Charles Cunningham: A Life of Service
By Cody Berry Years ago, now, I met Charles Cunningham at a meeting in which the fate of the Palace Theater was being discussed before it was renovated. If only I had known more about him at the time. At some point I was asked to put an entry together on Benton’s Ralph Bunche Community, … Continued
Benton’s Ralph Bunche Community
By Cody Berry Saline County’s African American community has longstanding history. Since the county was founded in 1835, there have been people of color living here who were member of both free and enslaved families. In 1838, there were 416 slaves and two free black citizens living in Saline County. By 1860, there were 749 … Continued
How to Use Libcal: Your Library Calendar!
Navigating the Calendar There’s a couple of different ways you can navigate through the many different library events on our calendar, depending on your preference! On the left hand side is a gray box. This has all of the months listed on it. From here, you can easily click which month you’d like to view … Continued
I Love My Library!
From February 1st until April 1st, the Saline County Library is looking for feedback! We need your help in filling out as many surveys as possible to inform our Strategic Plan for 2025-2029 and help make the library the BEST IT CAN BE. And on April 2nd, we’ll have a prize drawing! To enter, all … Continued
The Gann Museum’s First Exhibits and Renovations
By Cody Berry This week’s story is focused on some of the renovations that the Gann Museum’s first board of directors undertook to convert the former library into a museum and its first exhibits. On May 22, 1980, someone known only as “B.F” wrote in the Benton Courier that the very first renovation the Gann … Continued
2024: An Awesome Year in Review!
The Saline County Library tackled a lot of our goals this year! Y’all checked out a LOT of books, movies, video games and more at the library… a 13% increase, actually! There were a couple of items that were REALLY popular, like the new animated Addams Family movie, Super Mario: Wonder, and Diary of a … Continued
A Special Relationship Part III: The Gann Museum Becomes a Non-Profit
In my previous article, I talked about how the library leased the Gann Building to the Saline County Art League in the ‘70s and how the first Gann Museum Board was formed. Now I’m going to talk about the next step in the museum’s journey. To become an independent non-profit, Pat Dunnahoo and the other … Continued
A Special Relationship Part II: How the Gann Became a Museum
By Cody Berry In my last article, I wrote about how the Saline County Library got the deed to the former Gann Memorial Library from Mary Baum. So, now that the library board had control over the building, what did they do with it? In January 1972, an article in the Benton Courier stated that … Continued
A Special Relationship Part I: How It All Began
By Cody Berry This is the first in a series of articles about the formation of the Gann Museum and its special relationship with the Saline County Library. While looking for information about the end of Bauxite as a company town, I stumbled across a headline for a new city museum in Benton. I had … Continued
East End has a Community Pantry!
Thanks to our amazing community in Saline County, we were able to raise enough food and hygiene products to start up a new community pantry in East End! Back in November of 2024, the library put together the Battle of the Businesses initiative. Local businesses in Saline County duked it out in an epic fight … Continued