Tag Archives: MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

Free movie tonight at MacArthur Museum of Ark. Military History – Latino Americans: War and Peace

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MacMuseMovHispSeptember 15 to October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month.  In partnership with AETN, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host a screening of the Latino Americans: War and Peace (1942-1954). The screening starts at 6:30pm tonight at the museum in MacArthur Park.

Free admission. Free popcorn and beverages provided.

 

The documentary tells the story of Latino Americans serving during WWII and their struggle for equality in the military and at home after the war.  

After the war, Army Staff Sgt. Macario Garcia became the first Mexican National to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits fighting in Europe.  He was later refused service in a Texas diner.  The experience during the war pushed Latinos to fight for civil rights back home.

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

Remember end of WWII with a visit to MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

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With this month marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, it is a good time to remember the museum in Little Rock dedicated to preserving Arkansas’ rich military history.

Located in the historic Arsenal Tower in MacArthur Park, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History honors the Arkansans who have 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.

Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty:
Japanese American Soldiers in World War II
This exhibit focuses on the military experience of Japanese Americans during World War II including stories from veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service. To prove their loyalty to the United States government, many Japanese American men joined the army as part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team or as part of the Military Intelligence Service.

Other exhibits include:

  • From Turbulence to Tranquility: The Little Rock Arsenal
  • Capital In Crisis and Celebration: Little Rock and the Civil War
  • Alger Cadet Gun
  • Camden Expedition
  • David Owen Dodd
  • Through the Camera’s Eye: The Allison Collection of World War II Photographs
  • By the President in the Name of Congress: Arkansas’ Medal of Honor Recipients
  • Conflict and Crisis: The MacArthur- Truman Controversy
  • Duty, Honor and Country: General Douglas MacArthur
  • The Sun Never Sets on the Mighty Jeep: The Jeep During World War II
  • War and Remembrance: The 1911 United Confederate Veterans Reunion
  • First Call – American Posters of World War I

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is a museum of the City of Little Rock.  It is led by executive director Stephan McAteer who works with the MacArthur Military History Museum Commission.

Hours of Operation
Monday – Saturday; 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sunday; 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Vintage Military Vehicles on display today in MacArthur Park

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MacMus vintage jeepThe MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host its third annual vintage military vehicle show on Saturday, July 25, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Two dozen military vehicles from World War II through Desert Storm will be on display in front of the museum, located at 503 E. 9th Street in downtown Little Rock’s MacArthur Park.  The vehicle show will feature Jeeps and other vehicles from the Arkansas Military Vehicle Preservation Association and the West Tennessee Military Vehicle Collectors Club. Any vehicle may be displayed, so long as it was used by the military in the past.

The show appeals to those who have an interest in military history, as well as in vintage cars and trucks.    It is free to the public.

Local vendors, with items for sale, will include Bennett’s Military Supplies, Loblolly Creamery, Southern Salt Food Company, and East Ninth Vintage.

 

Now’s the time to nominate museums and libraries for National Medal for Museum and Library Service

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National MedalLittle Rock is blessed to have a dynamic library system and over a dozen exciting museums.  Let’s face it, the words “dynamic” and “exciting” are not always synonymous with libraries and museums.

Each year, the Institute of Museum and Library Services presents select museums and libraries with the nation’s highest honor, the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.  IMLS is now accepting nominations for the 2016 award which recognizes libraries and museums that make significant and exceptional contributions in service to their communities. Nomination forms are due October 1, 2015.

All types of nonprofit libraries and library organizations, including academic, school, and special libraries, archives, library associations, and library consortia, are eligible to receive this honor. Public or private nonprofit museums of any discipline (including general, art, history, science and technology, children’s, and natural history and anthropology), as well as historic houses and sites, arboretums, nature centers, aquariums, zoos, botanical gardens, and planetariums are eligible.

Winners are honored at a ceremony in Washington, DC, host a two-day visit from StoryCorps to record community member stories, and receive positive media attention. Approximately thirty finalists are selected as part of the process and are featured by IMLS during a six-week social media and press campaign.

Winning the medal elevates an institution’s profile and can positively impact fundraising, programming, and outreach activities.

Anyone may nominate a museum or library for this honor, and institutions may self-nominate. For more information, reach out to one of the following contacts.

Program Contact for Museums:
Mark Feitl, Museum Program Specialist
202-653-4635, mfeitl@imls.gov

Program Contact for Libraries:
Katie Murray, Staff Assistant
202-653-4644, kmurray@imls.gov

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Their mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is focus of this month’s film at MacArthur Museum

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MacMus DontAskEach month, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History screens a free movie one evening.  This month’s film is the HBO documentary The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  The film screens from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.  It is part of LGBT Heritage month.

This film illustrates the tumultuous evolution of the controversial policy that forced many soldiers to lie and live in secrecy. Filmed during the final 15 months of the law, The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell interweaves archival news footage and interviews with key players, from policy experts to Pentagon personnel, as well as personal accounts by a number of actively serving gay soldiers

Free admission. Popcorn and libations provided.

Filmed during the final 15 months of the law, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL interweaves archival news footage and interviews with key players, from policy experts to Pentagon personnel, as well as personal accounts by a number of actively serving gay soldiers (obscured from the camera because speaking about their sexual orientation violates Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell). Among the featured subjects are: Mass. Rep. Barney Frank; Ct. Sen. Joe Lieberman; former Pa. Rep Patrick Murphy, an Iraqi war veteran who played a leading role in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal; Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach; Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer; Jeh C. Johnson, general counsel of the Department of Defense; and Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN).

Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato have produced a variety of acclaimed nonfiction programming, including 24 documentaries for HBO and CINEMAX, among them “Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal,” “Monica in Black and White,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and, most recently, the Emmy®-nominated “Wishful Drinking.”

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL is produced and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato; supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover; executive producer, Sheila Nevins; producers, Gabriel Rotello and Mona Card; editors, Langdon F. Page, Chris Conway; music by David Benjamin Steinberg.

Red, White & Music – Wind Symphony Flag Day Concert

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The Little Rock Wind Symphony’s annual Flag Day concert will take place this evening in MacArthur Park at 7pm.  Sponsored, in part by the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, the concert is the LRWS’s annual salute to the red, white, and blue.  Picnics are encouraged. There will also be free ice cream and free American flags to wave throughout the concert.

The musicians of the Little Rock Wind Symphony will perform the following selections:

arr. John Higgins: Back in the Good Old Days
Adam Gorb: Away Day
Aaron Copland : A Lincoln Portrait
      Brent Walker, narrator
John Philip Sousa: Washington Post
Edwin Eugene Bagley: National Emblem
Edwin Franko Goldman: The Chimes of Liberty
John Philip Sousa: Fairest of the Fair
Henry Fillmore: Americans We
Edwin Franko Goldman: On the Mall
Bob Lowden: Armed Forces Salute
Samuel Ward / Carmen Dragon: America the Beautiful
John Philip Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever

In case of rain, the concert will be played tomorrow evening.

Heritage Month – U.S. Arsenal Tower Building

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MacPark ArsenalToday is Armed Forces Day.  It is an appropriate day to look at the U. S. Arsenal Tower Building.  Construction on the Little Rock Arsenal began in 1838 and was completed in 1840.  The complex grew to include more than thirty buildings. The arsenal building itself was a two story brick building with an unusual central octagonal tower between two wings. The tower was actually used to move munitions between floors of the building. Other buildings included office buildings, a storehouse, a magazine, a guardhouse, a hospital and other service structures. The hospital and service structures were built of wood.

On 25 Jul 1873 the Little Rock Arsenal became the Little Rock Barracks and remained that until the facility was abandoned 25 Sep 1890. The tower building was converted into married officer quarters. Douglas MacArthur was born 26 Jan 1880, in the tower building at the Little Rock Barracks to then Captain Arthur MacArthur, Jr. and his wife.

The site was turned over to the city 23 Apr 1892, stipulated for use as a city park. In return, the City of Little Rock gave the U.S. Government 1,000 acres  on which Fort Logan H. Roots was established by the U.S. Congress on the same date, 23 Apr 1892. All of the remaining buildings on the original site were sold or destroyed except the Arsenal Tower building.

The land became known as City Park and later MacArthur Park.  The Tower Building remained empty and in deteriorating condition until the late 1930s, when the City of Little Rock renovated the building.  For many years, the Aesthetic Club met in the building as the only tenant.  When others refused to pay the utilities, the Aesthetic Club members did.  The organization continues to meet in the building.

In 1942, the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities opened in the building; it had previously been located in Little Rock’s City Hall. The name of the museum changed in 1964 to the Museum of Science and Natural History, and again in 1983 to the Arkansas Museum of Science and History. In 1997, the museum moved to a new location in the River Market, where it now is known as the Museum of Discovery.

In May 2001, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History opened in the building.

The structure was listed in National Register of Historic Places on July 28, 1970.  It was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 19, 1994.