored buildings and a spectacular new one offer in the heart of downtown Little Rock.



Contributed by Kathryn Heller, Programming and Outreach Coordinator (with the input of David Stricklin, Head of the Butler Center).
Click here for a virtual tour of the ASI.

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