| A
Pictorial History of Arkansas’s Old State House
Celebrating 175 Years
Mary L. Kwas
An architectural history of
a beloved building
“I am delighted
that anthropologist Mary L. Kwas has written this engaging
history of Arkansas’s Old State House. Besides the building’s
historical, cultural, and political importance to Arkansas,
the Old State House holds tremendous personal significance
for me. I had an inaugural reception there in 1977 when I
became Attorney General. I supported its restoration in my
first term as governor. We celebrated Arkansas’s sesquicentennial
there in 1986. My road to the Presidency began there, and
it was the site of our Election Night celebration in 1992
and 1996. The Old State House is a beautiful building that
carries the echoes of all our struggles and dreams. I applaud
Kwas for preserving the legacy of this unique treasure.”
—President Bill Clinton
"This book rises far beyond a mere souvenir item into
a detailed account of how the building has stood at the very
center of the state's political life... surely it must rank
as one of the most beautiful and essential books in the canon
of Arkansas history."
—Michael B. Dougan, Arkansas Historical Quarterly
Arkansas’s
Old State House, arguably the most famous building in the
state, was conceived during the territorial period and has
served through statehood. A History of Arkansas’s Old
State House traces the history of the architecture and purposes
of the remarkable building.
The history begins with Gov. John Pope’s ideas for a
symbolic state house for Arkansas and continues through the
construction years and an expansion in 1885. After years of
deterioration, the building was abandoned by the state government,
and the Old State House then became a medical school and office
building. Kwas traces the subsequent fight for the building’s
preservation on to its use today as a popular museum of Arkansas
history and culture.
Brief biographies of secretaries of state, preservationists,
caretakers, and others are included, and the book is generously
illustrated with early and seldom-seen photographs, drawings,
and memorabilia.
Mary L. Kwas
is a research associate for the Arkansas Archeological Survey
and is the author of Digging
for History at Old Washington.
April
2011
10 1/2 x 8 1/2, 334 pages
220 photographs
$49.95 (s) cloth
978-1-55728-955-1
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