UALR History Professor C. Fred Williams will present a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, exploring how the Civil War and Reconstruction transformed Little Rock from a frontier village to a modern city of the New South.

The lecture, at the Ottenheimer Auditorium in the Historic Arkansas Museum at 200 E. Third St., is part of UALR’s History Institute’s series, “Evenings with History.”

The event begins at 7 p.m. with refreshments, followed by William’ lecture, “Little Rock, From Frontier Village to New South City: The Transforming Experience of the Civil War and Reconstruction.”

In the pre-Civil War era Little Rock found itself largely cut off from the mainstream of national trade and commerce as the advancing plantation economy flowed to markets in Memphis and New Orleans, Williams says.  The Civil War and Reconstruction years brought a renewal to the city.

Little Rock’s occupation by the Union Army stimulated the economy and continued development during the Reconstruction years, helping to transform it into a modern city. Williams said the lecture focuses on the leadership and the policy decisions that helped produce that transformation.

The Evenings with History series is sponsored by the University History Institute, a nonprofit organization of private citizens interested in history and supporting UALR.  Individual subscriptions are available for the six-lecture series for $50 annually. A joint subscription for $90 offers savings of $10 to couples and friends.

At $250 annually, a Fellow of the Institute receives the previous benefits, plus an invitation to special presentations for fellows exclusively, including private evenings with noted authors. The institute also offers a life membership at $1,000 that can be paid in installments. Subscriptions and donations to the institute are tax deductible as allowed by law.

Subscribers to the series help support historical research. Presenters donate their time, and the University History Institute uses all proceeds from the series to encourage research at UALR. In recent years, annual institute grants, made possible by the Evenings with History series, have made major purchases of historical research materials for UALR.

For more information, contact the UALR History Department at 501-569-3235.