Francis Rogers Beam was born in Searcy, Arkansas in 1917 and died in 1986. Frances was married to Hugh N. Beam and lived in the Little Rock area from 1937 until June, 1984 when she returned to Searcy.
From childhood, Frances was interested in pursuing some kink of creative art -- sewing, painting, knitting, doll making, quilting, being a few. She was also interested in music, studying organ at UALR, and was organist at several churches in the Little Rock area. She taught piano and organ lessons for several years.
She became interested in designing and making small pine needle and vine baskets after viewing and studying, from observation, the art of basketry in the Heber Springs and Mountain View areas.
She experimented with many native Arkansas materials but found the most satisfactory to be the long needle pine. She found a few sources she could secure these and made many small baskets from the native needles of Arkansas. She developed techniques used in making baskets through the "trial and error" methods, never having had any formal lessons in basketry.
She was a collector of baswkets from many parts of the United States and used her collection, as well as those she created, in the decor of her home.