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The General Federation of Women's Clubs of Arkansas at Eureka Spring, 1904 |
The preservation movement began in America in 1853 when Ann Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina founded the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association to save the home of George Washington. The group acquired the property in 1860, and in the decades following the Civil War, they transformed the dilapidated landmark into a showplace. The preservation movement began in Arkansas in 1901, when an act of the General Assembly authorized the construction of a new capitol. The law also contained provisions for the disposal of the State House and the sale of its grounds. Alarmed at this prospect, in 1904, the Arkansas Federation of Women's Clubs undertook to preserve the site "as a sort of museum, a repository of the trophies of the past." Many of the state's other female patriotic organizations rallied to save the old capitol.
As Clara Eno explained in a letter to legislators in 1908: "We wish it as a valuable heirloom to be handed down to a future generation and a place where relics of the past can be kept which are fast disappearing from the state for want of a proper receptacle."
As it turned out, there were not enough votes for the bill to pass. This left the management of the site in the hands of the Secretary of State. Fortunately, in 1912, when the State House was vacated by the opening of the new Capitol, the Secretary of State, Earl E. Hodges, was also the newly elected president of the State Historical Museum Association.
"I am heartily in favor of the preservation of this old State House," Hodges said in a speech to legislators. "I believe that it is the one sacred landmark of the State's greatness, and to barter it away for a few shekels with which to replenish our depleted coffers is not only to forsake the teachings and traditions of our fathers, but to 'sell our birthright for a mess of pottage.'"
By placing the University of Arkansas Medical Department in the Old State House, Hodges undercut any efforts to sell the site.
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