Tag Archives: MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

Little Rock Look Back: General Douglas MacArthur

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MacArthurOn January 26, 1880, Douglas MacArthur was born in the Arsenal Building while his father was stationed at the Little Rock Barracks.  Though he left Arkansas a few weeks later when his father was transferred, he returned to his birthplace on March 23, 1952. On that day he was greeted by crowds welcoming one of the USA’s most famous military figures.

Though Gen. MacArthur spent only a few weeks in Little Rock, he was baptized at Christ Episcopal Church.  The location of the baptism remains a mystery today because the church was meeting in temporary locations due to the first structure having been lost to a fire.

When the General returned to Little Rock in 1952, he did pay a brief visit to Christ Church.  He also spoke at the Foster Bandshell in the park which bore his name.  He was one of three presidential candidates to speak at the Foster Bandshell in 1952, the others were the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower.

When General MacArthur died, he was granted a state funeral.  He was one of the few non-Presidents to have been given this honor.

Today, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is located in the Arsenal building.  It was created to interpret our state’s military heritage from its territorial period to the present.  Located in the historic Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal–the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur–the museum preserves the contributions of Arkansas men and women who served in the armed forces.  Exhibits feature artifacts, photographs, weapons, documents, uniforms and other military items that vividly portray Arkansas’s military history at home and abroad.

Film CHOCTAW CODE TALKERS shown tonight at MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

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MacMus Code TalkTonight from 6:30 to 9:30 pm, in celebration of Native American Heritage Month and in commemoration of the beginning of World War I, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host a free film event, showing Choctaw Code Talkers, a PBS documentary that explores the military history legacy of Native American code talkers during World War I.

The free event is in partnership with the Sequoyah National Research Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  Light refreshments will be provided. Click here to watch a trailer for Choctaw Code Talkers. 

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is a program of the City of Little Rock’s Parks & Recreation Department.

An Evening with General Wesley K. Clark at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

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Flyer, ClarkSecond only to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Wesley Clark ranks among the highest military leaders from Arkansas.  During his 34 years in the U.S. Army, he rose to the rank of four-star general and was among the top tier of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.  As Supreme Allied Commander, Clark led NATO’s first major combat action in Kosovo.

Tonight at 5:30 pm, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History honors Gen. Clark with a temporary exhibit on his life and service.

Tickets for this fundraising event are $125 per person, which includes an autographed copy of General Clark’s newest book, Don’t Wait for the Next War: A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership.  Proceeds support the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, created to preserve our state’s rich military heritage.

The museum, a program of Little Rock Parks and Recreation, relates the military contributions of Arkansans from territorial times to the present.

 

LR Cultural Touchstone: Joa Stafford-Humphrey

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JoaJoa Stafford-Humphrey loved music and poetry.  But her most lasting cultural contribution is the creation of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

She had admired General MacArthur for many years.  In the 1980s, while serving on the Board of the Museum of Science and History, her interest heightened.  The museum (now known as the Museum of Discovery) was at the time located in the Arsenal Building in MacArthur Park. It was in this building that the General had been born.

Later, when the museum was planning to relocate to the River Market district, Joa asked City leaders about the future plans for the building. When there were not any definite plans, she informed them that the building should house a museum about MacArthur and also the state’s military history.  She succeeded in lobbying the Future-Little Rock planning process to include this as plans for the soon-to-be vacant building.

In 1994, the MacArthur Military History Museum commission was established, and Joa was appointed as a founding member.  She led the commission for several years.  Over the years, she lobbied for funds and artifacts as well as recruited other volunteers.  Eventually, the City hired a full-time museum director Stephan McAteer.  The project received a setback in January 1999 when a tornado damaged the building.  However, on May 19, 2001, Joa’s dream became a reality as the new museum opened its doors.

While the museum was important to her, it was not her only interest.  She was active in the Geyer Springs neighborhood and Southwest Little Rock activities. Joa was also known for her New Year’s Day open houses which would attract political leaders as well as her neighbors.

Joa died in July 2013.

 

Big Boo!-seum Bash Tonight

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BooseumLogo_EventIt’s the 19th Annual Big Boo!-seum Bash, where kids can enjoy a safe and fun Halloween Thursday, Oct. 30 from 6 – 8:30 p.m.  Come out and trick-or-treat, play games and have fun at participating area museums!

There will be free candy and Halloween activities for all ages. Visit every participating location to enter in the drawing for a flat-screen TV or a $100 gift card!

Locations:
* Arkansas Arts Center – 501 East 9th Street

* Historic Arkansas Museum – 200 East 3rd Street

* Little Rock Visitor Center at Curran Hall – 615 East Capitol Avenue
— Arkansas State Capitol will participate on site

* MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History – 503 East 9th Street
— Arkansas National Guard Museum will participate on-site

* Mosaic Templars Cultural Center – 9th Street and Broadway
— Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site will participate on-site

* Museum of Discovery – 500 President Clinton Avenue

* Old State House Museum – 300 West Markham Street

* CALS Ron Robinson Theater – 100 River Market Avenue

* Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center – 602 President Clinton Avenue
— Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum will participate on-site

LR Cultural Touchstone: Peg Newton Smith

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peg_3While the Culture Vulture remains a huge fan of Peg Newton Smith, it is better for this entry to be taken from a tribute written by her longtime friend Bill Worthen.

Peg Newton Smith was a pioneer in the field of history and historic preservation.  A founder of both the Arkansas Museums Association and the Quapaw Quarter Association, Little Rock’s historic preservation organization, she served as a significant resource for many local history researchers and historians.

Born February 10, 1915, Peg Smith came from a family deeply engaged in Arkansas history. Two Arkansas counties – Newton and Hempstead – are named after ancestors.  She married George Rose Smith, himself from a prominent Arkansas family, in 1938. Peg Smith became his most vigorous supporter as George Rose Smith was elected and  reelected to the State Supreme Court, ultimately offering 38 years of service as Associate Justice.

She  enjoyed a sixty-two year career as a volunteer at the Historic Arkansas Museum, where she served as Commission Chair from 1978 to 1983. On the museum’s first day, she was dressed in period garb as a volunteer.  She was named Chair Emerita of the Commission in 2002. Her commitment to history has also included decades of service on the Mount Holly Cemetery Association Board of Directors, where she was famous with Mary Worthen for tours of the cemetery, often hot items at charity auctions.

Because of her instrumental work for the Arkansas Museums Association and the Quapaw Quarter Association, both organizations named significant annual awards after her. She was appointed to the inaugural Review Committee of the State Historic Preservation Program and with architect Edwin Cromwell was the first Arkansan named to the Board of Advisors of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She was appointed to the Arkansas Bicentennial Commission, was elected president of the Junior League of Little Rock, was a founding member of the Board of the Historic Preservation
Alliance of Arkansas, and was active in the Pulaski County Historical Society.  She also was an early supporter of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

She was honored by many groups, being named 1967 Greater Little Rock Woman of the Year by the Arkansas Democrat, Shield of the Trojan Award winner from the UALR Alumni Association in 1979, Fellow of the Museum of Science and History in 1981, and Candlelight Gala Honoree of the Historic Arkansas Museum in 1994. She became the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arkansas Museums Association in 2003.

Peg Newton Smith died on July 20, 2003.

Because of her love of Arkansas history and Arkansas art, the Historic Arkansas Museum commissioned the pARTy for Peg sculpture which dances near the north entrance to the museum.  pARTy for Peg is not a portrait of our dear friend—it is a sculpture inspired by her spirit. It had been her brainchild for the museum to have a separate gallery devoted to contemporary Arkansas artists. She also founded the Museum Store, filled with Arkansas crafts.

 

LR Cultural Touchstone: Kathryn Donham Rice

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Katy RiceKathryn Donham Rice was better known by her friends as Katy.  As a historian, she was an archivist and an author.

A native of Little Rock, she was a lifelong Methodist.  Her interest in Arkansas Methodist history led to her appointment as the Archivist of the Little Rock Conference of the United Methodist Church. In 1980, she authored A History of the First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas 1831 – 1981 to commemorate the church’s sesquicentennial. She served as church historian for twenty-eight years, creating with her husband, James H. Rice, Jr., the History Hall where many Methodist historic photographs and artifacts are displayed. She was a board member of the Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church and a charter member of the Arkansas United Methodist Historical Society.

In the 1970’s she was employed at the Old State House Museum, first as a guide, then as Registrar, a position for which she trained at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. In 1986 she was appointed to serve on the Arkansas Sesquicentennial Commission as head of the Religious Organizations Task Force. This group sponsored four regional workshops on church history-writing and church archives management during the year.

Katy was an active supporter of Hendrix College, her alma mater.  She volunteered as archivist in the Winfred Polk United Methodist Archives and the Bailey Library.  She also was active in the Aesthetic Club, where she served as President; the Arkansas Women’s History Institute; the Pulaski County Historical Society; and the Arkansas Historical Association.  She wrote two additional histories which were published: The History of Lakeside Country Club and The History of Belcher Lake Farms.

For several years she was a very active volunteer for the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.  She assisted with registrar duties, including processing many of the photographs in the Allison collection. For several hours every week, she could be found in the basement of the museum with her white archivist gloves on helping out.  She would also give tours of the museum once it opened.