Homepage

ONLINE EXHIBITS, BLOGS, & LESSON PLANS

About CAHC's Projects

A collection of online exhibits, blogs, and lessons plans created by the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC). These works showcase CAHC's archival materials and feature essays by historians, topic specialists, and students.

Search

Resource Type

Topics

Screenshot of a map of downtown Little Rock covered in pins. A side panel displays a color photograph of the River Market and descriptions about the photograph. Text on the thumbnail reads, "New Exhibit"

Mapping Little Rock History
CAHC Exhibit

Learn about the effects of urban renewal by exploring thousands of geolocated photographs, reports, and maps of Little Rock. Layer historic maps over a modern one to visualize how the city changed over time. Visit the Project Site for lesson plans, historical narratives, and map tutorials. Published October 2024.

Color photograph of eight young Vietnamese women performing a fan dance in traditional costumes. Text on it reads, "New Exhibit"

Striving For Place: Stories of Vietnamese Refugees in Arkansas
CAHC Exhibit

After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Vietnamese refugees entered the U.S. at Fort Chaffee for resettlement. Dr. Johnye Strickland and her team collected 218 oral histories from these refugees about their daily lives, culture, political views, and aspirations for the future. Published June 2024.

Black and white photograph collage of a 1849 eclectic primer, a WWI propaganda poster, and a 1815 map of the Louisiana Purchase

Arkansas Primary Source Sets
Lesson Plans

Grades K-12
Explore curated sets of digitized primary sources from CAHC. Topics include: African Americans, Arkansas History, Arts, Biography, Civics and Government, Economics, Geography, Latinos, Literature, Native Americans, Science and Technology, U.S. History, Women, and World History. Each primary source set contains a question for inquiry, and each of the primary source documents in the set helps to answer the question from a particular perspective. Text-dependent questions accompany each document. Published September 2018 / Updated October 2024.

Color photograph of the marble lion statue on the WSB campus

World Services for the Blind: A Story of Success
CAHC Exhibit

World Services for the Blind (WSB) is a comprehensive rehabilitation center for the adult blind and visually impaired located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Along with life skills, the center specializes in vocational training programs, enabling clients to work and live independently. Published September 2022.

Color photograph of Snyder with an unidentified woman at a campaign event

Victor F. Snyder: The Courage and Commitment for Congress
CAHC Exhibit

Victor “Vic” Frederick Snyder is a Vietnam veteran, family physician, and lawyer who served as an Arkansas state senator from 1991 to 1996 and as a U.S. Representative for Arkansas’ Second Congressional District from 1997 to 2011. Published September 2022.

Black and white aerial photograph of Fort Chaffee with rows of white buildings

Refugiados Cubanos: Last Step to Freedom
Student Exhibit

During a six-month period in 1980, approximately 125,000 Cuban refugees left Cuba in a mass exodus. Almost immediately after refugees arrived, the Jimmy Carter administration opened federal detention centers across the U.S. This exhibit explores the people, politics, and events around the Fort Chaffee detention center as the last step to freedom for so many. Published May 2022.

Black and white collage of Dr. William Townsend, Jeanette Rockefeller, and Harvey Goodwin

Character Collection
Student Exhibit

A collection of mini exhibits featuring some of the unique Arkansans found in the archival collections at CAHC. Published February 2022.

Color photograph of the interior of the Arkansas House of Representatives' chamber

Arkansas Constitutional Convention, 1979-1980
CAHC Exhibit

From 1979 to 1980, Arkansas held its eighth convention to revise the state constitution. The proposed constitution addressed controversial issues such as changes to usury limits, property taxes, and redistricting. Due to numerous challenges, the proposed constitution was defeated at the polls by a wide margin. Published June 2021.

Black and white photograph collage of a farmer plowing a field, three women next to a bike, and Earnest Green and Elizabeth Eckhart during the Central High Crisis

History Alive: Virtually!
Lesson Plans

Grades K-12
Explore curated sets of digitized primary sources from CAHC. The sources are organized in ten thematic virtual mini-collections: Agriculture, Arkansas and the World, Arkansas before Statehood, Change over Time, Civil Rights, Civil War and Reconstruction, Government and Civil Society, Labor, Race in American Society, and Women of Arkansas. Each of collection contains exercises that can be used in the face-to-face, virtual, or hybrid classroom. Every exercise highlights a historical issue that is investigated through the analysis of one or more primary sources. Published March 2021.

Collage of a sign that reads "Arkansas wants a nuclear freeze because nobody wants a nuclear war, a second sign that reads "Go ERA," and a page that reads "Proposed Arkansas Constitution of 1980 with comments"

Zero Hour: Arkansas in 1980
Student Exhibit

The year 1980 was a pivotal moment in both American and Arkansas history. Arkansans faced a Titan II missile explosion, clashed over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution, and considered a new state constitution. 1980 was their turning point—their zero hour. Published December 2020.

Color photograph of the CCC water tower at Petit Jean state park, 2019

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Arkansas
CAHC Exhibit

This exhibit features the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Arkansas. Through President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 New Deal initiatives, the CCC enrolled millions of unemployed, Depression-stricken men, including thousands of Arkansans, to build spaces where people could explore the outdoors. Today, the CCC legacy thrives in Arkansas’ popular state and national parks in the campgrounds, hiking trails, cabins, and bridges. Published October 2019.

Cover of "Urban Renewal: a plan for the live-stock show area in little rock Arkansas" March 1958

Blogging the Mapping Renewal NEH Project
Project Blog

This blog documents the progress of CAHC’s project to digitize, describe, and create a website to share archival maps, documents, architectural drawings, and photographs related to urban renewal in Little Rock. Updated October 2019.

UA Little Rock logo

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) is a metropolitan research university located in the heart of Arkansas' capitol city.

Learn more about UA Little Rock

UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture logo

Center for Arkansas History and Culture

Located in downtown Little Rock, the Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC) is a teaching archive affiliated with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Its collections focus on Arkansas history.

Learn more about CAHC