12.    Period Rooms - First Floor

Then…
When the Old State House became the seat of state government in 1836, the main building and two distinct wings were designated for the three branches of government: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The Arkansas General Assembly met in the Main Building. A variety of state, federal, district, and even municipal courts occupied the East Wing. Executive offices were situated in the West Wing.

It was intended that the governor occupy the suite of four rooms on the second floor of the West Wing, while the other offices were distributed among the auditor, treasurer, attorney general, and secretary of state. Not long after completion of the State House in 1842, an internal load-bearing wall was mistakenly removed in an attempt to enlarge a room in the West Wing. This resulted in a sagging roof and a dangerous bulge outward by the wing's western wall. The interior wall was quickly restored and efforts were made to brace the exterior wall, but structural problems persisted, compromising the stability of the West Wing's staircase. For decades, access to the offices on the second floor was by means of a steep, single-flight external staircase.

During that period it is not clear which offices were occupied or by whom. One newspaper account mentioned walking past on the lawn and looking in to see the governor at work, which suggests that for a time his office was located on the first floor. After 1885 the space became part of the State Library. It was the office of the veterinarian during the Medical School's tenure at the Old State House. During that time the structure was called the Arkansas War Memorial Building and entrusted to the American Legion.

Now…
Spanish-American War Veterans Auxiliary Period Room - The West Wing, including this room, was occupied by the History Commission from 1950 until their departure in 1979. Afterwards, this space was a popular hands-on exhibit for children, which today is the Whistle Stop Station. When the History Commission left, the Spanish-American War Room returned to the West Wing and occupied what is now the right-hand gallery of First Ladies' Gowns exhibit. It was shifted to this location during the restoration of the late 1990s. In the between 2005 and 2010, moisture in the walls of this room and the room next door became a problem and the artifacts and furniture in the Spanish-American Room were removed. Repairs were made to the room and the artifacts and furniture from the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Arkansas was moved into the space while the other room was repaired.

General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Arkansas - No organization played a more important role in the fight to save the Old State House than did the Arkansas Federation of Women's Clubs (now known as the General Federation of Women's Clubs of Arkansas). They were one of the first groups to create a "period room" when the Old State House became a museum in 1950. In the early 1980s, their room was moved to the space now occupied by the Governor's Case in the First Families Galleries. It was moved to its present location during the restoration of the late 1990s. The Federation was not in its new home long before the room began experiencing water damage. Water wicking has been a historical problem in the West Wing, due in part to the porous nature of the brick and plaster structure and the fact that the West Lawn is a natural site for springs. The room was closed while attempts were made to solve the problem. The solution has so far stumped investigators, but the effort continues.


1812 Hallway - The present staircase was constructed as part of the 1885 renovation. The artifacts of the United States Daughters of 1812 have been displayed here since the 1980s.
Visit the exhibit page for the Daughters of 1812.

Daughters of the American Revolution - When the museum opened in 1951, the Daughters of The American Revolution (DAR) established their "period room" in the old Supreme Court Justices' Chambers on the second floor of the museum's East Wing. When the History Commission departed in 1979, the DAR Room was moved into part of the space that currently houses the West Hyphen Gallery. The room was relocated to its present site on the first floor of the West Wing in the late 1990s.