The Little Rock Lotus Club was founded December 19, 1877, at the home of Fay Hempstead, as a reading club meeting twice monthly. Membership was limited to twenty-five men and women. The first officers were Fay Hempstead, president; George E. Dodge, vice-president; and Sterling R. Cockrill, secretary. Some of the original members included Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Bien, Mr. and Mrs. T.C. Tuppen, Mr. and Mrs. S.R. Cockrill, Fay and Gertrude Hempstead, Fannie Ashley, Georgie Woodruff, Godiva Parham, Mr. and Mrs. George E. Dodge, B.S. Johnson, and Beall Hempstead.
The Eclectic Society was founded in 1879 by U.M. Rose, H.C. Caldwell, and Elbert H. English to study Arkansas history and collect historical documents. A committee from this society researched the correct pronunciation of "Arkansas." From 1881-1885, articles about Eclectic Society presentations regularly appeared in the Arkansas Gazette. Some of the topics included "The Decadence of Poetry," "Marriage and Divorce," "Conflict of Science and Religion," "Federal Aid to Education," and "The Effects of Alcohol on Society."
This collection consists of presentations, attendance records, and check stubs from the Eclectic Society and Lotus Club, Little Rock, Arkansas, dating from 1877-1923.
- Papers presented to the Eclectic Society and Lotus Club (Box 1)
- "On religion"
- "The administration of justice in the east"
- "The development and growth of the English language"
- "The development and growth of the English language"
- "The development and growth of the English language"
- "The development and growth of the English language"
- "Words"
- "King Arthur and the roundtable"
- "Money!"
- "The tragic element of Macbeth"
- "William Evart Gladstone" by M.M. Cohn
- "Woman: Her slavery and wrongs in the early and middle ages" by M.A. Cohn
- Minutes, 1877 December 17-1879 January 29 and attendance record sheet, 1880-81
- Check stubs, 1922-1923
