Frances Potter Neal (1905–1990)

Frances Potter Neal was the sixth state librarian for the Arkansas Library Commission. Her achievements included securing the first federal funds for the commission, implementing a books-by-mail program and a bookmobile program, and bringing tax-funded libraries to all but three counties in Arkansas by the time of her retirement.

Francis Potter was born on October 27, 1905, in Strong (Union County) to Finis Potter and Lucy Letitia Potter. She had two sisters, Ardelia and Margaret. In her youth, she attended public school in Warren (Bradley County) before leaving to pursue a degree in elementary education at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County).

Her 1931 marriage to Karl Neal, a local cotton buyer, took her back to Warren. Having no children, Neal dedicated her life to public education. She would go on to teach in local public schools while taking summer courses to complete her degree. Neal earned her BS in education from the College of Education and Health Professions in 1945. In 1947, she and her husband moved to Little Rock (Pulaski County), where she became a circulation librarian for the Arkansas Library Commission. In 1949, she obtained her Master of Library Science degree from the University of Denver in Colorado.

Neal was appointed as acting state librarian for the commission in 1951 after the previous state librarian, Irene Mason, took a leave of absence. In 1952, Neal took the official position as Arkansas’s sixth state librarian, with the goal of providing a tax-supported library in every county.

Neal oversaw the establishment of the State Library Planning Committee in 1952, along with a centralized cataloging system for the commission. In 1953, the Operation Library project was created by the commission to promote city and county libraries. A year later, Neal coordinated Arkansas’s first State Book Fair.

The 1956 Library Services Act by the U.S. Congress brought $40,000 of federal aid for the 1956–1957 fiscal year. This financial aid helped fund a bookmobile in the late 1950s that commission employees would take to the more rural communities.

Among Neal’s other accomplishments was the opening of the first Children’s Book Selection Center, at 305 W. Capitol Ave., in 1968. At the time, the Library Commission was located across the street at 306 ½ W. Capitol Ave. Professionals and parents were encouraged to utilize the center as a resource for their children’s literature selections.

After twenty-seven years as the state librarian, Neal retired in 1978. Neal died on July 30, 1990, in Little Rock. Her childhood home in Warren became the Warren Branch of the Southeast Arkansas Regional Library System.

For additional information:
Arkansas State Library: The First 75 Years, 1937–2012. Little Rock: Arkansas State Library, 2016.

Frances Potter Obituary. Eagle Democrat, August 1, 1990.

Jackie Poe Biographical Entry (F. Neal.), Arkansas Biography Project Records (MC 1406). Special Collections. University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Finding aid online at https://uark.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/335 (accessed June 12, 2026).

Williams, Nancy A., ed. Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000.

Noah Elrod
Faulkner County Library