“One of the Greatest Success Stories in
Arkansas”:
Sketching the History of the Arkansas Arts
Center
Historical Narrative
July 2007
Master of Arts in Public History, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Stephanie Bayless, Daniel Benton, Teresa Lauderdale, Jennifer McCarty,
Jamie Metrailer, Sara Thompson
Dean Deborah Baldwin
© Copyright 2007 The Arkansas Arts Center
All Rights Reserved
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
4
Executive Summary
5
Chapter 1
19
Origin of a Museum
Chapter 2
35
Suited to Expand
Chapter 3
51
Joining Forces
Chapter 4
78
A New Direction
Chapter 5
100
Enhancing a Reputation
Chapter 6
121
Achieving Goals
Bibliography
141
Appendices
Appendix A
Proposal
Appendix B
Literature Review
Appendix C
Archival Recommendations
Appendix D
Lists
Executive Summary
The Arkansas Arts Center (AAC) is one of Arkansas’s finest success stories. The
story marks AAC’s transformation from its origins as a women’s social club to a premier
institution with a deserved reputation of excellence serving all people in Arkansas. In
1914, affluent women in Arkansas created the Fine Arts Club (FAC) following a national
trend of women’s organizations involved with social and cultural themes. The FAC met
in the Little Rock Public Library to study art and art history and occasionally sponsored
small exhibits featuring Arkansas artists. The FAC was largely inactive during World
War I, but the FAC resumed activity with a more formalized structure after the war’s
conclusion. This restructuring birthed the hope within the FAC for a permanent art
gallery.
In 1927, the FAC adopted a new constitution and by-laws which established
officer’s roles and membership dues, and in addition, formed a Board of Trustees.
Membership became by invitation only. Bertha Baird, FAC president from 1927 to 1936,
built on the vision of a permanent facility to exhibit artwork in Arkansas. Her plans were
realized on May 15, 1928 when the FAC opened the first permanent art gallery in
Arkansas on the fourth floor of the Pulaski County Courthouse. The original pieces in
the collection consisted of gifts by artists and donations by members.
By 1932, the collection was already outgrowing the allocated space. The FAC
requested federal grant funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in order to
meet increased storage needs and exhibition space requirements. By 1934, the FAC had
obtained WPA grants and a donation of $25,000. This funding provided for construction
on the historic City Park site that was donated by the City of Little Rock. The city
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continued to own the grounds and the building while the FAC was responsible for
accessioning and maintaining the art through an endowment established by John P. Baird.
The newly completed Museum of Fine Arts began displaying exhibits in October 1937.
However, the FAC was without Baird, who had died in a car accident in December 1936.
Over ten thousand visitors passed through the Museum between October 1937 and July
1938 with non-Arkansas guests outnumbering Arkansas patrons. By 1938, FAC
membership exceeded four hundred members.
During World War II, activity slowed in the FAC and at the Museum of Fine
Arts. In order to relate to the war, several FAC meetings focused on war themes. The
FAC asked its members to loan private collections to the Museum of Fine Arts for
exhibition to eliminate the costs of traveling exhibits. Works displayed in late 1937 and
early 1938 included a collection of glass slippers and another of gold forks. The
collection continued to grow as the Museum of Fine Arts kept the winning artwork from
the Arkansas Oil Painters and Sculptors Competition, formerly the Amateur Spring Art
Exhibit.
In 1940s after the war, the deaths of key members George P. Rose and Fred W.
Allsopp highlighted a time of generous donation to the institution. Rose, noted lawyer,
art historian and Museum of Fine Arts patron, donated a collection of reproductions of
master works, statues, and vases. Allsopp, author, newspaper publisher, and former
Board of Trustees member, donated $2,000 to the Endowment and $10,000 to build an
atrium. As funding for daily operations remained difficult, John Baird, husband of the
late Bertha Baird, willed $40,000 to the Endowment.
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Further additions to the permanent collection came from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters. The Academy selected the Museum of Fine Arts to receive a
painting from the Hassam Fund in 1952. That same year, Jean Mauve, sister of Winthrop
Rockefeller, donated Diego Rivera’s Two Women. The addition of this work added
prestige to an unfocused collection. In the 1950s, the collection was a random mixture of
donations and gifts dating back to the inception of the first art gallery. Accessions were
not based on future-minded collection goals.
However, lack of focus did not discourage visitors and the Museum of Fine Arts
averaged 18,500 visitors a year from 1950 through 1956. Exhibits, such as T. Gilbert
Brouillette’s in 1955, drew over one thousand visitors in a single week and significantly
contributed to attendance numbers. The status of the collection, combined with the
impending resignation of Irene Robinson, Director for over twenty years, prompted the
Board to form a task force to investigate the institution’s future and a replacement
Director.
William E. Steadman was hired as Museum Director and began implementing
new ideas on January 6, 1958. Steadman replaced the Arkansas Artists Exhibition with
the Annual Delta Arts Exhibition. He also initiated fundraising projects that, in
conjunction with membership campaigns by the Board of Trustees, increased funds for
renovations and expansion. Although the Museum of Fine Arts closed for part of 1958
for renovations, quality exhibits helped increase annual attendance to 30,000 visitors.
Despite his successes, Steadman resigned in December 1958 and alluded to the Central
High School Desegregation Crisis as influencing his decision.
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The Museum of Fine Arts continued to grow and after partnering with the Junior
League of Little Rock (JLLR), the institution reached a significant milestone in its
history. Focused on meeting community needs, the JLLR wanted to create a
contemporary center for the arts in Arkansas. At first, the JLLR planned to create a
separate institution. However, after considering a proposal from the Museum of Fine
Arts, the JLLR and the FAC agreed to merge and build the new arts center together.
Three women from the JLLR approached Winthrop Rockefeller regarding the fundraising
campaign. Rockefeller suggested Larry Kelly as Chairman for the campaign and
Rockefeller agreed to help raise funds on a statewide level. Rockefeller stressed the
importance of an Arkansas center instead of a Little Rock or a Pulaski County center.
The campaign raised over $650,000 to build the center and attention was turned to
staffing issues. The JLLR hired Anne Webb as the Educational Director and George
Ware became Director of the Museum of Fine Arts. Anne Long, Assistant to the
Director, remained throughout the 1960s.
The division of labor between the JLLR and Museum of Fine Arts created
confusion in the public eye. An outside consultant, hired by the Rockefellers, suggested
the organizations have one group membership and one solicitation of membership dues.
Over the next year and a half, efforts were made to clarify roles and eliminate
overlapping responsibilities amongst the various organizations. Amidst this transition
struggle, Ware resigned as Director.
On September 6, 1960, the City of Little Rock passed an ordinance officially
creating the Arkansas Arts Center. The following day, the Museum of Fine Arts Board
changed its name to the Arkansas Arts Center Board. Muriel Christison began working
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as the Director of the Arkansas Arts Center in August 1961 and oversaw the
groundbreaking for the new building on August 20, 1961. However, Christison resigned
within a few months and Anne Webb retired in January 1962. Since the building neared
completion without a Director, the Rockefellers loaned Alan Symonds, who had been
employed to manage the unopened antique automobile museum at Winrock, to serve as
Administrator. Despite the staff turnover, the Arkansas Arts Center developed outreach
programs during this time. The Artmobile was introduced in November 1962 and, by the
time of the grand opening of the Arts Center, more than 77,000 visitors had passed
through the Artmobile.
The grand opening of the more than six thousand square feet building was May
16-18, 1963 and the main event was the Beaux Arts Bal. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York loaned a special exhibit of sixty-two works of European Masters
entitled Five Centuries of European Painting. This exhibit brought many viewers but the
AAC still did not have a standard of quality for future exhibits. The result was visible in
the declining number of visitors. To counter this decline, William H. Turner was hired as
Development Director in October 1963 and subsequently, paid membership increased
sixty percent.
In the early 1960s, Adolphine Fletcher Terry offered the Terry House as a gift to
the AAC with the condition that the City of Little Rock would own the house and the
AAC responsible for its maintenance. Another change at the AAC was the creation of
the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program in September 1964. The program was never
accredited, nor was it able to partner with the local university in a satisfactory manner.
Its drain on the AAC budget caused the AAC to discontinued the BFA program in 1968.
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After his success as Director of Development, Turner became Acting Director,
but the Board did not renew his contract in 1965. The AAC hired Louis Ismay as
Director in early 1966, but choose to release him by 1968. Townsend Durant Wolfe, III
was encouraged by Jeanette Rockefeller to apply for the position and was hired as
Executive Director and Chief Curator of the AAC. He began working in August 1968.
Wolfe’s first task was to balance the budget. He successfully did so within the first six
months and he continued to do so every year of his tenure. Wolfe then began to integrate
the AAC Board of Trustee’s. This unprecedented task occurred at the end of 1968.
Under Wolfe’s direction, the AAC entered the 1970s on stable financial ground
and with growing public support. Staff increased to thirty-one full-time and fourteen
part-time employees. The FAC developed Tabriz, a formal dinner and auction that
replaced the Beaux Arts Bal, as the premiere fundraiser for AAC collection development.
The Yellow Space Place (YSP), a children’s gallery, opened in November 1970 and was
the only gallery that specifically exhibited works from the permanent collection. The
YSP boasted 27,000 visitors annually for the first three years. The State Services
department was created in 1971 and was responsible for the Artmobile, the Tell-a-TaleTroupe, and the Children’s Theatre.
The Children’s Theatre received multiple accolades under Rand Hopkins,
Director of the Children’s Theatre, from 1975 through 1978. A group from the theatre
was the first to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1976.
Another theatre group, known as Kidstuff, performed at Robert Redford’s Sundance
Summer Theatre and in January 1977 for President Jimmy Carter’s Inauguration
Ceremony. The Children’s Theatre’s central theme was the “for kids by kids” mindset.
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In 1979, Bradley Anderson altered this mindset of the Children’s Theatre by including
professional adult actors.
In 1971, Wolfe turned his attention to the content of the AAC collection. The
AAC began focusing on collecting drawings or works on paper. The affordability of
drawings on paper allowed the AAC to purchase important works and secure a unique
niche in the art world. Three drawings were chosen using the AAC’s first Museum
Purchase Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Purchase rules required the
works be from living American artists and Wolfe chose works by Andrew Wyeth,
Willem de Kooning, and Morris Graves. In 1972, ownership of the entire collection was
transferred from the City of Little Rock to the newly formed Arkansas Arts Center
Foundation. The Foundation managed the Endowment Fund drives. These efforts
allowed the Foundation to own the AAC’s growing and more focused collection.
Another significant milestone of the early 1970s was accreditation from the
American Association of Museums. The AAC was the first Arkansas institution to
receive such accreditation. The 1970s also offered the newly formed Traveling Seminars
that visited places such as Italy, France, Egypt and Greece. In 1975, the Traveling
Seminars became the first non-governmental group to visit the People’s Republic of
China since Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung) took power in 1949. The early 1970s also saw
the implementation of the docent program, which was developed by Becky Witsell.
Other activities included competitions such as the Annual Delta Arts Exhibition, the
Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition, the Annual Prints, Drawings and Crafts Exhibition
and the Toys Designed by Artists.
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The FAC redefined its purpose in 1973 and by 1975, the FAC was the official
volunteer organization for the AAC. Through the FAC, volunteers logged in 7,167 hours
during the 1972-1973 fiscal year and 12,568 hours the following year. FAC volunteers
staffed and supported the Vineyard in the Park Restaurant and all tips were donated
toward the purchase of artwork.
The Museum School of the 1970s offered visual arts classes while the Performing
Arts Department offered classes based on dance movement. The ballet classes were so
popular that in 1974, a Department of Ballet was formed apart from the Performing Arts
Department. A Long-Range Planning Committee was created in 1975 and set new goals
for outreach programs, finances, Board development, acquisition fundraising, and service
to artists in the community. Outreach programs focused on reaching minorities in the
community, but met with limited success.
The keys to the Terry House were officially turned over to the City in 1977, but
extensive renovations were needed before it could be utilized by the AAC. Space for
exhibitions in the AAC was quickly filled and new galleries were needed. The loss of
arts patron and philanthropist Winthrop Rockefeller was remembered with the addition of
a new 3,720 square feet memorial gallery was used for traveling exhibits. The gallery’s
opening exhibit was 5,000 Years of Art; the AAC was one of only five institutions to
display the exhibition.
Renovations for the Terry House began with the stabilization of the exterior; this
was completed in 1981. Renovations of the interior, installation of exhibits, and hiring of
staff allowed the Terry House to open as the Decorative Arts Museum in March 1985
with Patty Dean as Curator. The exhibit space utilized both decorative arts from the
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AAC’s permanent collection in addition to temporary exhibits. Alan DuBois was hired
as the new Curator in 1989 and established the regional importance of the Decorative
Arts Museum by inviting local and regional artists to exhibit their crafts.
By the early 1980s, the AAC collection had a deserved reputation of excellence
on the national level. The drawings collected in the 1970s generated recognition for the
collection. An Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant in 1983 provided
funds to catalogue the AAC’s entire collection. Thom Hall and Missy Anderson carried
out this task. When the first catalogue was released, the collection included 2,800 works,
which focused on drawings from America and Europe. The importance of the collection
was recognized by the American Association of Museums, Connoisseur magazine, and
the Christian Science Monitor. During the early 1990s, portions of the collection were
loaned to nationally recognized museums like the Metropolitan Museum, the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, the New York City Museum, the Fogg Museum at Harvard
University, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The early 1980s was a time of reassessment and the Yellow Space Place closed
following Becky Witsell’s departure. The Museum School combined with State
Services, but the Museum School did not flourish as hoped and was later separated back
into its own department. The Museum School began to thrive again in 1986 under David
Bailin. Wanting to spark interest in the arts among young people, the Museum School
developed scholarship opportunities for at-risk youth and a program of studio education
for students age ten to eighteen. “City Project,” an outreach program, offered art projects
to groups such as the physically disabled, domestically abused, AIDS patients.
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The Children’s Theatre grew in popularity and set attendance records for the
1989-1990 season by serving 60,543 people and again two years later with attendance
reaching 66,528 patrons. State Services continued to serve areas without art programs or
art galleries with the Tell-a-Tale-Troupe and the Artmobile. State Services booked the
engagements for the Troupe, but Bradley Anderson maintained artistic control. Although
the Tell-a-Tale Troupe was the only Arkansas based group invited to the Spoleto Festival
in Charleston, South Carolina during the 1985-1986 season, event attendance declined.
Attendance for the Artmobile also dropped in the early 1980s and budget cuts caused the
Artmobile to shut down for the 1983-1984 season. Subsequent successful lobbying
reinstated the Artmobile program. The Artmobile enjoyed attendance of 53,350 during
the last season of the decade.
The Traveling Seminars continued with visits to Ecuador, India, Tibet, China, and
France. The FAC continued to be one of the most significant supporters of the AAC with
programs like the Forum on Decorative Arts, which boasted such renowned speakers as
Martha Stewart. The Vineyard group contributed $8,000 to the Decorative Arts Museum
during 1993-94 and Tabriz, the other major fundraiser, continued to make significant
contributions to acquisition funds. The 1983 Tabriz tripled the amount raised in 1980.
The AAC’s growth in outreach programs, the collection, and membership
numbers during the 1980s and early 1990s solidified the AAC’s local, national and
international reputation. This helped the AAC move forward with further expansions,
namely the Capital Campaign. When completed, the Capital Campaign allowed the AAC
to obtain even more renowned exhibitions with an additional 32,000 square feet and
another 12,000 square feet of renovated space. This included the Townsend Wolfe
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Gallery, the Jeanette Edris Rockefeller Gallery, and the Jackson T. Stephens Gallery.
Also through the Capital Campaign, the Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Library added 2,600
square feet and the Endowment Fund increased by $11 million.
Fundraising efforts of the Capital Campaign resulted in a $5 million from Jackson
T. Stephens in October 1996. Stephens’s donation doubled previous Campaign
collections. A more public phase of the Capital Campaign focused on corporate donors
and individuals. A month after this public phase began in the spring of 1998, the AAC
had already collected $1.5 million in donations. The Capital Campaign also received
grants from the Ben J. Altheimer Charitable Foundation Inc., the Ottenheimer Brothers
Foundation of Little Rock, and the Brown Foundation, Inc. A $150,000 grant from the
Henry Luce Foundation Inc. paid for the new 2,500 square feet American Drawing
Research Study Center. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 1998.
Plans for expansion and renovation were altered when James Dyke, former AAC
President, philanthropist and AAC Foundation founder, donated his 133 Paul Signac
watercolors and drawings to the AAC. Money was earmarked for a special gallery for
this collection and the donation of the $20 million collection nearly doubled the value of
the AAC’s holdings. After the opening, portions of the Signac collection traveled to
Paris, Amsterdam, London, and to the Metropolitan Museum in New York over the next
year.
The AAC expanded into cyberspace as well with a new website where patrons
could search the online collection or purchase Children’s Theatre tickets. By June 2002,
the site experienced its 50,000th hit. The Traveling Seminars expanded to include the
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Arts and Adventure Travel Series and an annual trip organized through the Decorative
Arts Museum.
However, the most significant change at the AAC during this era was Townsend
Wolfe’s retirement. Wolfe retired after the expansion and renovation afforded by the
Capital Campaign and the AAC began its search for a new director. The independent
search committee interviewed four candidates and two were asked to participate in a
second round of interviews in August 2002. In September, Dr. Nan Plummer was
announced as the new Executive Director of the AAC on September 17, 2002 in the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In Plummer’s first year, the mission statement was revised
and a new strategic plan focusing on collections, exhibitions, education, development,
and infrastructure was implemented. Components of the plan concerning education and
exhibitions sought to reach a broader audience.
City funding issues, predating Plummer’s appointment, influenced some drastic
changes for the AAC. The Decorative Arts Museum was closed and the related programs
were moved to the newly renovated AAC in June 2003. The house was renamed the
Arkansas Arts Center Terry House Community Gallery. In the fall of 2004, the space
was reopened for collaborative exhibitions and programs with arts and non-profit
agencies.
A new partnership with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) placed the
Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Memorial Library’s holdings in an online catalog. The library
also became a research branch of CALS and doubled its operating hours. The Children’s
Theatre also experienced change by transforming its rehearsal theatre to a 120-seat blackbox theatre space.
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Exhibitions in the early twenty-first century were fewer, but on a larger scale. For
example, the eighty works included in the Drawn Toward the Avant-Garde: NineteenthCentury French Drawings from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. The AAC
was one of only four stops in North America to host this exhibition. In February 2005,
the AAC hosted In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite,
the first exhibition of ancient art shown in Arkansas. In 2006, the AAC displayed
African Masterpieces from the New Orleans Museum of Art and this was the first major
exhibit of African art for the AAC. This was followed by the Pursuing Picasso
exhibition later in 2006. The AAC continued forward with the goal of reaching a broader
audience with Craft in America and was the first institution in the United States to host
this exhibition. Additional components, such as a three-part PBS series, a book, and an
accompanying website, were aimed to meet the needs of a broader audience.
The quality of the AAC’s collection and the deserved reputation for excellence
allowed the institution to produce quality large-scale exhibits and reach broader
audiences. From its founding as a social club for affluent women in 1914 to its current
place in society, the AAC has established itself, through the work of devoted patrons and
employees, as a center for excellence at the local, regional, state, national and
international level. It is indeed one of the greatest success stories in Arkansas.
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“A lot of people, and I guess this goes back to one of your
earliest questions, care very deeply about this place. It’s a
relatively new museum. And so we are still living in the age of
the founders. The people whose passion founded it. That’s a
wonderful privilege. There are not many museums as young as
we are that have the kind of reach we do. That have the kind of
success that we do. And the people who are responsible for
that, not all of them unfortunately, but an awful lot of them are
still here. And they’re still participating. So it’s perfect
moment to write a history of it. But it’s also a very exciting
moment to be part of it because of its absolute devotion. You
talk to people now whose corporations are five figure donors to
Tabriz, our biennial fundraiser, started off putting hotdogs in
buns for the first or the tenth one. They’ve grown up with it and
now they’re bring their kids out . . . To have all those
generations still present, the people who are here still who
founded it, and the young people who are going to take it, who
are going to be doing wonderful things with it when we’re no
longer alive, those of us in the middle, it’s a very exciting
period to be here. Because you’re just surrounded by that
passion, that devotion. We would be in trouble if we couldn’t
get people’s attention, and I don’t have to worry about that.”
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, AAC Executive Director
Chapter One
Origin of a Museum
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Arkansas had limited interest in arts
organizations or even the arts in general. A group of prominent women who liked art and
liked to socialize started a small organization that blossomed into an internationally
recognized institution over the next century. The story of the Arkansas Arts Center
(AAC) started with the establishment of the Fine Arts Club (FAC) of Arkansas in 1914.
During the first twenty-five years, members of the Fine Arts Club were dedicated to the
development of art in Arkansas. Their efforts culminated in the development of an art
collection, the creation of Arkansas’s first permanent art gallery, and eventually, the
founding of the Museum of Fine Arts, Arkansas’s first art museum. Despite a number of
challenges during this first era including World War I and the Great Depression, the FAC
persevered and continued to spread art appreciation in Arkansas.
The roots of the FAC followed the pattern of the national movement of women’s
clubs during the late 1800s. In 1890, Jane Cunningham Croly, a journalist from New
York City, founded the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC). As the first
national women’s organization of its kind, Croly wanted to provide a support system for
existing women’s clubs interested in social change. 1 The trend of women’s clubs spread
to Arkansas within the decade and the Arkansas Federation of Women’s Clubs (AFWC)
formed in April 1897. 2 Representatives from twenty-five clubs throughout Arkansas
attended the AFWC conference in 1897; the AFWC was admitted as a chapter of the
GFWC a month later.
1
WHRC Women’s History and Research Center, “Our Story,” General Federation of Women’s Clubs,
www.gfwc.org.
2
In 1987, the organization changed its name to the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Arkansas.
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Arkansas’s women’s clubs were primarily interested in “education, child study,
art, women’s suffrage, and traveling libraries.” Therefore, as several women formed a
club in Little Rock with a primary interest in art in 1914, the FAC and the AFWC
naturally overlapped. 3 At its 1927 annual meeting in El Dorado, Arkansas, the AWFC’s
focus was an Arkansas artists’s display. This was in result of art exhibits sponsored by
the FAC and other art groups in Arkansas. 4 Small enclaves of artists, or artist colonies,
had existed in Little Rock and Helena since the late 1800s. Some artists included
Benjamin C. Brown, Jenny Delongy Rice-Myrowitz, Maude S. Holt, and Adrian Brewer.
These artists later donated pieces of their art to the FAC. 5
Although the FAC was “dedicated to the idea of starting an art collection for a
future museum,” the FAC’s actions indicated a desire of like-minded women gathering to
meet and study art and art history. 6 May Danaher, an Arkansas artist, founded the FAC
and Genevieve T. Gill served as the first President. Affluent women in the community
also aided the FAC from its start. During its first year, these women met twice a month
at the Little Rock Public Library to discuss and study international art history; first year
topics covered Egyptian, Ancient Greek, and Italian art. 7 Approximately every two
years, the FAC leaders sponsored small temporary exhibitions at the library featuring
Arkansas artists. 8
3
Julianne H. Sallee, “General Federation of Women's Clubs of Arkansas (GFWC),” Encyclopedia of
Arkansas History and Culture, www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
4
Michael Dougan, Arkansas Odyssey: The Saga of Arkansas from Prehistoric Times to Present (Little
Rock: Rose Publishing Co., 1994), 560-562.
5
Dougan, 560-562. Some of these works remain in the AAC collection today.
6
AAC Library, “History of the Fine Arts Club of Arkansas,” by Bertha Baird, 6 October 1936. This talk
was given at the laying of the corner stone at the Museum of Fine Arts.
7
Becky Hamilton, “An Art Gallery Which Shall Be Little Rock’s Own,” Pulaski County Historical Review
33 (Fall 1985): 63-69.
8
Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 4 April 1958.
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In 1916, Jennie Tillar succeeded Genevieve T. Gill as President, who was unable
to continue service due to ill health. 9 During Tillar’s tenure, the FAC brought several
large out-of-state exhibits to Arkansas. 10 But soon after Tillar took control, the Club
became inactive once World War I activities overshadowed the Club in its infancy. At
the end of the war when the FAC resumed meetings, the FAC informally reorganized in
February 1919 marking the first of much reorganization to come in the institution’s
history. According to the Arkansas Gazette, “Formerly this had been purely a study club
for the benefit of the 25 members.” 11 The FAC scaled back its meetings to once a month
and planned for wider membership and annual dues of a dollar. In addition, the informal
reorganization marked the first plans for a future permanent exhibit gallery. 12
Bertha Baird, Little Rock civic leader and chairman of art for the AFWC,
succeeded Tillar in 1927 as President and became the predominant leader of the FAC for
the following decade. 13 Baird had a “dream yet to be realized of a real art gallery for
Arkansas” and built upon the Club’s desire to construct a new building solely for the
FAC. 14 Baird and the FAC created a new mission statement in 1927 to start “a collection
of works of art as a nucleus of an art museum.” 15 In addition to the new mission
9
AAC Library, “History of the Fine Arts Club of Arkansas,” by Bertha Baird, 6 October 1936. This talk
was given at the laying of the corner stone at the Museum of Fine Arts. Hamilton, 63-69. Arkansas
Democrat (Little Rock), 4 April 1958. Tillar was re-elected as President in 1917. After World War I,
from 1920 through 1922, and again from 1924 through 1927, Tillar served as President. Mary B.
Snodgress served as President during the intervening years between 1922 to 1924.
10
Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 4 April 1958. Unfortunately, there is no mention of the artists or
works exhibited.
11
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 21 February 1921.
12
Ibid, 21 February 1921.
13
Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 4 April 1958. Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 6 December 1936.
14
Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 15 May 1928.
15
AAC Library, “History of the Fine Arts Club of Arkansas,” by Bertha Baird, 6 October 1936. This talk
was given at the laying of the corner stone at the Museum of Fine Arts.
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statement, the FAC ratified a new constitution and by-laws on October 4, 1927. 16 The
FAC’s statement of purpose referred to future programming stating:
The promotion and perpetuation of a Fine Arts spirit in
State of Arkansas; the collection of works of art; the
erection, maintenance, and endowment of an Art Gallery;
the eventual establishment and development of a school of
fine and applied arts. 17
This statement of purpose existed for the next several decades. The constitution made
provisions for membership, dues, a FAC Board of Trustees, officers’ positions and
responsibilities, and committee memberships. This was a major turning point from the
metamorphosis of a local art club to the origins of an established organization.
Changing membership policies once again, members were added by invitation
only from the Membership Committee under the new policies in 1927. The Membership
Committee was comprised of five members whose sole purpose was to solicit new
members. The FAC had grown from the original twenty-one members in 1914 to 191
members in 1928. Members paid dues according to their level of membership. The bylaws were clear about the use of Club funds. By-laws confirmed, “No funds shall be
donated or expended by the Club for any purpose whatsoever, except for the operating
expenses and the purchase of objects of art or the building of a gallery.” 18
The newly created FAC Board of Trustees consisted of nine members including
the Little Rock Mayor and the Fine Arts Club President as an ex-officio member. The
Board was responsible for overseeing the FAC’s operation. To ensure the board
16
Ibid. The official adoption of the constitution included a name change from the Fine Arts Club to the
Fine Arts Club of Arkansas. The Fine Arts Club of Arkansas incorporated on April 17, 1930, becoming the
Fine Arts Club of Arkansas, Incorporated (FACAI).
17
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1928-1936. AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Yearbook, 19281929.
18
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Yearbook, 1928-1929. There were five tiers of membership: Active,
Associate, Contributing, Special, and Sustaining. The membership tiers donated $2, $1, $5, $10, and $25,
respectively.
- 22 -
members maintained an active presence, the FAC made provisions that a year without
participation signified resignation. The inaugural members of the FAC Board of Trustees
included Lottie Banks, Corrine Hardy, George B. Rose, W. C. Ribenack, and Fred W.
Allsopp. The first officers elected were Bertha Baird as President, Olive Critz as first
Vice President, Mary F. Allsopp as second Vice President, Frances E. Almand as
Recording Secretary, Mrs. J. F. Jones as Corresponding Secretary, and Emma Archer as
Treasurer. 19
Simultaneous to the creation of the Board of Trustees, the FAC also created seven
standing committees for Club members: Finance, Membership, Programs, Accessions,
Entertainment, Hanging, and Exhibitions. Finance was responsible for fundraising,
Membership for soliciting new members, Programs for arranging the schedule of the
upcoming year’s work, Accessions for accepting or rejecting works of art offered for
exhibit or purchase, Entertainment for planning all events for the FAC or exhibits,
Hanging for installing exhibits, and Exhibitions for presenting the logistics of exhibits to
the Club, such as cost, plans and standards.
On May 15, 1928, the FAC reached another milestone in the institution’s history
opening Arkansas’s first permanent art gallery. While the FAC had previously loaned
temporary exhibits, the space used by the FAC on the fourth floor of the Pulaski County
Courthouse marked a permanent gallery location. 20 Judge C. P. Newton presided over
the gallery’s opening and Fred W. Allsopp was spokesperson. This first museum had
humble beginnings. The gallery’s initial permanent collection only had twelve paintings,
several of which were created by FAC members, including Morning Light by Benjamin
19
20
Ibid.
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 16 May 1928. Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 16 May 1928.
- 23 -
C. Brown, Old Graphite Mill by May Danaher, and Beyond the Marsh by Edmund Henry
Wuerpel. Three of these works from the museum’s earliest collection currently remain at
the AAC. 21 Fred W. Allsopp expressed the hope that the collection would “serve as a
cultural influence for the city and as a stimulus to young artists.” 22 As an act of support
of that statement, Allsopp later donated 120 engravings to the FAC’s collection. 23
Bertha Baird also pursued other notable accessions. One of the more interesting
pieces was a portrait of Ferdinand Armellini, Little Rock’s first music teacher, painted by
Louis Betts. When sixteen years old, Betts had been a violin student of Armellini.
Professor Armellini, the first portrait ever done by Betts, was payment for his lessons.
The Armellini family gave the painting to the FAC in November 1930. 24 Louis Betts
went on to become a member of the National Academy of Art. Another important piece
came as a donation from Samuel Henry Kress of New York. In his interest to see art
distributed around the United States, Kress donated The Adoration of the Shepherd by
Francesco Bassano, which was painted in the late sixteenth century. 25 This gift marked
the FAC’s first major donation from someone outside the state of Arkansas. 26
In addition to presiding over the FAC’s monthly meetings in the early 1930s,
Bertha Baird also led tours of the collection and gave gallery talks. Thank-you letters
from the Arkana and Ozark Delphinian Chapters in the Fall of 1931 refer to these talks
and tours as “interesting anecdotes in the lives of many of the artists” and “most
21
Benjamin C. Brown, Morning Light, oil on canvas, ca. 1920, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. May
Danaher, Old Graphite Mill, oil on canvas, ca. 1900, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Edmund Henry
Wuerpel, Beyond the Marsh, oil on canvas, ca. 1920, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
22
Hamilton, 63.
23
Ibid, 64.
24
Louis Betts, Professor Armellini, oil on canvas, 1890, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
25
Francesco Bassano, Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on canvas, circa 1580, AAC, Little Rock.
26
Hamilton, 64-65.
- 24 -
instructive explanations.” 27 Another major program started when the FAC sponsored the
Amateur Spring Art Exhibit in February 1933. With free entry, over five hundred artists
entered the competition. In various art exhibitions and contests, the institution has
demonstrated its commitment for local artists. In the FAC’s first hints of arts educational
programming, students were allowed into the FAC gallery to specifically study the works
from the Amateur Spring Art Exhibit. 28
Concerned with how to store and display its growing collection, the FAC
discussed finding a more permanent home. An article in the Arkansas Gazette in
December 1932 suggested establishing a museum in the old Post Office at Second and
Center streets. The article expressed the hope to consolidate a collection of artifacts and
exhibits displayed on the third floor of City Hall with the FAC’s gallery of art, which was
housed on the fourth floor of the Pulaski County Courthouse. 29 However, this merger
never happened and instead of an art museum, the federal government decided to use the
old Post Office as a Marine and Navy recruiting station. As this plan did not materialize,
the FAC identified a pressing need for additional space as it was quickly running out of
room for new accessions in its courthouse location. 30
Although the Great Depression hurt the FAC financially as it did many other
institutions in Little Rock, the Great Depression actually ended up proving the perfect
opportunity for the FAC to expand. In 1934, the FAC submitted building plans to both
the Little Rock Civic Projects Authority and the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
The WPA had replaced the Civil Works Administration in creating jobs for both
27
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1928-1936.
Ibid.
29
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 4 December 1932.
30
Hamilton, 64.
28
- 25 -
unemployed and underemployed people with dependent children. The WPA built roads,
drainage ditches and public buildings such as libraries, courthouses and schools. Local
communities provided half of the building costs for each project while the WPA
furnished grants to pay for the remaining half. 31 The WPA rejected the FAC’s initial
plans for a museum, but the FAC found favor with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
who approved and signed a subsequent, but more modest, submission in 1934. 32
Those later plans included a $25,000 grant from the WPA for construction of the
building as well as Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funds to supply the
labor force of about thirty workers. In December 1934, an anonymous donor pledged an
additional $25,000 to fund the remainder of the $50,000 project. Fred W. Allsopp,
Chairman of the Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees and business manager of the
Arkansas Gazette, later came forward as this anonymous donor. Allsopp’s donation was
said to be the single largest contribution towards construction of a building received by
the WPA in the country prior to 1934. The City of Little Rock donated the land, sand,
and gravel for construction and Little Rock Mayor R.E. Overman donated a substantial
amount of the marble used in the building. 33
Architect H. Ray Burks completed his design for the building, but construction
did not start because various groups debated the location. City officials wanted to place
the building within City Park, later known as MacArthur Park, next to the Tower
31
Jeannie M. Whayne, Thomas A. DeBlack, George Sabo, and Morris Arnold, Arkansas: A Narrative
History, (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2002), 327-328.
32
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1928-1936.
33
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
- 26 -
Building. The City Planning Commission preferred a location closer to the State Capitol,
and only signed off on the City Park site when no other suitable site was found. 34
Groundbreaking commenced on January 3, 1936 at City Park with the full support
of Little Rock Mayor Horace A. Knowlton. 35 The footings were placed west of the last
remaining building from the Arsenal complex at the Tower Building. The Museum faced
Ninth Street. When excavation began for the Museum of Fine Arts, search teams
discovered a foundation made of sun-dried bricks and lime mortar along with sewer
works that had been part of the post headquarters and commandant’s home. Construction
resumed and new footings were poured into the old footings from the old foundation.
One reporter said, “Art, sometimes defined as life arrested, will be fittingly housed in
Little Rock on the foundation of a building through which there once passed the vital,
memorable life of stirring Southwestern frontier days before the War Between the
States.” 36
The cornerstone for the new Museum was laid on October 6, 1936. Frances
Hanger, a member of the Museum of Fine Arts Board, gave a speech detailing the history
of the site of Little Rock’s first art museum. The speech included a historical
examination of the Quapaw Indians, Hernando de Soto, and the ownership record of the
land. The land was part of a 3,500 acre tract given from the Quapaw to Frenchman
Baptiste Imbeau in 1797 for his help in fighting the Osage. The park had been home to a
racetrack and later the Arsenal. The Arsenal was a military complex of nine buildings
built in 1843 that became famous as the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur in
1880. The Arsenal served in several capacities and the occupying Union Army stayed
34
Hamilton, 65.
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 4 December 1934.
36
Hamilton, 66.
35
- 27 -
there during the Civil War. Hangar concluded the speech with Little Rock’s acquisition
of the land to build a park in 1893. A copy of Frances Hanger’s speech was placed in a
time capsule in the cornerstone of the new museum. More than seventy years later, this
capsule remains in this same location at the AAC.
When completed, the 10,140 square foot building included two floors and a
basement outfitted with a service space, storage, kitchenette, and attendant living
quarters. The exterior was comprised of brick and stone and the entrance stairs were
marble. The floors were tan and mahogany with black borders trimmed in red gum. All
windows and doors were bordered in Batesville marble. The first floor contained one
large and one small exhibition gallery, a lecture room, the lobby, library, office, pantry
and restrooms. Double marble stairs led to the second floor, which had one large gallery,
three small galleries, and a balcony overlooking the first floor. The only feature of the
original building that can be seen today is the original Art Deco style façade, which is
incorporated into the interior of the Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery. Little Rock
artist Ben Brantley designed the pilasters on the front entrance. 37 These building plans
captured the attention of the national arts museum sphere when Museum News mentioned
the new museum in Little Rock in its publication. 38
Amidst all of this progress, the FAC experienced a tragedy on December 6, 1936.
While crossing the street near the intersection of Fourth and Scott in downtown Little
Rock, a car struck FAC President Bertha Baird, the chief force behind building the
Museum of Fine Arts. Bertha Baird passed away the next day. 39 Several members of the
FAC including Maude S. Holt, Olive Critz, Fay McRay, and Mary Brantley wrote a
37
Ibid, 65.
“Little Rock Building New Art Museum,” Museum News, 15 (1 February 1936): 1.
39
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 6 December 1936.
38
- 28 -
memorial letter lauding the service of Bertha Baird. The letter claimed that, “The great
achievement [Museum of Fine Arts building] for which she had untiringly labored for
twelve years was near its fruition . . . she was the mainspring of the structure, and the
ever ready executive whose judgment seemed to be unerring.” 40 Fred W. Allsopp said of
her,
It is a pity that Mrs. [Bertha] Baird did not live to see the
completion and dedication for the new Fine Arts building
which was her pride and joy, but it will be her monument.
For twelve years, she had worked untiringly in an
unassuming way to gather objects of art for that institution,
and the fruition of her plans was almost consummated
when she was snatched by death. 41
Her husband, John P. Baird, was elected to her seat on the Museum of Fine Arts Board
and to the position of Secretary/Treasurer. Mary F. Allsopp presided over the Fine Arts
Club for the remainder of Bertha Baird’s term, but Cleon R. McCombs was elected
President of the Fine Arts Club in April 1937 and presided over the Museum of Fine Arts
opening. 42
At the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1937, the Museum of Fine Arts
Board members included former Mayor R. E. Overman, Dr. Frank Vinsonhaler, George
B. Rose, Frances Hanger, Julia Taylor, Cleon R. McCombs, three-time former President
of the Fine Arts Club Jennie Tillar, and Chairman Fred W. Allsopp. A sub-committee of
the Board consisting of Dr. Frank Vinsonhaler, Frances Hanger, and Julia Taylor studied
the operational needs of the museum. 43
40
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Papers, 1A-11 Files.
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 6 December 1936.
42
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
43
Ibid.
41
- 29 -
In September 1937, D. Palmer Patterson, the Assistant State WPA Administrator,
presented the Museum keys to the City of Little Rock and Mayor Overton. The city
owned the building and was responsible for maintenance, utilities, and the salary of the
Museum Director. The FAC was responsible for the accession of new art, and for the
maintenance and upkeep of the collection. To assist with the upkeep of the collection,
John P. Baird established an Endowment for the Museum with a gift of $5,000 made in
memory of Bertha Baird. The purpose of the Endowment was to provide a stable source
of funding for the accession of new works of art through the interest earned on the fund.
A marble tablet was placed in the building to acknowledge those who donated five
hundred dollars or more to the Endowment. 44
October 5, 1937 marked the FAC’s first meeting in the new building and the open
house gala, which signaled the grand opening of the Museum of Fine Arts. At the events,
letters of congratulations from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, WPA Administrator
Harry L. Hopkins, and the late Senator Joe T. Robinson were read. 45 Mayor R. E.
Overman, architect H. Ray Burks, and Fred W. Allsopp spoke at length. Allsopp
remarked:
The opening of Little Rock’s newest institution, the Fine
Arts Museum [Museum of Fine Arts], is the culmination of
something that has been talked about for fully twenty years,
but often it takes a long time to materialize an idea or a
dream. All are agreed that with the revival of interest in art
all over the country, a city of 100,000 people, 100 years
old, ought to have an art gallery and with the aid of the
government, after two years of work and worry, the thing is
accomplished. The city has at last a museum which it can
be proud of. Great art collections like those of the
Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Louvre of
Paris, with their priceless treasures, are not formed in a day,
44
45
Ibid.
Senator Robinson had written the letter prior to his death on July 14, 1937.
- 30 -
especially in places not blessed with great riches. We have
no masterpieces of Michael Angelo [Michelangelo], or
Reubens, but we have a creditable nucleus. 46
The over one thousand people attending the opening were able to view the new
exhibit of pieces from the collection gifted to the AAC since 1914. On the ground floor
the main gallery held oil paintings, including Adoration of the Shepherds by Francesco
Bassano, Portrait of a Lady by Cosmos Alexander, Mother and Son by John Hessellius,
Morning Light by Benjamin C. Brown, Professor Armellinni by Louis Betts, and Il
Sassofarrato, a Madonna by Giovanni Batista Salvi loaned by Johanna Werner Keith of
Little Rock. 47 Possibly the most cherished piece in the main gallery was a portrait of the
late Bertha Baird by E.L. Ipsen. 48 John P. Baird donated that commissioned piece to the
Museum the evening of the grand opening. In addition, a room on the ground floor
contained a large selection of prints by Benjamin West and John James Audubon as well
as various etchings and other prints by such respected names as Currier and Ives, James
Abbott McNeill Whistler, Joseph Pennell, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, and
William Hogarth. 49 A smaller gallery held rare glass, china, porcelain, pottery and
statuary. The watercolor room on the second floor featured a portrait by Adrian Brewer
of Arkansas Gazette founder W.E. Woodruff. 50 The second floor also included a room
filled with commercial art and another with traveling exhibits. The remaining gallery
46
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
Francesco Bassano, Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on canvas, ca. 1580, Arkansas Arts Center, Little
Rock. Cosmos John Alexander, Portrait of a Lady, oil on canvas, ca. 1750, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. John Hesselius, Mother and Son, oil on canvas, ca. 1765-1778, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
Benjamin C. Brown, Morning Light, oil on canvas, ca. 1920, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Louis
Betts, Professor Armellini, oil on canvas, 1890, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Giovanni Batista Salvi,
A Madonna, oil on canvas, 1890. This Madonna painting was returned in 1945 to Johanna Werner Keith.
48
Ernest Ludwig Ipsen, Bertha H. Baird, oil on canvas, 1937, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
49
Benjamin West, William Penn, Treaty with the Indians, engraving, 1770, Arkansas Arts Center, Little
Rock. John James Audubon, Ferruginous Thrash, engraving, 1837, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
50
Adrian Brewer, William E. Woodruff, oil on canvas, 1935, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
47
- 31 -
was named the Allsopp Gallery and opened in June 1938 with a collection of Japanese
prints. The Museum of Fine Arts opened to the public on October 28, 1937. This
signaled a new era for the Museum of Fine Arts and generated attention by a nationally
recognized museum publication concerning the specifics of the construction and
administration of the Museum. Museum News also referred to Irene Robinson as the new
Director of the Museum of Fine Arts and member of the FAC for ten years. 51
Although the City of Little Rock owned the building, the FAC was integral for the
operation the Museum. According to Fred W. Allsopp, Chairman of the Board, the FAC
was the mainstay of the Museum of Fine Arts increasing both interest in art and
recognition of the Museum of Fine Arts to the public. From 1930 to 1938 during the
building construction and opening, FAC membership had increased from 225 to over four
hundred members. FAC meetings also grew in size. Attendance ranged from seventyfive to one hundred people. 52 The meetings discussed the business aspects of the Club
more than art. Jane McGehee Wilson, long-time AAC supporter, remembers those early
meetings stating,
I remember going to a couple of those meetings as a guest
of some older ladies. We wore white gloves and hats to the
meeting . . . the Treasurer would get up and make a report
and they would say thirty-five cents for string, one dollar
for tape, two dollars for something else. I mean, it was
really, really fun to go to those meetings . . . [but] it was not
spectacular. But anyway, the little ladies would clap in
their little white gloves and have the best time. 53
Usually six FAC members were present at the Museum of Fine Arts to help with
the large influx of visitors, especially on Sunday afternoon which was the peak time for
51
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
Ibid.
53
Jane McGehee Wilson, interview by Jennifer McCarty, 20 March 2007. Interview 8A, transcript, AAC
Oral History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
52
- 32 -
visitors. The Museum register showed more than ten thousand visitors during the period
between the opening and July 1938, including guests from England, Ireland, Sweden,
Hawaii and Cuba. The Museum of Fine Arts actually had more out-of-state visitors than
Arkansans during that time. 54
Problems arose regarding the Museum of Fine Art’s relationship with the City of
Little Rock in the Fall of 1939. The city had agreed to pay the maintenance and utilities
of the facility as well as Director Irene Robinson’s salary. The Little Rock City Council,
needing to cut back expenditures, asked the FAC to pay Robinson’s salary for October,
November, and December. The FAC appealed to the City Council, but in the end, the
FAC paid Robinson’s salary. 55
Despite the financial difficulties of the city in funding the Museum of Fine Arts,
significant pieces of art were added to the Museum’s collection. An anonymous donor
gave The Scout by Frederic Remington in 1938. 56 Fred W. Allsopp commented on the
collection at the time saying, “Little Rock’s Museum is not a great one. You will look in
vain for great canvasses within its walls. But it has a creditable showing of meritorious
paintings and is a start in the right direction.” 57 The Museum of Fine Arts did continue
to move in the right direction with new acquisitions.
As the institution’s first era ended, the FAC illustrated its continued relationship
with women’s clubs. Prominent Little Rock resident, Adolphine Fletcher Terry, lauded
54
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
Ibid.
56
after Frederic Remington, The Scout, oil on canvas, ca. 1895, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Fred
W. Allsopp acquired the painting from Merle Johnson, a Remington biographer and expert at the New
York Public Library in 1938. The AAC believed it was an original Remington until 1993 when the
authenticity was questioned by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming that year. Rick
Stewart, Curator of Western Painting and Sculpture at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas,
supported the Historical Center later in 1993. As a result, the painting is now listed in the AAC records as
“after Frederic Remington.” Courtesy of Thom Hall, Museum Registrar at the AAC.
57
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
55
- 33 -
the ability of women’s organizations to work together for a common cause. The Museum
of Fine Arts exhibited three hundred Arkansas wildflower watercolors by Inez Whitfield,
an artist of Hot Springs, Arkansas, in its temporary gallery. Shortly after, a two-page
feature on Whitfield appeared in the Arkansas Gazette in May 1938. The article detailed
her life, her paintings, and how she was forced to sell her art at her retirement. Deciding
to champion Whitfield’s case, several local women’s clubs and the FAC jointly started a
fundraising campaign to purchase the entire collection, which was valued at $5,000. The
groups succeeded and the final payment on the collection was made in July 1945. 58 This
collaboration demonstrated that the FAC and women’s clubs still had a close relationship.
Although it had humble origins as a small social art club started by a few
prominent women, the Fine Arts Club of Arkansas was an immediate success with a firm
place in Little Rock culture. Even through difficult events such as World War I and the
Great Depression, the FAC membership steadily grew. By 1928, the Club opened
Arkansas’s first permanent art gallery. The construction of a new building through a
WPA grant and the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts in MacArthur Park in 1937
signified the realization of the FAC’s earliest vision for art in Arkansas. The
establishment of the Museum of Fine Arts, Arkansas’s first art museum, received
attention from the national arts community. FAC President Bertha Baird’s tragic death
did not hinder the FAC, but instead led to the creation of an Endowment that would last
the Museum of Fine Arts for the next twenty years. By 1939, both the FAC and Museum
of Fine Arts were well established in Little Rock and entered the 1940s suited for
additional expansion. However, more challenges laid ahead for the organizations
including World War II and numerous financial burdens.
58
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1942-1948.
- 34 -
Chapter Two
Suited To Expand
After the extensive growth of the 1920s and 1930s, the Fine Arts Club (FAC) and
Museum of Fine Arts entered the 1940s on the brink of another expansion. However,
when the United States entered World War II in the early 1940s, progress halted and the
Museum of Fine Arts found itself facing numerous difficulties requiring FAC members to
loyally band together to ensure the Museum’s survival into the 1950s. Under the control
of Director Irene Robinson, the Museum of Fine Arts continued to stage exhibitions of
local and regional art as well as expanding the collection with works of varying artistic
value. As local criticism of the direction and purpose of the Museum of Fine Arts grew
and the financial situation worsened, a new Director pushed the organization in a new
direction with a more proactive role in the community. By the end of the 1950s, the FAC
and the Museum of Fine Arts were suited for an expansion that would require the help of
a third local organization, the Junior League of Little Rock (JLLR), to take the next step
in its growth.
Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and precipitated the
United States’s entrance into World War II. Much as World War I altered the FAC’s
ability to continue normal meeting patterns, World War II also brought change to the
FAC and the Museum of Fine Arts. FAC activities decreased in number and frequency
and nearly stopped in 1941. Museum activities also slowed. Many questioned the value
of art and other cultural activities during such a difficult situation. Dr. H. Louis Freund, a
well-studied artist who painted murals for the war department during World War II,
commented on the arts situation:
- 35 -
Many may ask, if, in these times of war we should not look
upon art as a frivolous pastime – one not contributing to the
war effort. My answer would be a reminder that war has
often stimulated artists to their greatest work. War cannot
kill the creative instinct of the true artist, and the creative
endeavor of the human spirit which survives the horror of
war can hardly be rationed like sugar. 1
In agreement with Freund, the FAC was determined to keep the Museum’s doors open
for the duration of the war.
The effect of the war was noticable in the Museum management’s decision to
arrange local exhibits rather than to pay higher costs for traveling exhibits. Before the
United States’s entrance into the war, the Museum had exhibited seventy-five LatinoAmerican prints from the collection of the International Business Machines Corporation
(IBM) as well as a watercolor exhibit from the New York School of New and Applied
Arts. As a smaller number of exhibits were available for exhibition and depleted internal
funds made procuring such exhibits financially irresponsible, the Museum of Fine Arts
sought other artwork. In October 1943, Cleon R. McCombs, FAC President at the time,
asked members to loan their private collections to the Museum for one-month increments
so that the galleries still displayed rotating artwork. The first loaned exhibit was a glass
slipper collection, followed the next month by an exhibit of Stiegel and Baron glass. In
February 1944, Mary F. Allsopp loaned her collection of rare book bindings, including
bindings made of vellum, woodcarving, jade, velvet, silver, bronze, needlework, and
crushed Levant morocco, a special type of leather. Other exhibits loaned to the Museum
included three glass exhibits, two doll exhibits, and an exhibit of gold forks. Noticeably,
the exhibits varied in scope and artistic significance. 2
1
2
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Meeting Minutes, 1941-1951.
- 36 -
Despite the strained situation, the Museum of Fine Arts continued its annual
Arkansas Oil Painters and Sculptors Competition, formerly known as the Amateur Spring
Art Exhibit. The goal of the annual competition was to add quality artwork from
Arkansas artists to the collection. Thus, the Museum kept the winner of the annual
exhibit. The winner also received a small cash award beginning in 1942 as part of the
agreement. The Arkansas Oil Painters and Sculptors Competition also provided an
opportunity for the Museum to devote an entire gallery to Arkansas art. 3
This competition was not the only source of additions to the collection during the
1940s. Nymphe au Bois by Mademoiselle Mattie Dube de la Garanne, a former
Arkansan, was added to the collection in 1946. 4 This painting won a gold medal at a
Paris art salon in 1846 and was exhibited at the Chicago World Fair. Other accessions
included a statuette of a Grecian woman by Barranta in 1946, a portrait of Fred W.
Allsopp by Adrian Brewer in 1947, and a portrait of Mary Lewis, the international opera
singer from Arkansas, in 1948. 5
FAC meetings remained on schedule after the United States entered the war and
continued throughout the 1940s. Many of these meetings featured war themes in order to
add relevancy. For example, Clyde E. Lowry loaned the The Sentinel of Freedom by
Adrian Brewer to the Museum of Fine Arts in January 1943. 6 The painting showed the
American flag in repose. Talks such as “Great Works of Art Inspired by War,” “Fate of
Europe’s Art Treasures,” “War Art,” “Art Treasures Saved from the Ravages of War,”
3
Ibid. AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1942-1948.
Madame Dubé, Wood Nymph, oil on canvas, 1967. This work is no longer in the AAC’s collection.
5
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1942-1948. Adrian Brewer, Fred W. Allsopp, oil on board,
early twentieth century, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
6
Adrian Brewer, Sentinel of Freedom, oil on canvas, 1941, U.S. Naval Academy, Assembly Hall Library,
Annapolis. Clyde E. Lowry, a Little Rock insurance executive, commissioned this artwork. Lowry
anonymously loaned the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts. The painting was returned to Lowry in
1943.
4
- 37 -
and “Art Goes to War” were topics at FAC meetings during World War II. 7 Private
Santo Graziana from Camp Joe T. Robinson gave a lecture on “Art in the Army” and
presented members with slides of his prizewinning frescoes. The FAC also showed
interest in collecting newspaper clippings related to the challenges of preserving art in
Europe during wartime. 8 In addition, the FAC featured lectures strictly concerning war
efforts. A Women’s Army Corps (WAC) member spoke about the “Crusade of the
Purple Heart” enlistment program for nurses and Frances E. Almond talked about “War
Memorials” near the war’s conclusion. It was also important to members that the
Museum accommodate the soldiers stationed at Camp Joe T. Robinson. To do so, the
Museum offered an exclusive open house one Sunday afternoon on April 1942. 9
World War II affected more than the FAC; the War impacted the Museum of Fine
Arts operations as well. In order to conserve energy, Museum hours were cut in 1942.
Although the Museum of Fine Arts’s operating costs decreased in 1942, funding needs
steadily rose almost doubling by 1947. To deal with the increase in operating costs, the
FAC looked to pay some incidental expenses out of gift shop sales. For example,
postcard sales paid for almost all postage and other small costs. In addition, personal
donations remained crucial for unexpected needs as in 1943, Allsopp and Baird paid $871
to remove a termite infestation from the building. 10
The FAC and Museum of Fine Arts suffered the loss of two important men during
the 1940s. George B. Rose, a noted lawyer, art historian, and patron of the Museum of
Fine Arts, died in July 1942. Though the FAC lost an avid supporter, Rose’s bequest
7
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1942-1948.
Ibid. AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Meeting Minutes, 1941-1951.
9
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1942-1948.
10
Ibid.
8
- 38 -
added to the Museum’s collection. Rose had traveled to Europe over fifteen times to
study art and brought back many pieces, most of which were reproductions of great
classics and the masters. 11 Upon his death, Rose left his collection to the Museum of
Fine Arts including fifty-seven pictures, eleven statues, four plaques, two vases, a
woodcarving, a needlepoint, a hand-carved Italian walnut chest, and a three hundred year
old original Mayflower teapot. 12 The Rose collection was the largest the Museum had
ever acquired at one time. At the time of donation, the Museum believed the
reproductions were valuable to the Museum’s mission of art education.13
A few years after George Rose’s death, Fred W. Allsopp died in April 1946. Like
Rose, Allsopp left his legacy with the Museum of Fine Arts. Allsopp earmarked $2,000
for the Museum Endowment and an additional $10,000 to construct an auditorium.
These amounts came from the sale of Allsopp’s rare book collection, which included
original copies of works by William Shakespeare, William Faulkner, and Mark Twain.
The auction brought in over $110,000. 14
As Arkansas entered the 1950s, it was business as usual for the FAC and the
Museum of Fine Arts. Having recovered from the difficult financial and cultural effects
of World War II, the Museum was ready to look to the future for a larger role in the
community. Irene Robinson remained the Director of the Museum with Grady Marks as
11
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1937-1942.
Ibid. The collection included a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, but the copyist had used too dark a paint
rendering it a poor rendition of the original. The British Museum had a copy of George Rose’s teapot on
display in their collection. Statues included in this collection were Apollo Belvedere,a bust, Sleeping
Ariande on an Italian marble console, and The Dancing Girl of Pompeii. One of the paintings was Venus
and Her Nymphs Equipping Cupid.
13
Ibid. According to George Rose, “Everyone ought to know about [masterpieces in European galleries].
The best that we can do for the American public is to get fine and accurate copies. Experts who made
frequent trips to Europe, look with contempt upon these, but they are a great boon to the local public, who
are enabled to acquire a pretty accurate knowledge of the masterpieces of painting.”
14
AAC Library, Fine Arts Scrapbooks, 1942-1948.
12
- 39 -
custodian and only other paid employee. 15 The Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees
worked hand-in-hand with the paid staff under the leadership of Gordon Campbell,
Chairman since 1948. 16 In addition to paid staff, volunteers also remained an integral
part of the daily operations of the Museum and continued to give impromptu tours of the
exhibits much as it had during World War II. In addition to these tours, the volunteers
both assisted in caring for the collection and participating in the general business
activities as needed. These volunteers came primarily from the FAC and the Junior
League of Little Rock (JLLR), as well as other groups in Little Rock and central
Arkansas. 17
The Museum of Fine Arts continued to be funded primarily by the City of Little
Rock throughout the 1950s. The City of Little Rock was more than just a source of
operating funds; it also owned the Museum building and the entirety of its contents from
office supplies to the collection. The city contributed an average of ninety-four percent
of the annual budget between 1950 and 1956. 18 Even so, the budget was extremely
limited and this often caused a strain on the daily operations.
In addition to the city funds, the FAC annually contributed a small amount to the
Museum of Fine Arts. For example, an average of six percent of the budget from 1950
through 1956 was funded by the FAC. These funds, often raised by the Beaux Arts Bal,
were used to acquire various traveling exhibitions featured at the Museum and to
15
AAC Library, “Arkansas Plans and Activities” by the Museum of Fine Arts, 1959-1960.
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 6 June 1957. Members of the Museum of
Fine Arts Board in 1946 were Chairman Gordon H. Campbell, Mrs. Shepherd, Frances Hanger, Jennie
Tillar, Julia Taylor, Mary F. Allsopp, Cleon R. McCombs, Mayor Charles E. Moyer, and John P. Baird as
the Secretary/Treasurer.
17
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1950-1954 and 1954-1958.
18
The last few years of the 1950s marked many changes for the Museum as well as many financial changes
and new sources of revenue.
16
- 40 -
occasionally restore works in the collection. 19 The Museum received unexpected
revenue in 1956 when John P. Baird, Secretary/Treasurer of the Board, died and left the
Museum of Fine Arts $40,000 in his will. Although he suggested that the money be used
for a much-needed addition to the Museum, Baird left no formal requirements on the
money and it was added to the Endowment for future use.20
Even with limited funds, the FAC attempted to fulfill its purpose of “the
promotion and perpetuation of a Fine Arts spirit in the State of Arkansas; the collection
of works of art; maintenance and endowment of an Art Gallery; an eventual
establishment and development of a school of fine and applied arts” through the Museum
of Fine Arts. 21 The Museum concentrated on developing the collection through gifts and
purchases as well as developing art appreciation in Arkansas by bringing in additional
prestigious exhibits and making art available to the public. By 1951, the Museum of Fine
Arts held the largest collection of paintings in the state of Arkansas and had 290 objects
on exhibit to the public. 22 An Arkansas artist, James Coleman, commented on the state
of the arts in Arkansas in 1952. He said, “My state has been backward in art
appreciation, but this state is now making great strides forward.” 23
In an effort to capitalize on the new appreciation for art in Arkansas, the Museum
of Fine Arts added several works to the collection in the early 1950s. During this time,
the Museum focused on collecting works by American artists and was largely dependent
on local donors. Examples of works added during this time included a bronze sculpture
19
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Report Cover Sheets, 1950-1956.
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), August 1956.
21
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958. The purpose was printed in the Fine Arts Club
Constitution and included in the scrapbook.
22
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1951-1954. This information came from a newspaper clipping
pasted in the scrapbook dating to December 1951.
23
Ibid.
20
- 41 -
by Frederick William MacMonnies, one of the best-known expatriate American sculptors
of the Beaux-Arts school, entitled Boy and Heron and donated in 1952. 24 Later that
same year, the Museum was selected by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as
one of twenty-one galleries in the United States to receive a painting through the Hassam
Fund, a fund established by Post-Impressionist painter Childe Hassam. The Hassam
Fund used proceeds from the sale of his works to purchase contemporary North
American Paintings for museums across the country. 25 The Museum also was presented
with a work by Benjamin Kopman, a Russian-born American painter, sculptor, and
illustrator, entitled Spring. 26 The large painting, Two Women by Diego Rivera, was
donated by Jean Mauve, the sister of Winthrop Rockefeller formerly known as Abby
Rockefeller. 27 Two Women appeared in the first large Rivera exhibition in the United
States before arriving at the Museum in November 1956. 28 John P. Baird donated an oil
painting by Gustave Cimiotti titled Tropical Day in 1952, The New Hat by August Henry
Nordhausen in 1953, and Lady In Lavender by Robert Reid in 1956. 29
Although the Museum of Fine Arts added some culturally important pieces to the
collection during the first half of the 1950s, the Museum received criticism for the quality
of many of the works in its collection. A newspaper editorial from October 1954
explained the problem concerning a large part of the collection: “Arkansas is a poor
24
Frederick William MacMonnies, Boy and Heron, bronze sculpture, location unknown, 1894. The AAC
no longer has this piece in its collection.
25
Warren Adelson, “Childe Hassam and the French Impressionists,” The Magazine Antiques, 1 November
1999. AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1951-1954. This information came from a newspaper
clipping pasted in the scrapbook dating to February 1952.
26
Benjamin Kopman, Spring, watercolor on paper, 1950, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. AAC Library,
Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1951-1954. This information came from a newspaper clipping pasted in the
scrapbook dating to March 1953.
27
Diego Rivera, Two Women, oil on canvas, 1914, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
28
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958.
29
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1950-1954 and 1954-1958
- 42 -
market for original paintings, not only because prices may seem too high for the average
person, but because he would just as soon have a bad chromo copy of a famous picture
which he became acquainted with in grade school.” 30 Another article in a 1956 arts
magazine painted an even less favorable picture of the arts in Arkansas:
In Little Rock, we found a far less encouraging situation.
There only a few artists are active, and they feel out of
touch with the ideas and the work of their colleagues
elsewhere. Many people voice disappointment at the
Museum’s inadequate program. Copies of old masters and
examples of advertising art are featured at the Museum and
the handful of good paintings are lost among the
mediocrities and bric-a-brac. Both the building and the
collection need a good overhauling—unfortunately
deferred through lack of civil support. 31
Though numerous pieces had entered the collection in previous decades and were
considered significant at the time, many did not remain as important as originally
thought. This problem was not just perceived by art professionals. As Little Rock
citizen, FAC and JLLR member, and long-time arts supporter Jeane Hamilton explained:
The art in it mostly were things that had been given by
people . . . we really did not have a collection of any merit
to speak of. There were two or three really nice things in
the collection, but that was it. [There was] no incentive for
people to go to the Museum. As I said, the Fine Arts Club
met there once a month, and that was probably the most
active thing . . . at least the arts scene existed, but it was not
reaching out to a vast area of the community. 32
Thom Hall, the current Registrar of the Arkansas Arts Center, also commented on this
early collection. He explained:
The collection here was really a minimal collection. It was
through the generosity of the local community, people that
30
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958.
Ibid. This information came from a newspaper clipping pasted in the scrapbook dating to February 1956.
32
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
31
- 43 -
had art wanted to contribute . . . But it turned out a lot of
them were reproductions or copies of . . . famous paintings
and things that were decorative . . . but there really wasn’t a
whole lot to the collection and there certainly wasn’t a
focus. 33
Even without a focus, the Museum continued to add pieces to the permanent collection
throughout the 1950s with the hope of one day becoming a world-class institution.
Despite criticism, the Museum maintained steady attendance, averaging 18,500
visitors per year from 1950 to 1956. Attendance figures were lower than normal in 1950
and 1951 due to general building repairs. 34 Since the Museum did not offer any
educational classes at this time, most of the visitors to the Museum came to see the
numerous exhibitions. Although works from the permanent collection were usually on
display somewhere in the Museum, the FAC continued to bring in traveling exhibits from
across the country and even from other parts of the world. In 1952, for example, the
Museum of Fine Arts exhibited children’s art from Central Europe. This international art
exchange was sponsored by the Junior Red Cross. Students from Little Rock High
School gave guided tours during its exhibition. 35 Also in 1952, the Museum welcomed
nineteen American paintings from the International Business Machine Corporation (IBM)
collection, a rare doll exhibit from a local woman’s collection, twenty-seven oil paintings
by Edwin B. Brewer, and an exhibit of art by Fern Edie Knecht with the artist in
attendance. Other important exhibits included another IBM exhibit featuring models of
33
Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 15 March 2007. Interview 7A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
34
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Report Cover Sheets, 1950-1956.
35
Little Rock High School later became Little Rock Central High School.
- 44 -
Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions in 1953, twenty-two Currier and Ives paintings in 1954,
and Americana in Watercolor from the Smithsonian Institute in 1956. 36
Perhaps the most publicized exhibit during this time was the 1955 exhibit of
paintings from the collection of New York art dealer, T. Gilbert Brouillette. The
exhibited works included many notable artists and masters spanning five centuries.
During one week in October alone, over one thousand people came to see the one
hundred pieces on display in the Brouillette exhibit. Brouillette described the exhibit as
“one of the finest ever shown here” and went on to express his feelings about the
Museum of Fine Arts. He stated, “Your Museum is beautiful, functional and suited to
expansion. It is very well located, but many of your visitors don’t know that.” 37 Other
popular exhibits during the 1950s included a number of ceramic object exhibits by the
Little Rock Ceramic Art Club, the Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition, where school
children from across the state entered art to be exhibited and judged, and a large annual
Arkansas Artists Exhibition. 38 For example, one hundred pieces were featured in the 13th
annual Arkansas Artists Exhibition in 1952. 39 Although it had been criticized for lack of
talent, intelligence, and skill, the exhibit continued to flourish with prizes awarded to the
annual winner selected by votes from the public. 40
Due in part to the growing criticism and worsening financial situation through the
first half of the 1950s, by 1957 the Museum of Fine Arts struggled to find its position in
the community and hoped to make arrangements “whereby the Museum and its exhibits
36
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1951-1954 and 1954-1958.
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958.
38
Ibid. This exhibit was previously known by other names including the Arkansas Oil Painters and
Sculptors Competition and the Amateur Spring Art Exhibit.
39
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1951-1954.
40
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958
37
- 45 -
could play a larger part in the cultural life of our city and the state.” 41 The situation
became especially strained with the resignation of Irene Robinson, the Director of the
Museum for over twenty years. Although she resigned in March 1957, Robinson agreed
to stay until October while she served as Historian of the FAC and the Board searched for
a replacement. 42 In response to her resignation, the Museum called on the JLLR to
provide volunteers to keep the exhibits open to the public for the remainder of 1957.
These new volunteers worked for the Museum one day a week. 43 In an effort to insure
the continuation of the Museum, the Board appointed a special task force in April 1957 to
consider the future of the Museum. 44
Eventually the Museum found a suitable replacement for Robinson. William E.
Steadman began as Museum Director on January 6, 1958. Described as a “young man
with a lot of enthusiasm and interest” at the time he was hired, Steadman’s “exceptional
qualifications promoted the Little Rock Civil Service Commission to forego its usual
examinations.” They unanimously approved his appointment, which Steadman accepted
after his salary was augmented with funds from an unknown donor. 45 Overwhelmingly
qualified for the job, Steadman came to the Museum of Fine Arts with a B.A. in Political
Science from Michigan State University, a B.A. in Art History from Arizona State
University, and a B.A. and M.A. in Fine Arts and Design from Yale University. He had
studied in Italy, France and Mexico and taught art history, painting, and drawing at the
41
Ibid. AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 7 March 1957.
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 7 March 1957. AAC Library, Fine Arts
Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958.
43
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
44
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 7 March 1957 and 4 April 1957. The
actual recommendations are unknown, but act of making change was the important step.
45
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar. AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1955-1958. Arkansas
Gazette (Little Rock), 2 January 1958.
42
- 46 -
Connecticut State Teachers College and the University of New Mexico. An artist
himself, Steadman had shown his works at Arizona State Museum, University of
Arizona, and Yale University. He also had one-man shows in Michigan, New Mexico,
and New York. In addition to his long list of achievements and service in the Marine
Corps, Steadman served as Assistant Director of Museums in Roswell, New Mexico and
Canton, Ohio before a 1953 Act of Congress made him the first Curator of Fine Arts at
the United States Military Academy at West Point. 46 According to a local paper, with a
new Director the “upheaval at the Fine Arts Museum [Museum of Fine Arts] was
immediate and thorough.” 47
Immediately upon his arrival to the Museum, Steadman started the Annual Delta
Arts Exhibition, a popular exhibit that replaced the Arkansas Artists Exhibition. 48 This
first show was held in 1958. Steadman also initiated fundraising projects for the various
repairs and expansions that were needed. In conjunction with these new fundraising
projects, the Board of Trustees started an official Museum of Fine Arts membership
system to “increase income and activity, enlarge the staff, and make possible more
frequent and improved exhibitions.” This new membership campaign brought in over
$10,000 in 1958 and 1959; 317 members joined in the first year. 49
By April 1958, Steadman was able to use the additional funding from the
membership campaign, private donations, and city support to close the Museum for
renovations. 50 The much-needed renovations included plastering and painting, new
lighting, new air conditioning, a high fidelity exhibit-appropriate phonograph system, and
46
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1955-1958. Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 2 January 1958.
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 12 March 1961.
48
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
49
AAC Library, “Arkansas Plans and Activities” by the Museum of Fine Arts Little Rock, 1959-1960.
50
City support had more than doubled since 1950.
47
- 47 -
plans for the eventual installation of an eleven-foot tall fountain. 51 The Museum
reopened with seven galleries and exhibit spaces open to the public—the Main Gallery
for rotating exhibits, the East Gallery for Annual Delta Arts Exhibition winners, the West
Gallery for historical portraits, the North Gallery for porcelain, glass, and paintings, the
South Gallery for permanent paintings, the Northeast Room for print exhibitions, and the
Southeast Room for Oriental paintings and furniture. 52 The newly renovated building
was in a better position to serve the community and soon became the meeting place for a
variety of groups including the FAC, JLLR, Little Theatre Group, Daughters of the
American Revolution, Little Rock Ceramics Club, and Little Rock Film Society. 53
Attendance in 1958 reached 30,000 visitors—a new record for the Museum of
Fine Arts. The jump in attendance was largely due to the quality exhibitions during that
year. Such exhibits included a one-man exhibit from Japanese-American Paul Horiuchi
and Four Centuries of European Art, a thirty-one piece exhibit featuring artists such as
Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, James Abbott McNeill Whistler,
Vincent Van Gogh, and Maurice Utrillo. The Four Centuries exhibit was valued at over
$750,000 and covered five hundred years of art. It received a positive media response. 54
Despite many successes with the Museum of Fine Arts, Steadman presented his
resignation to the Board in December 1958; he planned to leave Little Rock for a higher
paying job elsewhere. Although he did not openly blame the Central High School
Desegregation Crisis for his decision, Steadman alluded to the influence of the situation
51
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958.
AAC Library, “Arkansas Plans and Activities” by the Museum of Fine Arts Little Rock, 1959-1960.
Galleries and rooms differed because galleries were used only as spaces to hang art on the walls. The
rooms had other uses beyond that function.
53
AAC Library, Fine Art Club Scrapbook, 1951-1954 and 1954-1958.
54
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 2 December 1958.
52
- 48 -
of Arkansas schools in an interview with a local newspaper. In an effort to stop the
desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School, Governor Orval Faubus closed the
public schools in Little Rock for the 1958-1959 school year and sent the city into turmoil.
Steadman chose to accept a new job in a location without educational upheaval. The
Board agreed to pay his moving expenses for his original move from New York to Little
Rock and to refund $1,000 for his Petty Cash Operating Fund that was used for the
Museum. 55 Although he was only on the staff for a little over a year, Steadman had
brought a new professionalism to the Museum and showed the FAC and people of Little
Rock that it was possible for their Museum to be important to the community. As Jeane
Hamilton remembered, “he [Steadman] almost did more than that Museum Board . . . was
ready to do. He was there prior to the Junior League involvement and . . . was a
wonderful stepping stone toward the next level.” 56
As Director, Steadman helped the Museum of Fine Arts recover from the
financial hardships caused by World War II and moved the Museum toward a new
standard of professionalism in a way former Director Irene Robinson was unable to do.
His strong leadership allowed the FAC to support the Museum of Fine Arts with
volunteers and fundraisers rather than as the only force keeping the doors open. The loss
of another Director in such a short period of time might have stunted the development of
the Museum of Fine Arts, but thanks to an important agreement in January 1959, the
Museum of Fine Arts was able to continue its work in the community. Gordon H.
Campbell, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Carrie R. Dickinson, President of the
JLLR, signed an agreement to merge the JLLR’s Community Center for Arts and
55
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 2 December 1958.
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
56
- 49 -
Sciences Project with the Museum of Fine Arts. Due in large part to the influence of
Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor, who was highly involved with both organizations, this merger
guaranteed the survival of a struggling institution and became a turning point for the state
of the arts in Arkansas.
- 50 -
Chapter Three
Joining Forces
After the challenges of the previous forty years and Bill Steadman’s departure, the
Museum of Fine Arts merged with the Junior League of Little Rock (JLLR) project for a
community arts center. Fitting with the rapidly changing culture of the 1960s, both
organizations sought to make art accessible to all people in Arkansas. The next ten years
realized the union of ideas and goals of the Fine Arts Club (FAC), the Museum of Fine
Arts, and the JLLR that molded the present day Arkansas Arts Center (AAC). The
combined efforts brought forward a new capital fundraising campaign, the first
educational programs, and a new building. During these successes, transition made it
hard to define clearly the role of Arts Center in the community and within the
institution’s leadership. These major changes came at a cost and the newly consolidated
AAC faced financial challenges in the later half of the decade. This culminated in the
entrance of Director and Chief Curator Townsend Wolfe, who set about to balance the
budget and redefine the Arts Center’s purpose.
One of the missions of the JLLR was to address unmet needs in the local
community. In the Spring of 1956, the JLLR had finished a project with the Speech
Corrections School and sought a new project. Several members believed the field of arts
in Little Rock needed attention and the group’s members voted in June 1957 to establish
a local arts center. Initial interest included the sciences as well. The JLLR formed a
benevolent non-profit corporation and invited important businessmen in the community
to partner with JLLR members on the newly created Community Arts Center Board.
- 51 -
This was the beginning of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences (CCAS), also
known as the Community Arts Center. 1
In its early stages in the late 1950s, the JLLR did not intend to merge the CCAS
with the Museum of Fine Arts. JLLR member Jeane Hamilton remembered, “We [JLLR
members] wanted a contemporary entity that would meet the needs of the community not
only as an exhibition [site] . . . but to have art classes for children and adults.”2 As the
JLLR drafted reports to clarify what this new cultural center would offer, it brought in the
Junior League’s Consultant on Arts from New York to offer guidance. 3 Other Junior
Leagues in the country had built arts centers, so the JLLR wrote letters asking for advice
from these groups. 4 In addition, the JLLR sent questionnaires to some local cultural
groups to solicit suggestions. While the CCAS was a separate entity, the JLLR wanted
joint participation with other existing arts organizations in Little Rock such as the
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Little Rock Film Society, Little Rock Chamber Music
Society, and Museum of Fine Arts. 5
Many of these organizations needed a building in which to meet, create art, and
display art. The JLLR hoped the CCAS could serve as a central location for all of these
organizations; thus, building plans included a small auditorium to seat between four and
1
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, Ar. AAC Library, “Community Center of Arts and Sciences Progress Report,” 25
September 1959.
2
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
3
AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the
Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.” AAC Library, “The Junior League of Little Rock Project Research
Report, Community Arts Center” by Mrs. Robert W. Newell, 7 June 1957. Kathryn Bloom was the
Consultant on Arts with the Association of Junior Leagues of America.
4
AAC Library, from Little Rock, Arkansas Junior League to Oakland, California Junior League, 9 August
1957. AAC Library, from Little Rock, Arkansas Junior League to Marjorie Lyons Theatre, Centenary
College of Louisiana, undated.
5
AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the
Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.” AAC Library, “The Junior League of Little Rock Project Research
Report, Community Arts Center” by Mrs. Robert W. Newell, 7 June 1957.
- 52 -
six hundred people. Little Rock’s main theatre, Robinson Auditorium, seated more than
2,500 people, which was not conducive to medium-sized events. The building plan also
included space for classrooms, workshops, and exhibition areas for various local arts
groups. 6 In searching for a central location for the various organizations, the JLLR’s
Location Committee considered several places in Little Rock including Fair Park, Little
Rock University Campus, University of Arkansas Cammack Campus, and MacArthur
Park.
Although the JLLR had thought to create a separate entity at first, several factors
suggested a joint effort with the Museum of Fine Arts. Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor, a
former President of the Association of Junior Leagues of America and Museum of Fine
Arts Board member, was key in joining these efforts. According to Jeane Hamilton,
Elizabeth could see beyond what the old Museum was.
And she was, of course, very interested in what the current
Junior League [of Little Rock] was doing . . . Elizabeth was
the main catalyst that really got the Junior League [of Little
Rock] and the Museum [of Fine Arts] board together. She
had a vision. She wanted that [JLLR] project to become
what she hoped the Museum could be. 7
Following suit, the Location Committee suggested in September 1958 that the
Community Arts Center Board seriously consider a proposal from the Museum of Fine
Arts to join efforts. In the proposal, the Museum of Fine Arts Board committed to
contributing no less than $50,000 for a new building with a small auditorium. This was
the money in its Endowment Fund started by John P. Baird in the 1937. The Museum
6
AAC Library, “The Junior League of Little Rock Project Research Report, Community Arts Center” by
Mrs. Robert W. Newell, 7 June 1957. AAC Library, “Community Center of Arts and Sciences – A
Program of Development for the Junior League of Little Rock, Arkansas,” by Wittenberg, Delony and
Davidson, 5 May 1958.
7
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
- 53 -
Board proposed that it direct the new arts center and that the JLLR have representation on
the Museum Board. The JLLR’s responsibilities were to be building construction and
educational arts programs. In order to meet those obligations, the JLLR would agree to
underwrite the salary of a Program Director to coordinate these programs. After much
consideration, the Community Arts Center Board, formed by the JLLR, signed an
agreement with the Museum of Fine Arts Board, linked to the Fine Arts Club (FAC), in
January 1959. 8 However, this merger did not yield consolidation among the different
Boards and entities; it took another year and a half before the organizations fused.
Raising the money for the proposed building was a daunting task. In January
1959, the Community Arts Center Board formally obtained permission from the Little
Rock City Council to begin a campaign to raise $250,000. However, they faced a crisis
as Little Rock coped with the public high school closing and Central High School
Desegregation Crisis. The JLLR consulted business and civic leaders about proceeding
with the building plans. These advisors encouraged the idea suggesting that the JLLR
start a yearlong campaign in June 1959. 9
At this stage, the building campaign needed a Chairman. Three women from the
JLLR approached Winthrop Rockefeller, who had recently moved to Arkansas with his
wife, Jeannette, about the possibility of chairing the campaign. 10 His advice to the
women that day changed the focus of the Center. According to one of these women,
Rockefeller said, “Well girls, if we’re going to build an arts center, we need to do it right.
8
AAC Library, “Memorandum of Understanding Between the Museum of Fine Arts, Junior League of
Little Rock.” AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and
of the Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
9
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, Ar. AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to
October, 1960 and of the Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.” The JLLR presented this new agreement to
the City Council and received the City’s permission for a local campaign in Pulaski County, Arkansas.
10
The three women were Jeane Hamilton, Carrie Dickerson, and Marilyn McHaney.
- 54 -
It needs to be an Arkansas arts center, not just a Pulaski County thing. It needs to be
something that will serve the entire state of Arkansas.” 11 That meeting expanded the
scope of the project. While Rockefeller declined to be the Chairman of the local
campaign, he promised that if the JLLR could raise the initially proposed $200,000, he
would help raise additional money throughout the state. Rockefeller volunteered to be
the Vice-Chairman and through his connections, Larry Kelly, a community leader in
Little Rock, served as Chairman. 12
The Campaign Committee decided to obtain donations in three phases – local,
statewide, and foundations. 13 The City of Little Rock pledged $75,000 and the FAC and
Museum of Fine Arts added the combined bequests from John Baird and Fred Allsopp
totaling $50,000. 14 These bequests had comprised the Museum of Fine Arts Endowment,
so the promised contribution emptied that Endowment account. In addition, the CCAS
sold car plates to raise funds over a couple of years. 15 Rockefeller continued the
successful campaign by moving it into the second phase. The Campaign Committee set
up a series of twenty-one meetings throughout the state. In this state phase, the
committee hoped to raise $100,000. Rockefeller represented the Campaign Committee at
these meetings and the state surpassed this goal. The combined funds of the local and
state campaign phases totaled $328,000. 16 During the final phase, the Rockefeller
11
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
12
Ibid. AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the
Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
13
AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the
Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
14
AAC Library, “Community Center of Arts and Sciences” Booklet.
15
Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 11 December 1957. AAC Library, Community Center of Arts and
Sciences Scrapbook, 1957-1959.
16
AAC Library, “Community Center of Arts and Sciences” Booklet.
- 55 -
Brothers Fund matched the combined total from the first two phases. The Campaign
Committee raised an impressive total of over $650,000 to build the new arts center. 17
With the building underway, the JLLR turned its attention to searching for an
Educational Director. The JLLR believed it was important to initiate programs for
children and adults in the community even before the building was completed. After
reviewing applications and holding interviews, the Selections Committee of the JLLR
hired Anne H. Webb of Texas as the Educational Director for a period of three years.
When Webb joined the staff, the Museum of Fine Arts did not have a Director. Anne
Long, who began working as Assistant to the Director in January 1959, had helped keep
the building open with a volunteer staff. Long did not have an arts background, but
provided a much-needed stability throughout all the transition of Directors and
consolidation. Long remained at the Museum after the new building was constructed and
throughout the many Director changes in the 1960s. 18
George Ware assumed the Director’s position at the Museum of Fine Arts in July
1959. 19 Ware arrived in time to help Anne Webb prepare space on the second floor of
the Museum of Fine Arts for classrooms, an exhibition area, and office space for the
programs. In December 1959, Webb began the first arts educational programs of the
Community Arts Center. These programs offered general art classes for children along
17
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar. AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences
to October, 1960 and of the Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
18
AAC Library, “Museum of Fine Arts Little Rock, AR Plans and Activities 1959-60 Copy for the
Museum” by George Ware. Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A,
transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little Rock, Ar. Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson,
26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little Rock, Ar. AAC Library,
“Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the Arkansas Arts Center
to May, 1963.”
19
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees Minutes, 1 June 1960.
- 56 -
with painting and drawing classes for adults. 20 With the overwhelming popularity, staff
added classes and established a waiting list for the next session. Combined class
enrollment from the first fall and spring terms totaled 457. 21
According to Webb’s reasoning, educational programs remained separate from
the Museum of Fine Arts even though they were located in the same building. Webb
believed that the identity of the CCAS was strictly based on programs and outreach to the
community and thus, different from the Museum of Fine Arts. 22 This contributed to
some confusion in the public as to the role of each entity. In April 1960, a Museum of
Fine Arts Board member “pointed out that every effort must be made to eliminate public
confusion as to all organizations participating in the Museum activities.”23 To help sort
out the tangled web, the Rockefellers employed professional museum management
consultants to make suggestions for enhancing cooperation in the Spring of 1960. 24
These consultants came a few months before the City of Little Rock passed an ordinance
officially creating The Arkansas Arts Center on September 6, 1960. 25 The Museum of
Fine Arts Board officially changed its title to “The Arkansas Arts Center” Board the next
day. 26
The consultants hired by the Rockefellers identified the overlapping activities
among the different organizations and suggested consolidating the FAC, the Museum of
Fine Arts, and the CCAS. The consultants also recommended only one solicitation of
20
AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the
Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
21
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 23 July 1960.
22
Ibid, 4 May 1960.
23
Ibid, 6 April 1960.
24
Ibid, 6 April 1960.
25
AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the
Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
26
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 7 September 1960.
- 57 -
membership dues to cut down on public confusion as to which organization people
should join. Jeannette Rockefeller acknowledged the need to explain the consolidation
into the AAC through a publicity campaign. 27 The FAC outlined consolidation to the
Arkansas Arts Center in September 1960 stating, “That every action possible in all fields
of endeavor pertaining to the Arkansas Arts Center be so carried out as to indicate the
operations as one unit. That all membership now existing become membership in the
Arkansas Arts Center.” 28 At this time, this included 510 members and by 1964, well
after consolidation, the AAC boasted 1,900 members; almost four times the number of
members in 1960. 29 This increased to 2,238 members by the end of the 1960s suggesting
that the AAC’s membership growth came at the time of the new building’s construction
and the merger. 30
However, having trouble with the transition from the Museum of Fine Arts to the
AAC, Director George Ware resigned his position in October 1960. Having been there
little more than a year, Ware cited several reasons for his departure to the Board of
Trustees. He blamed the lack of organization and structure among the organizations. He
thought basic instructions should have come from one source and that the involvement of
different groups resulted in conflicting agendas. But Ware seemed most upset that
“overall authority was denied him” and “that he had art capacities which he was not
allowed to use.” 31 While the AAC functioned without a Director, Board Members
27
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Board of Trustee Minutes, 29 September 1960.
Ibid, 29 September 1960.
29
AAC Library, “Museum of Fine Arts Little Rock, AR Plans and Activities 1959-60 Copy for the
Museum” by George Ware. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 2 March 1964.
30
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 3 November 1969.
31
Ibid, 7 September 1960.
28
- 58 -
Jeannette Rockefeller, Lawrence Burrow Jr., and Herbert Thomas jointly served as the
interim management team over operation. 32
During the process of consolidation, leaders of all organizations met to clarify the
role of each organization by expressly stating which organization was responsible for
each committee. This eliminated redundant committees and ensured that each
organization knew its role. The AAC Board minutes stated:
In analyzing the program, it was realized that certain
committee functions primarily related to one organization
while other committees apply to the joint general operation.
It was determined that in joint activities the Chairman of
the committee would be appointed from the Board of
Trustee membership with committee representation from
the Fine Arts Club and the Junior League. These
committees are: Exhibition, with the Delta and Children’s
Exhibitions as subcommittees; Publicity, which will be
changed to Public Relations; Hospitality; Volunteers;
Publications; and State Activities. The Membership
Committee will be primarily Fine Arts Club, with the two
groups being represented. Scholarship and Beaux Arts Bal
are to be exclusively Fine Arts Club. Educational
Activities Committee is recognized to be primarily a Junior
League responsibility with other groups represented. 33
Representatives from JLLR and the FAC both reported at this same meeting that their
respective organizations had approved this allotment.
Other than membership and educational classes, the committee structure gave the
AAC Board responsibility for all operating procedures such as publicity, collections,
volunteer coordination, and exhibits. In regard to exhibits, the Delta Art Exhibition and
the Children’s Art Exhibition were two main events at the AAC. The Delta Art
Exhibition increased in size from previous years and the 3rd Delta Art Exhibition in 1960
selected 120 pieces from over five hundred pieces submitted to display. The AAC even
32
33
Ibid, 4 October 1960 and 25 October 1960.
Ibid, 2 November 1960.
- 59 -
found a financial backer. The M.M. Cohn Company, a department store, offered prize
money for contest winners. 34 However, the following year’s Delta Art Exhibition was
not as successful with only eighty-two works from sixty-one artists. 35 The Children’s
Arts Exhibition in Spring of 1960 had six hundred entries from over five hundred students
in 1960. Thirty-nine of these works were selected for a traveling exhibit touring
Arkansas during 1960. 36
In regards to volunteer coordination, the AAC Board assumed control of this task
even though both the FAC and the JLLR previously had provided volunteers for the
Museum of Fine Arts. Despite the transition to the AAC Board, the AAC continued to
benefit from volunteers. Whereas the Museum of Fine Arts had forty-five volunteers in
October 1959, volunteer numbers doubled by 1963. 37 In 1964, the AAC benefited from
215 volunteers who worked over ten thousand hours. 38
The AAC hired a new Director, Muriel Christison, in May 1961 at an annual
salary of $11,000. Christison began working that August. 39 The new building had its
groundbreaking ceremony soon after her arrival with Little Rock Mayor Werner Knoop,
George Speath of the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, Gordon Campbell,
Chairman of the AAC Board, Jeannette Rockefeller, President of the AAC Board, and
Winthrop Rockefeller present. The new building had been designed by the Arkansas firm
34
Ibid, 2 November 1960.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Member Bulletin, November 1961.
36
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes, 9 March 1960 and 6 April 1960.
37
AAC Library, “Museum of Fine Arts Little Rock, AR Plans and Activities 1959-60 Copy for the
Museum” by George Ware. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 27 January
1964.
38
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1964.
39
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 23 May 1961.
35
- 60 -
of Ginocchio, Cromwell, Carter, Dees & Neyland. 40 The Member Bulletin described this
event as highly significant saying, “Groundbreaking ceremonies on August 20 marked
the culmination of hopes, planning, dedicated work, and public spirited generosity on the
part of many Arkansans.” 41
Christison stayed an even shorter period as Director than Ware. After difficulty
finding agreement with the direction of the Board, she resigned after several months to
assume a different job in Washington. 42 At this same time, Webb retired as Educational
Director in January 1962 when her three-year term expired. 43 Anne Webb’s tenure was
rooted in her new educational programs that continued after her retirement. Jeane
Hamilton remembered, “She [Anne Webb] did more to establish the concept of what the
Arts Center is today than anybody. . . . She was a professional.” 44
As construction neared completion, the Arts Center faced the possibility of
operating in a new building with key positions still vacant, most notably the directorship.
The Rockefellers intervened and loaned Alan Symonds, who had been employed by the
Rockefellers to run the unopened antique automobile museum at Winrock. Symonds had
no arts background, but he brought a wealth of knowledge from his museum experience
40
Ginnochio, Cromwell, Carter, Dees & Neyland was the official name of this company in 1961. This
architectural firm had roots dating back to 1885 including well-known architects such as Charles L.
Thompson throughout its history. In 1962, Ben Dees died and the company changed names to Ginocchio,
Cromwell, Carter & Neyland, Inc. The company exists in 2007 as Cromwell Architects Engineers, Inc.
41
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Member Bulletin, September 1961.
42
AAC Library, “Report of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the
Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
43
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 3 January 1962.
44
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
- 61 -
that served the Arts Center well at that time. In February 1962, Symonds was listed in
the AAC Board minutes as the Administrator. 45
Under the guidance of Symonds, the Board of Trustees hired two other positions
in the Summer of 1962 – a Director of Theatre and a Director of Education. 46 Symonds
recommended Joseph Carner to the Board for the theatre position. 47 However, a year
later, the program did not meet expectations; theatre attendance had been poor. Acting
under the advice of Symonds, the AAC released Carner. 48 According to the Board
minutes, “Carner appeared unwilling to program according to the wishes [of the Board of
Trustees] regarding the theatre.” 49
On the other hand, the Board’s selection for Director of Education proved more
accommodating to the Board’s wishes. Daniel Teis joined the AAC staff in September
1962 and quickly made plans for educational programs that resumed where Anne Webb
had left off. The fall class schedule designed by Teis covered eleven subjects totaling
sixty class hours per week. Teis planned for the programs to be financially selfsupportive and he succeeded in this goal. During the first two terms of operation, the
program’s income exceeded the program’s cost. 50
Meanwhile, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility was celebrated on
August 20, 1961. Pickens-Bond Construction Company of Little Rock oversaw the
construction of this new facility the next several years. The new building featured five
45
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 7 February 1962. AAC Library, “Report
of the Community Center of Arts and Sciences to October, 1960 and of the Arkansas Arts Center to May,
1963.”
46
The Board of Trustees for the AAC searched, interviewed, and made offers to potential AAC staff
members.
47
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 31 July 1962.
48
Ibid, 27 May 1963.
49
Ibid, 7 October 1963.
50
Ibid, 5 September 1962 and 27 May 1963. The program income in fall 1962 was $4,395 and it cost
$3,900. The program income in spring 1963 was $5,800 and it cost $5,600.
- 62 -
spacious exhibit galleries with state of the art lighting covering a total of six thousand
square feet. The main floor included four studios, two sculpture courts, two outdoor
studios, a gift shop, a reception room, a lobby, a tearoom which later opened as the Delta
Room and operated under an outside contract, and a theatre seating 389 people. The
theatre was outfitted with adjustable plaster “clouds” on the ceiling to maximize the
acoustic abilities of the room. Other floors held administration space, the Boardroom,
and storage space for the permanent collection. 51 The building plan also incorporated
renovations costing approximately $68,000 for the existing Museum of Fine Arts
building, which was enveloped by the new building. This included new ceilings, walls,
lighting and air-conditioning for the Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Memorial Library, and
administrative and volunteer offices on the second floor. Remodeling extended into the
exhibition galleries and the first floor foyer was outfitted with special fire protective
walls covered with weather-resistant homasote. 52
In addition to the construction and preparation of opening events, the AAC had to
handle normal business operations. After selecting works from the collection for the
galleries, one Board member reported that items stored in the collection storage area were
not only in deplorable condition, but also without artistic quality. Thus, the Board and
staff decided to hold a professional auction to sell some of these items before the grand
opening of the new building. 53 In the early 1960s, a Disposal Committee worked to clear
out storage space for the collections by using outside art vendors to sell off certain pieces
from the collection. The Disposal Committee also authorized loaning over fifty
51
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Dedication Program, 18 May 1963.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 5 September 1962.
53
Ibid, 7 March 1962. This followed the trend started in the late 1950s in which the Museum of Fine Arts
sold, over time, ten Escobosa paintings for $2,625, which went toward an exhibition fund.
52
- 63 -
collection pieces to local schools, city offices, the Pulaski Heights Lions Club and the
Museum of Washington in Washington, Arkansas. 54 By 1962, the AAC planned a
professional auction timed prior to the new building’s opening to remove pieces in
“deplorable condition” or “not of museum caliber.” 55
Before the grand opening, one exceptional gift, the Terry House, was offered to
the AAC. This seven-columned Greek-Revival style home was originally built by
prominent Little Rock resident Albert Pike in 1840 and had served as a home for the
Arkansas Female College before being purchased by the Fletcher family in 1889.
Adolphine Fletcher Terry lived in the home for most of her life along with other family
members including Pulitzer-Prize winner John Gould Fletcher, her brother. 56 In March
1963, Jeannette Rockefeller informed the Board of Adolphine Fletcher Terry’s wishes to
will the House to the City of Little Rock with the understanding that the AAC would be
responsible for the upkeep of the House and its maintenance. According to William L.
Terry, son of Adolphine Fletcher Terry,
My mother had been talking. We didn’t know about it, but
we learned. They worked out a deal that it could be a good
possibility for the Arts Center to take it [the Terry House]
over. That is what Mrs. Rockefeller wanted. He [Governor
Rockefeller] did too . . . At that stage, I engaged an attorney,
a Mr. William Nash, of the Rose Law Firm . . . He worked
with us for about three years getting it all together,
resolutions of the City Board, and resolutions for the Arts
Center.” 57
54
AAC Library, Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees Minutes, 5 January 1960 and 4 May 1960.
Ibid. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 7 March 1962.
56
Adolphine Fletcher Terry, "Life is My Song, Also," Chapter II, unpublished manuscript, Fletcher-Terry
Papers. Ottenheimer Library Archives and Special Collections. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little
Rock, Arkansas.
57
William L. Terry and Elizabeth K. Terry, interview by Daniel Benton, 7 March 2007. Interview 4A,
transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
55
- 64 -
The Board showed interest in acquiring this house, but it took years for anything to
happen. 58 The AAC did not have a specific vision for the Terry House’s use at this time.
In November 1962, the AAC’s Artmobile began traveling around the state under
the direction of Edwin Brewer, a Little Rock artist. 59 The Artmobile reached out to the
entire state of Arkansas; this fit the concept of a statewide arts program. Patterned after a
similar program at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the $85,000 Artmobile was
designed exclusively for the AAC as a gift from Winthrop and Jeannette Rockefeller,
David and Peggy Rockefeller, and the Barton Foundation of Arkansas. The selfsufficient forty-foot trailer featured a miniature exhibition gallery with museum-type
walls, lighting systems, an acoustical tiled ceiling, climate-controls for visitors and for
artwork, and comprehensive fire and theft protection. By April 1963, the Artmobile
already had received 77,000 patrons. Its first exhibit, lent by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.,
featured fourteen original 17th Century Dutch paintings from Holland’s Golden Age of
painting. The tour of Dutch paintings continued through May 1964 and visited all
seventy-five Arkansas counties. 60 In 1965 and 1966, the Artmobile continued to draw
large crowds; over 100,000 visited each year during the nine months the Artmobile
operated. 61 As the Arts Center anticipated its grand opening in May 1963, the extra
publicity from the Artmobile kept the Arts Center firmly in the mind of the state’s
citizens.
Plans for the AAC’s opening received wide attention. The Board hired John H.
Belford, Jr. as the Director of Public Relations in October 1962. During a six-month span
58
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 4 March 1963.
Ibid, 31 July 1962.
60
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1962-1963.
61
AAC Library, Blue Booklet, 1964-1966 AAC Statistics.
59
- 65 -
from December 1962 to May 1963, Belford issued over two thousand press releases to
local, regional, and national media outlets. 62 Two examples of the resultant media
coverage were articles in the Christian Science Monitor and the Arkansas Gazette. The
Christian Science Monitor, a nationally recognized newspaper, presented the AAC as one
of the first regional arts centers in the country to be completed. This article also quoted
Symonds about the direction of the Museum stating:
No single function of the center dominates the other . . . In
many art centers and museums, the galleries receive the
heaviest emphasis. Still others place great stress on their
class programs, or, if they have one, the theater. Few
cultural centers attempt to extend their services beyond
their walls. The Arkansas Arts Center concept is that each
of its several functions is equally important. 63
A couple weeks after the Christian Science Monitor article, the Arkansas Gazette
followed with a similar article. The article maintained, “Other regional arts centers are
under construction but Arkansas’s is the first known to be completed.” 64 The Gazette
article also added the same quote from Symonds printed in the Christian Science Monitor
about how the Arts Center focuses on all of its parts. The different audiences of the
Arkansas Gazette and the Christian Science Monitor illustrated that the AAC’s publicity
efforts reached both local and national outlets.
As Belford coordinated the publicity for the opening, Jeannette Rockefeller called
upon Shirley Clerbin, who worked in Public Relations in the New York Rockefeller
office, to help with planning and preparation of the opening events. 65 May 16-18, 1963
marked the formal opening of the new building. Dedication ceremonies on May 18th
62
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 27 May 1963.
Christian Science Monitor (Boston), 26 April 1963.
64
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 12 May 1963.
65
AAC Library Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 31 July 1962.
63
- 66 -
included participation by Jeannette Rockefeller, Governor Orval Faubus, U.S. Senator J.
William Fulbright, Congressman Wilbur Mills, Little Rock Mayor Byron Morse, and
North Little Rock Mayor Casey Laman. The weekend featured two nights of
entertainment. Gordon McRae, a popular television personality at the time, gave two
separate performances on Friday night. 66 However, the climax of the opening was the
Beaux Arts Bal on Saturday night. This black tie event, sponsored by the FAC, surpassed
the glamour of the Beaux Arts Bal in previous years. According to Jeane Hamilton, the
Chairman of the Beaux Arts Bal in 1963, “it was something Little Rock had never seen
before. At that grand opening, we had celebrities – James Rorimer, who was the Director
of the Metropolitan Museum . . . Joan Fontaine, the movie actress . . . Charles Adams, the
famous cartoonist . . . Dave Bruebeck [the musician].” 67 The Beaux Arts Bal event
continued to develop and took on a new significance in fundraising strategies by profiting
$18,400 in 1966, exponentially higher than the event profited at the beginning of the
decade. 68
One of the grand opening’s primary attractions was a special exhibit on loan for
six months from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that featured sixty-two
works of European masters titled Five Centuries of European Painting. 69 This exhibition
included works by El Greco, Titian, Claude Monet, Odilon Redon, Pierre Renoir, Paul
Signac, Edgar Degas, and Paul Gauguin among many others and spanned from the
66
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Member Bulletins, May 1963.
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
68
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 9 March 1960, 27 May 1963 and 4
October 1966. In previous years, the Beaux Arts Bal had limited success. In 1960, the event raised
approximately $1,200 and as in the previous decade, profits generally funded restoration of selected pieces
from the collection. But increasingly, the Board struggled to define the purpose of the Beaux Arts Bal.
The AAC considered using the money for public relations efforts as it had from 1962 profits for the grand
opening in 1963.
69
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 12 May 1963.
67
- 67 -
fifteenth century Early Renaissance era to the nineteenth century. 70 Based on quality and
reputation, this exhibit surpassed all previous exhibits in the institution’s history
including the impressive folk art collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, mother of
Winthrop Rockefeller, which exhibited in 1959 at the Museum of Fine Arts on the
collection’s first national two-year tour stop. 71 Many credited the Rockefeller
involvement as the primary reason the AAC received such notable exhibits. 72
However, the opening exhibit from the Metropolitan Museum of Art did not mark
a new era of exhibitions at the AAC. Not meeting this artistic standard, the number of
exhibitions and the AAC’s attendance in subsequent years experienced a decline.
Between 1964 and 1965, the number of exhibitions dropped from twenty-six to twenty
exhibits and exhibition attendance fell from 84,308 to 76,808. 73 Total annual attendance
witnessed a similar decline. Attendance had peaked around the opening of the new
building with 210,769 visitors in 1964, which surpassed the combined total annual
attendance of 196,893 from 1957 to 1961. 74 However, AAC attendance dropped to
192,019 visitors in 1965 and 124,309 in 1966. 75
Shortly after the opening of the new building, the AAC hired Zoltan F. Buki as
the Director of the Curatorial Department to handle exhibitions and collections. From
Hungary, Buki studied at Accademia di Belle Arti, Rome, received a B.A. degree from
70
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Dedication Program, 18 May 1963.
Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 19 April 1959.
72
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
73
AAC Library, Blue Booklet, 1964-1966 AAC Statistics.
74
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1963-1964.
75
AAC Library, Blue Booklet, 1964-1966 AAC Statistics.
71
- 68 -
Art Institute of Chicago and earned a M.A. from Tulane University. 76 Buki added art
professionalism to the Arts Center and brought in several important exhibits.
Even under the expertise of an art professional, the AAC’s collection remained
unfocused when adding pieces. The collection contained a variety of items ranging from
American and European paintings to sculptures and lithographs. 77 In its eighty-one
purchases during the 1960s, the AAC did obtain quality art from artists such as René
Magritte, Marc Chagall, Milton Avery, and Henry Moore. This added to three pieces by
Pablo Picasso given to the AAC in the mid-1960s titled Sculpture and Vase of Flowers,
Still Life, and Winged Bull Gazing on Four Children. 78 AAC also received some
significant items in the 1960s, several of which came from the Rockefeller connection
and from Sears, Roebuck & Company. Jeannette Rockefeller donated View of Natchez
by Sidney Garrett in 1962 and David Rockefeller gave Andromeda by Odilon Redon in
1963. 79 Sears, Roebuck & Company purchased a few important lithographs in the mid1960s from artists Fernand Léger, Marsden Hartley, and Man Ray for the AAC. AAC
also received Martin Luther by Heinrich Aldegrever in 1962, The Eternal Tree by
Thomas Sears Young in 1963, and Raymond Rebsamen’s collection of ninety Boehm
birds in 1966. 80
76
Ibid, 1963-1964. He was hired in June 1963.
AAC Library, Blue Booklet, 1964-1966 AAC Statistics.
78
Ibid, 12 December 1966. Pablo Picasso, Sculpture and Vase of Flowers, etching and aquatint, 1933,
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Pablo Picasso, Still Life, aquatint, 1933, Arkansas Arts Center, Little
Rock. Pablo Picasso, Winged Bull Gazing on Four Children, aquatint, 1934, Arkansas Arts Center, Little
Rock.
79
Sidney Garrett, View of Natchez, oil on canvas, 1962, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Odilon Redon,
Andromeda, oil on canvas, 1912, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.
80
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 10 January 1966. Thom Hall, e-mail
message to Sara Thompson, 7 May 2007. Heinrich Aldegrever, Martin Luther, engraving, 1540, Arkansas
Arts Center, Little Rock. Thomas Sears Young, The Eternal Tree, welded copper, ca. 1960, Arkansas Arts
Center, Little Rock.
77
- 69 -
After the opening celebration, the Board recognized the need to build its public
support and to create a stable base of patrons. To do this, the Board hired William H.
Turner as the Development Director of the AAC in October 1963. 81 Turner had a
background in development; he served as a Development Counselor in San Antonio,
Texas before joining the AAC Staff. Turner’s efforts found success as paid membership
at the AAC increased about sixty percent in 1963. Membership in Little Rock alone
increased sixty percent as well. 82 These successes helped earn Turner favor among
Board members.
As the AAC increased in popularity and visibility in the community, the AAC
started the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program in September 1964. The Board of
Trustees, aware that Daniel Teis wanted this program and of his programming successes
of the previous years, followed Teis’s lead and supported the program. The AAC hired
qualified professors and developed its curriculum. 83 In its pilot semester, thirty-three
students enrolled in art and drama courses. Announcing the BFA program in 1964, the
Annual Report stated:
Previously, art and drama students were forced to leave
Arkansas to further their education in these fields and
seldom returned to Arkansas. The lack of a good
professional program within the state resulted in the
draining off of our most valuable natural resource, talented
young people. A strong cultural center with a B.F.A.
program reverses this trend. 84
81
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 7 October 1963.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1963-1964.
83
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 6 April 1964.
84
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1964.
82
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The nearby Little Rock University (LRU) did not have a comparable program at this
time. 85
The BFA program worked to achieve accreditation with the North Central
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. 86 However, the school did not receive
accreditation. Similarly, the AAC Board showed great interest in partnering with LRU in
the BFA program to gain additional classroom facilities. If partnered, AAC planned to
teach the classes and LRU would confer the BFA degrees. 87 While LRU had students
had been enrolling in classes at the AAC, LRU still was reluctant to partner with the
AAC’s BFA program. AAC Board minutes reflected this apprehension, but Board
members did not understand LRU’s hesitancy. “Symonds pointed out that overtures were
all on the part of the Center and that we are at a loss to understand why the LRU had not
wished such an arrangement.” 88 Although the AAC Board would continue to propose
coordination of programming with LRU for the rest of the BFA program’s existence, the
AAC and LRU did not unite.
Al Symonds returned to Winrock Farm as the Director of the automobile museum
and Turner became Acting Director of the AAC on June 1, 1964. 89 However, as
Director, Turner did not retain the same esteem he had as Development Director. By
December 1965, the Board believed “serious inadequacies had become evident” in the
role of Director and decided not to renew Turner’s contract. 90 The Board then hired
85
LRU formed in 1927 as part of the Little Rock School District. It was named Little Rock Junior College.
In 1957, it became a private university named Little Rock University (LRU). LRU again changed its status
when it became a public school in the University of Arkansas system in 1969. It currently operates as the
University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR).
86
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 6 April 1964.
87
Ibid, 27 May 1963.
88
Ibid, 27 January 1964.
89
Ibid, 6 April 1964.
90
Ibid, 29 November 1965.
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Louis Ismay from Enid, Oklahoma as the new Director and waited six months while
Ismay finished a previous commitment. Ismay’s first Board meeting was in May 1966. 91
The Rockefellers expressed caution with the AAC’s financial situation as early as
December 1964 as some programs, such as the Delta Room and State Services, were not
operating within budget. The BFA program was the Rockefeller’s greatest concern
because the expensive program reaching only a select few members in the community
had not operated within budget since it inauguration. 92 The Rockefellers often funded
the program and paid staff salaries, which bred community resentment for a program that
only benefited a few. 93 The Rockefellers acknowledged the efforts of the AAC to
increase revenue and “were willing to underwrite certain debts until the Arts Center’s
values were realized and financially supported by Arkansans.” They believed that the
AAC should work to set up an endowment to help with this.94 However, in the next
couple of years, the financial situation did not improve under Director Ismay.
In 1967, the concerns blossomed into an articulation that change must occur.
AAC’s annual budget exceeded its expected total income by more than $100,000. 95
AAC Board minutes reflected that in April 1967 stating:
Fiscal controls must be maintained to overcome a
reputation that the AAC had been fiscally irresponsible.
The Rockefeller family realized that the Board could not
organize a 1967 fundraising campaign and had agreed to
underwrite this year’s expenses with the understanding that
the Board will conduct a community campaign to raise
$150,000 for 1968. Should the campaign fail, certain AAC
programs will have to be discontinued on a priority basis.
91
Ibid, 25 August 1965 and 16 May 1966.
Ibid, 7 December 1964.
93
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
94
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 7 December 1964.
95
Ibid, 10 January 1966. The original budget totaled $560,000 and had been revised down to $447,762.
However, this amount still was well above the estimated total income for 1966 at $347,597.
92
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The Delta Room must operate without deficit or be
discontinued. The B.F.A. program [will be] continued if
the campaign is successful. 96
The AAC Board tried again to appeal for state support acknowledging that other
nationally recognized arts centers received state funding, but did not find success with
these efforts. 97
In 1968, the AAC Board had become impatient with its financial problems and
took action. William A. Rector, AAC Board Finance Committee Chairman, stated, “the
time had come to face squarely our financial situation and obtain more community
involvement or bow out and let the Rockefellers support the center if they so desire - if
not, to close it entirely.” 98 Board members decided to discontinue the BFA program in
1968. The quality, skilled teachers needed cost the Arts Center too much of its budget. It
served approximately seventy students and simply was not self-sufficient. Jeannette
Rockefeller admitted at a January 1968 Board meeting that while she favored the idea of
the school, it had started too soon at the AAC.
Jeane Hamilton, chairman of the Board of Trustees Program Committee, and Sam
Strauss Sr., a Board member, held a press conference in the Fall of 1968. At this
conference, these representatives publicly acknowledged the AAC’s financial crisis.
Hamilton stated, “The Board thinks it is neither desirable nor proper that the institution
be financed any longer by any one family to the extent the Winthrop Rockefellers have
supported it thus far.” 99 At this conference, Hamilton and Strauss outlined the Board’s
96
Ibid, 11 April 1967.
Ibid, 3 October 1967.
98
Ibid, 8 January 1968.
99
Undated article in the possession of Jeane Hamilton from the Arkansas Democrat in 1968.
97
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ideas to move toward a more financially responsible Arts Center. Most importantly, the
two publicly acknowledged the discontinuation of the BFA program.
In the coming months, the Board of Trustees illustrated its commitment to
achieving financial stability. The Board released Louis Ismay from his position and
began to look for a new Director to lead the Arts Center into a new era. Jeannette
Rockefeller contacted friend and former AAC teacher Townsend Wolfe. She asked
Wolfe to interview for the job of Director. At this time, Wolfe worked for the Ford
Foundation and lived in Connecticut. However, during his interview, it became apparent
that not all the Board members were on the same page; several Board members thought
Wolfe was instead interviewing for the Education Curator position. But the consensus
quickly emerged that Wolfe was the best candidate for the Director position despite
considered young when compared to other directors. 100
Townsend Durant Wolfe III received his B.F.A. from the Atlanta Art Institute and
M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He taught classes at the Memphis Academy of
Arts, the AAC, the Scarsdale Studio Workshop, and the Atlanta Art Association, where
Wolfe was Acting Director of its junior school in the Summer of 1959. Wolfe served as a
guest instructor at the Seaman’s Institute in New York City, New York and was an
Upward Bound Project Art Director in the Summer of 1966. Wolfe had also worked as
the Director of Wooster Community Art Center in Danbury, Connecticut. 101 To become
the Director and Chief Curator as the AAC, Wolfe left a position at the Ford Foundation.
After hearing of his decision to accept the position at the AAC, several colleagues
questioned Wolfe’s decision to take the job since they had heard the museum was close
100
Townsend Wolfe, interview by Sara Thompson, 9 April 2007. Interview 14A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
101
AAC Library, “1968-1969 Fall and Spring Educational Programs of the Arkansas Arts Center” Booklet.
- 74 -
to shutting down. However, Wolfe was not deterred and took on the challenges facing
the AAC. 102
Townsend Wolfe joined the AAC in August 1968 as the Director and Chief
Curator and ushered in a new era of fiscal responsibility. His first task was to balance the
budget. According to Wolfe,
I was brought here by them to cut down on the resources
they [Rockefellers] were giving. I mean no one was
balancing a budget. They just went to Win [Winthrop
Rockefeller] . . . so I was hired to bring things within
reason. I balanced the budget the first six months of the
year and every year since then ‘til I left. 103
Wolfe changed the calendar fiscal year to begin July 1 and to end June 30. 104 From the
beginning, Wolfe made it a point always to operate within the budget. In several Board
meetings throughout the next year, the Board frequently acknowledged and praised
Wolfe’s efforts with the budget. 105 As the AAC began to reach a more healthy financial
situation, Sam Strauss was prompted to declare, “the Arts Center was on the ‘right track’
for the first time in its history” and he wanted the AAC to inform the public that the “Arts
Center is no longer extravagant.” 106 The Board was so pleased with Wolfe that they
raised his salary before he had even worked there a year. 107
Townsend Wolfe solved many of the institution’s initial financial problems, but
he was also adamant about the role the AAC in the community. According to John Pagan,
longtime AAC employee, “Business-wise . . . [the AAC] needed someone like him
102
Townsend Wolfe, interview by Sara Thompson, 9 April 2007. Interview 14A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
103
Townsend Wolfe, interview by Sara Thompson, 9 April 2007. Interview 14A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
104
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 21 August 1968.
105
Ibid, 4 November 1869, 13 January 1969, 14 July 1969
106
Ibid, 5 May 1969.
107
Ibid, 14 July 1969.
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[Wolfe] to bring the institution, the Board, and the public together. As we all progressed
and the institution progressed, I think some of that, looking back, should have changed
earlier.” 108 One of Wolfe’s first steps in reaching out to the community crossed racial
barriers. Wolfe integrated the AAC Board of Trustees soon after becoming Director,
something unprecedented by museums elsewhere in the country. According to Wolfe, “it
was very important to me to integrate the Board . . . we got three black Board members
and the Museum of Modern Art did not have but one. That was in 1968. Race relations
has always been very primary in my mind.” 109 In Wolfe’s third Board meeting as
Director, the Board passed a motion to integrate the Board by selecting a nominee from
the African-American community in Little Rock. 110 In addition, Wolfe featured AAC’s
first African American art exhibition in 1969, which traveled for two months in three
counties as well. 111
The Arkansas Arts Center was founded with the vision of being an inclusive
organization for the entire state, but soon found itself dependent on the Rockefeller
family to continue its day-to-day operations. After struggling through a long list of shortlived Directors and other administrative staff, Townsend Wolfe’s entrance in 1968
marked a new era of possibilities for the AAC. Once financially responsible, the AAC
began to add staff and new programs as well as build a reputable collection. Having
weathered much transition throughout the merger between the FAC, the Museum of Fine
Arts, and the JLLR during the past ten years, the AAC witnessed its first educational
108
John Pagan, interview by Teresa Lauderdale, March 21, 2007. Interview 10A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
109
Townsend Wolfe, interview by Sara Thompson, 9 April 2007. Interview 14A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
110
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 4 November 1968.
111
AAC Library, “What Did You Do” by Arkansas Arts Center, 1969-1970.
- 76 -
programs, a new building and a new scope to reach all of Arkansas. At the end of the
1960s, the future of the AAC was ripe to move in a new direction under the guidance of
Wolfe. As the Center entered the 1970s, Wolfe took advantage of the stable financial
situation to initiate a burst of new programming and collecting for the AAC.
- 77 -
Museum of Fine Arts, circa 1937. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas
Arts Center.
Laying of Cornerstone for the Museum of Fine Arts, 1936. From left:
Fred W. and Mary Allsopp, John P. and Bertha Baird, inset H. Ray
Burks. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition, circa 1950s.
Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Arkansas Arts Center Artmobile, circa 1960s. Photograph courtesy
of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Jeanette E. Rockefeller, circa 1960s. Photograph courtesy of Jeane Hamilton.
Yellow Space Place, circa 1970s. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas
Arts Center.
Townsend Wolfe and Governor Dale Bumpers at the opening of
the State Services Program, September 1971. Photograph courtesy
of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Neighborhood Arts Project activity, circa
1975. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas
Arts Center.
Tina Poe, Raida Pfeifer, and Jeane Hamilton visit the
Great Wall of China with the Traveling Seminars, September 1975. Photograph courtesy of Jeane Hamilton.
Traveling Seminars at the birthplace of Chairman Mao, September 1975. Photograph courtesy
of Jeane Hamilton.
Tell-a-Tale Troupe’s Caren Scott and Jerome Neal perform Step on a Crack,
April 1982. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Tabriz VIII, Saturday night auction and dinner, February 1982. Photograph
courtesy of Jeane Hamilton.
Decorative Arts Museum, located in the historic Terry Mansion, June 1993. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Townsend Wolfe, Director and Chief Curator of the Arkansas Arts
Center, 1968 - 2002. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Townsend Wolfe with the Capital Campaign
architectural drawing, circa 1990s. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Construction on the AAC, March 1999. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
The Children’s Theatre presents
Cinderella, circa 1990s. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, Executive Director
of the Arkansas Arts Center. Photograph
courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, Executive Director of the Arkansas Arts
Center. Photograph courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center.
Chapter Four
A New Direction
As the social activism of the 1960s gave way to the social activities of the 1970s,
the AAC found itself with a new leader, a new building, stable finances, and growing
public support. To meet the demands of new generation of visitors with an increasing
interest in new types of art and media, the Arts Center underwent massive growth
including the formation of new galleries, programs, and departments throughout the next
five years. Programming offered by the State Services department and the Neighborhood
Arts Program, among others, helped the AAC reach out to more people both locally and
statewide. In addition, the AAC chose a new direction for the permanent collection and
placed it in control of a new organization, the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation. This all
occurred amidst a number of setbacks, including the need for a larger budget when the
United States was struggling through an economic recession. By the end of the 1970s,
the AAC looked toward the future by setting up long-range goals and planning for an
extensive building renovation and expansion.
By the early 1970s, the AAC had a clearly defined statement of purpose:
The Arkansas Arts Center attempts to establish and
maintain an environment conducive to the growth and
understanding of the arts, to provide an opportunity for the
artist and his audience to share artistic experiences and to
provide inspiration for the student it teaches. It is our aim
to serve the whole public of Little Rock, and the state of
Arkansas, by providing quality public programs in the Arts,
and to investigate new ways in which we may be of service
to the community. 1
1
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Accreditation Files, 1972.
- 78 -
To fulfill this purpose, the AAC needed a strong staff. Although the AAC had operated
with a limited staff and experienced difficult staff turnover since the late 1950s, the staff
had since expanded to thirty-one full-time and fourteen part-time employees. Seventeen
of these had at least some college experience and three had M.A. degrees. 2
To support such a large staff, the AAC needed a substantial budget. The AAC’s
income came from a variety of sources including city funds, profits from facility rentals
and other events, membership dues, private donations, and local, state, and national
grants. Although financially stable since Wolfe balanced the budget, the AAC constantly
undertook fundraising ventures in order to expand its programs. To supplement the
AAC’s income, the Fine Arts Club (FAC) started an event in 1971 that is still in
operation today. 3 Originally planned as a replacement for the Beaux Arts Bal, Tabriz
began as a yearly formal dinner event with an auction, but soon changed to a biennial
event by the mid-1970s due to the amount of work required of the volunteers. In
preparation for Tabriz, volunteers sought donated auction items from people across the
United States. Early auction items included a variety of themed dinners at FAC
member’s homes, a dress donated by Cher, and a new automobile. 4 Throughout the
1970s, the silent and live Tabriz auctions brought in a record amount of money for
collections development each year. 5
With the budget and funding sources stable, Wolfe turned his attention to the Arts
Center’s programs. One of the first additions was the creation of the Yellow Space Place
(YSP). Built to spark art appreciation in local elementary-aged children, this children’s
2
Ibid.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1971-1972.
4
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1972-1973.
5
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1971-1972 and 1979-1980. Tabriz I yielded
approximately $60,000 while Tabriz VII yielded over $150,000 at the end of the decade.
3
- 79 -
gallery opened in November 1970. A children’s contest decided its unique name. 6
Interestingly, the YSP was the only AAC gallery devoted to exhibiting works of the
permanent collection. 7 The gallery had an area with art supplies for children to create
their own works of art if inspired by what they had viewed. 8 According to Wolfe, this
gallery provided “an open educational atmosphere in which a child can make his own
connections with basic aesthetic concepts—color, form, space, line.” 9
Director of Education, Becky Rogers Witsell, supervised the YSP and its sixteen
volunteers. 10 According to Missy Anderson, long-time Board member and AAC
volunteer, Witsell “felt that children were very, very important and . . . had to be treated
very carefully when it came to art.” 11 Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the YSP was
the amount of freedom it offered its young visitors. Unlike similar programs in other
museums where mess and damage often predicated concern, the YSP did not have a
guard stationed inside the gallery. According to Wolfe, this was done in an effort to
6
Ibid, 1971-1972. Council on Museum and Education in the Visual Arts, “Arkansas Arts Center: Yellow
Space Place,” in The Art Museum As Educator: A Collection of Studies as Guides to Practice and Policy
(University of California Press, 1978), 394.
7
Ibid, 1971-1972.
8
Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 15 March 2007. Interview 7A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, AR. and Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007. Thom Hall,
interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007, Interview 7B, transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little
Rock, AR.
9
Council on Museum and Education in the Visual Arts, “Arkansas Arts Center: Yellow Space Place,” in
The Art Museum As Educator: A Collection of Studies as Guides to Practice and Policy (University of
California Press, 1978), 395.
10
Ibid. Each exhibit in the YSP followed the same basic format. One area exhibited original works of art
from the collection and a separate audiovisual area showed a slide show or related film. Another area was
reserved for audience participation. Children could also leave with a ten-cent workbook created by the Arts
Center to reinforce their experiences after they left the YSP.
11
Missy Anderson, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 7 March 2007. Interview 2A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
- 80 -
“show children that we are willing to take a chance by having original art available.” 12
When speaking of the benefits of the AAC to children, Becky Witsell said:
We want a place that’s alive and children are running
around. They would paste everything all over the wall . . .
Some of them would want to take them home, but some
would leave them pasted on the wall. It’s just great to see
all these kids have their art right there in the gallery with all
these famous artists. 13
Interestingly, the YSP was as popular with adults as it was with children, reaching an
estimated 27,000 visitors annually during its first three years of operation. According to a
feature article written about the YSP, “It is not unusual, for example, to see a gray-haired
elementary schoolteacher sitting purposefully at the craft table designed for children,
explaining that she is making things to share with her students but obviously enjoying the
process herself.” 14
Development in the early 1970s was not confined to the Arts Center building. In
1971, a new State Services department was created in order to handle the Center’s
outreach programs statewide. Unlike in the 1960s, State Services now became a distinct
department of the AAC formed through a $60,400 two-year appropriation from the
Arkansas State Legislature. 15 The first Director of State Services was William P. Bond
Jr., the former Administrator of the Arkansas Arts and Humanities Council. 16 One of its
major programs, the Artmobile, visited fifty-two Arkansas towns and welcomed nearly
12
Council on Museum and Education in the Visual Arts, “Arkansas Arts Center: Yellow Space Place,” in
The Art Museum As Educator: A Collection of Studies as Guides to Practice and Policy (University of
California Press, 1978), 395.
13
Becky Rogers Witsell, interview by Teresa Lauderdale, 27 March 2007. Interview 11A, transcript, AAC
Oral History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
14
Council on Museum and Education in the Visual Arts, “Arkansas Arts Center: Yellow Space Place,” in
The Art Museum As Educator: A Collection of Studies as Guides to Practice and Policy (University of
California Press, 1978), 394, 397.
15
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1973-1974. After the initial legislative funding
and throughout the remainder of the 1970s, State Services received grants from the Arkansas Arts and
Humanities Council and the Expansion Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts.
16
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 24 September 1971.
- 81 -
46,000 people in the 1972-1972 season. That same year, lectures were given in thirteen
Arkansas towns to accompany the Artmobile and spread information about the AAC’s
programs. 17 The Metropolitan Museum Series consisted of six exhibits purchased from
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was exhibited in libraries throughout the state
during National Library Week in April 1972. During this week, at least 3,100 people in
twelve towns saw these exhibits at their local library. 18
Also during the 1971-1972 season, State Services’s Tell-A-Tale Troupe, a
traveling theatre group, visited thirty-one towns and put on performances for
approximately 25,000 people. 19 A popular program from the start and consistently
growing, State Services served a combined total of 800,654 people by 1976 and had
expanded to include visual arts workshops, traveling exhibitions, and Take-Out-Theatre,
a participatory workshop for elementary students. In addition, State Services held theatre
workshops, offered technical assistance to theatres across the state, and occasionally
featured a performance by the Little Rock Ballet Company. Overall, State Services
coordinated 320 programs for 132 communities. 20
The same year the State Services department was created, the AAC theatre also
witnessed significant change. In an effort to improve the quality of productions and
stimulate growth, the Little Rock Community Theatre moved its operation base to the
AAC. The Community Theatre often performed at the AAC while the AAC’s theatre
program had poor attendance and was constantly over budget. 21 Both groups sought new
direction and a merger made the most sense both financially and physically. According
17
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1971-1972.
AAC Library, “State Services Booklet” by the Arkansas Arts Center, 1972.
19
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1971-1972.
20
Ibid, 1971-1977.
21
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 14 September 1971. For example, the
summer classes of 1970 lost a total of $3,986 due to poor attendance.
18
- 82 -
to the Board minutes from September 1971, a proposal was approved unanimously to
make the AAC the new operating base of the Community Theatre. A Board member seat
was designated for the Community Theatre. 22 The Community Theatre agreed to pay a
fee to the Arts Center in exchange for facility rental, meeting space, and technical
assistance from AAC staff. 23
Another change in the Theatre department was the development of a new
Children’s Theatre at the AAC. Wolfe had the idea for the project after a visit to the
Minneapolis Children’s Theatre and “was thoroughly impressed with the art and the
concept . . . [as well as] its artistic potential and its place in the community.” 24 The new
theatre featured Broadway-style musicals produced for children and starred children
actors, “for kids by kids.” Rand Hopkins was hired to fill the newly created position of
Director of the Children’s Theatre in 1975. 25 The Children’s Theatre department at the
AAC replaced the former Performing Arts department, an education department which
focused largely on dance and movement. 26 Due to these changes, the theatre earned
growing support and attendance from the community. 27
By the 1976 United States Bicentennial, the Children’s Theatre enjoyed national
attention. A group from the theatre traveled to Washington D.C. that summer as the first
children’s theatre to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.28
22
Ibid.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1972-1973.
24
Bradley Anderson, interview by Dan Benton, 30 March 2007. Interview 13A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
25
Ibid. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1974-1975.
26
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1974-1975.
27
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 1 November 1976.
28
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1975-1976. The group performed in the
Chautauqua Tent “America on Stage” exhibit of the Kennedy Center with 750 people attending. In
addition to the performance at the Kennedy Center, they performed “By George” at Independence Hall in
Philadelphia for one thousand people.
23
- 83 -
Also during 1976, a group of eight Arkansas students named Kidstuff traveled through
the State Services department to perform at Robert Redford’s Sundance Summer Theatre,
the American Conservatory Theatre, and the invitation-only American Theatre
Association. 29 In January of 1977, Kidstuff conducted three performances at the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for President Jimmy Carter’s Inauguration
Ceremony and rode on the Arkansas float during the Inauguration parade. 30
Despite the success of the Children’s Theatre nationally, Hopkins was not taking
the department in the direction Wolfe desired. Wolfe wanted to move away from the “for
kids by kids” structure of the theatre, so Hopkins resigned in the Fall of 1978. 31 In July
of 1979, Bradley Anderson, former employee of the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre,
assumed the position. 32 Contrary to the previous arrangement of “for kids by kids,” the
Children’s Theatre under Anderson reorganized to have adult actors perform stories from
children’s literature. This new direction fit the philosophy of the AAC staff and the
Board. According to Anderson:
Companies or artists were trying to look at the artistic
development of plays for children rather than just the
educational part of the plays . . . it was trying to get those
two things married up that was the hard thing . . . [We
discovered that] you didn’t have to pursue children. You
didn’t have to pursue families. You could really actually
just pursue art. 33
In addition to public and school group performances, the Children’s Theatre department
paid special attention to recruiting season pass holders and entire families who would be
29
Ibid, 1975-1976.
Ibid, 1976-1977.
31
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 11 September 1978.
32
Ibid, 7 May 1979.
33
Bradley Anderson, interview by Dan Benton, 30 March 2007. Interview 13A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
30
- 84 -
invested in the Theatre for many years. 34 The new direction of the Theatre proved to be
extremely successful at the AAC and in the community.
As Wolfe initiated growth of the Arts Center through the formation of State
Services and the Children’s Theatre, he continued to develop the collection. After the
auction in which works of the permanent collection without artistic or cultural value were
sold in the 1960s, Wolfe determined that a new direction was needed for the AAC.
Beginning in 1971, the Arts Center focused on collecting drawings because, as explained
by Wolfe, “a drawing for us is a major work of art; we feel that it possesses all the
qualities of a painting or sculpture.” 35 Irma B. Jaffe, who wrote the introduction for
AAC’s first permanent collection catalogue, stated it best when he explained:
Works on paper offer an added pleasure in that they tend to
reveal artists in a more informal mood, as if somehow we
are seeing them “at home” rather than in the frame of a
fully rehearsed public performance . . . They are likely to
represent first thoughts about a composition, alternatives
that the artist eventually worked out, or eventually
discarded. Such drawings put us in touch with the mind
and heart of genius in the process of creation. 36
According to Missy Anderson, little collecting had been done prior to Wolfe’s arrival
because “the whole place had been conceived as an arts center . . . and an arts center does
not collect. Museums collect and there just had not been any thought to developing a
collection.” 37 The AAC chose drawings because they were works that the Arts Center
could afford to purchase. As Jeane Hamilton explained, “we could buy important works
on paper that we could never have purchased . . . with the budget that we had and it was a
34
Ibid.
Laura C. Lieberman, “Arkansas Arts Center,” Southern Accents, March-April 1986, 140-147.
36
Irma B. Jaffee, “Introduction,” Selection from the Permanent Collection of the Arkansas Arts Center
Foundation, 9.
37
Missy Anderson, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 7 March 2007. Interview 2A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
35
- 85 -
very innovative idea on Wolfe’s part.” 38 Within the new collection policy, the AAC had
found a unique niche in the art world by purchasing drawings from the same artists
whose paintings were selling for millions of dollars in galleries across the United States.
The Arts Center applied for and received its first Museum Purchase Grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts to initiate the new direction towards collecting
drawings. 39 As Wolfe explained, the Museum Purchase Grant “allowed us [the AAC] to
take some risks. We were able to purchase both known and emerging artists, some of
whom were unfamiliar to my Acquisitions Committee.”40 Funds from Tabriz were used
to match the $25,000 awarded in grant funds. Following the rules of the grant to
purchase works from living American artists, Wolfe acquired three drawings by artists
Andrew Wyeth, Willem de Kooning, and Morris Graves. 41 According to Thom Hall,
current Registrar and long-time employee of the Arts Center, the selection of these three
pieces was extremely significant. They were “three very distinct different kinds of
drawings and different kinds of philosophy.” 42
Beginning with these initial acquisitions, the collection continued to flourish and
the Board of Trustees considered how to protect the collection for the future. Some were
concerned that the City of Little Rock could ask the AAC to sell off pieces of the
collection. To prevent this from ever happening, the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation
38
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
39
Missy Anderson, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 7 March 2007. Interview 2A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR. Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007. Interview
7B, transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
40
National Endowment for the Arts, “A Legacy of Leadership: investing in America’s living Cultural
Heritage Since 1968,” (2000), 46.
41
Missy Anderson, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 7 March 2007. Interview 2A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR. Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007. Interview
7B, transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
42
Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007. Interview 7B, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, AR.
- 86 -
was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable foundation on November 22, 1972. 43
Ownership of the collection transferred to the Foundation, which was a separate entity
from the AAC, and a Foundation Board was established. Wolfe explained to the AAC
Board “no incident of crisis has led to the need for this resolution.” 44 In other words, the
city had not expressed a desire to control the collection and the new Foundation was only
an added protection for the future. According to the resolution adopted by the AAC
Board, “The primary purpose of this corporation, however, is to assist, directly and
indirectly, the Arkansas Arts Center in the attainment of its goals and objective to support
and facilitate the operation of the Arkansas Arts Center.” 45
In addition to collection ownership, the Foundation also gained control of an
endowment account that according to the 1973-1974 AAC Annual Report, provided the
Arts Center with “stability and constancy, which enhances opportunities for large
philanthropic contributions.” 46 A four-phase drive started in August 1972 to increase the
Endowment Fund. The first phase was the solicitation of members of the AAC’s Board.
Phase two focused on solicitations to the public. Phase three was the solicitation of
corporate gifts and phase four was a statewide campaign held from 1973 to 1975. 47 This
was the first AAC program opened to public solicitation. 48 By July 1973, the
Endowment had grown to $511,525, including cash, securities, and outstanding
pledges. 49 The Endowment dramatically increased during the 1973-1974 fiscal year with
a “3 for 1” Matching Funds Endowment Program by the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable
43
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1972-1973.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 4 December 1972.
45
Ibid, 4 December 1972.
46
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1973-1974.
47
Ibid, 1972-1973.
48
Ibid, 1973-1974.
49
Ibid, 1972-1973.
44
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Trust. This program matched funds up to $500,000 and at the end of that fiscal year, the
account had amassed to $1,259,507. 50 This number grew to $2,885,015 by June 1977. 51
By the end of the decade, the Endowment Fund had grown to $4,059,859. 52
Soon after the Foundation was established, the AAC experienced another very
significant achievement. In the Spring of 1972, the AAC was granted Accreditation from
the American Association of Museums (AAM). 53 The AAC was the first organization in
Arkansas awarded this sought-after designation. 54 Accreditation is “a widely recognized
seal of approval that brings national recognition to a museum for its commitment to
excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and continued institutional
improvement” and was started by the AAM in 1971. 55 According to Wolfe, “the
community as a whole had come to accept the Arkansas Arts Center and what it is and
stands for.” 56
In 1972, Traveling Seminars were started with a spring trip to Florence, Italy.
These member-only trips generally happened twice a year and the member cost included
a small donation to the AAC. 57 Coordinated through Poe Travel and conducted by Jeane
Hamilton, the trips allowed members to experience art worldwide. To supplement their
trips, travelers attended seminars at the AAC before leaving for their destination. They
were also provided with a relevant bibliography of resources available at the AAC
Library. The groups traveled to various countries including Egypt, Greece, Austria and
50
Ibid, 1973-1974. This number includes outstanding pledges.
Ibid, 1976-1977. As a point of comparison, the permanent collection was valued at an additional
$1,125,539.
52
Ibid, 1979-1980.
53
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 11 September 1972.
54
El Dorado New Times (El Dorado, Arkansas), 29 December 1982.
55
American Association of Museums, AAM Accreditation Program, American Association of Museums
http://www.aam-us.org.
56
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 7 July 1972.
57
Ibid, 6 March 1972.
51
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France, among numerous other places. In 1975, after several years of planning, the AAC
took a trip to The People’s Republic of China and became the first official nongovernmental group allowed in since Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung) came to power in
1949. The Chinese government selected eighteen AAC members from submitted
applications and the group visited Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Kweilin, and
Guangzhou. 58 The Traveling Seminars were an instant success among members and
often had waiting lists for hopeful participants.
The explosive growth of the Arts Center created the need for both a larger group
of volunteers and a formal volunteer organization to coordinate hours and activities. In
response to that need, the FAC redefined its purpose in 1973 and reorganized as the
official volunteer organization of the AAC. From this point forward, all volunteers were
required to become members of the FAC and the AAC. In the 1972-1973 fiscal year, 302
FAC volunteers worked 7,167 hours in various projects for the AAC, including Tabriz. 59
By the second year after the FAC’s formal move to a volunteer organization, the AAC
had added the Volunteer Coordinator as an ex-officio member of the Board and created a
volunteer office on-site to coordinate the 519 volunteers who had worked 12,568 hours
that fiscal year. The FAC also added an Arts Skills Corps focused on art appreciation in
the AAC and in the community. 60 By 1975, the FAC was committed to “continuing the
improvement of volunteer training, especially by means of area workshops scattered
throughout the year, utilizing experts both local and imported.” 61 The FAC reorganized
its committees to Tabriz, Art Rental, Art Skills, Ballet, Committee-On-Call, Docents,
58
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1975-1976.
Ibid, 1972-1973.
60
Ibid, 1973-1974.
61
Ibid, 1973-1974.
59
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Garden, Library and Staff Aids, Museum Shop, Performing Arts, Public Relations,
Receptions, and Vineyard. 62
The Vineyard group was a special FAC committee that focused on staffing and
supporting the newly opened Vineyard in the Park Restaurant. 63 Prior to the 1973
opening of the Vineyard, the AAC operated the Delta Room, an area where patrons could
eat and visit. Members of the FAC wanted to turn the space into something larger, so a
group of women, including long-time AAC supporter Virginia Bailey, visited a similar
establishment in Memphis, Tennessee with Townsend Wolfe. When they returned to
Arkansas, the women began development of the Vineyard. The FAC raised the money to
open the new restaurant with Virginia Bailey as Chairman of the Financial Committee for
the project. According to Dr. Ted Bailey, husband of Virginia, Vineyard in the Park
“really did help the Arts Center a lot. I think having a nice place where people could do
lunch . . . became a real successful story and improved the overall operation of the Arts
Center.” 64 The Vineyard was more than just a successful restaurant; it was a unique
establishment first staffed by FAC volunteers. AAC employee Margaret Whillock
explained, “The cooks . . . were paid personnel, but the waitresses were all volunteers and
all the tips that they took in they gave to the Arts Center once a year for something
significant [such as acquisitions]. You can imagine . . . an all-volunteer wait staff. It was
quite unusual. Some days it worked better than others.” 65 In addition to their work at the
62
Originally, volunteer committees were set up for Gallery, Docents, Hospitality, Museum Shop Clerks,
and Theatre. Two groups—Library and Staff Aides and a Committee-On-Call to handle crises such as
volunteer cancellations—were added later.
63
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1974-1975.
64
Dr. Ted Bailey, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 14 March 2007. Interview 5A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
65
Margaret Whillock, interview by Jamie Metrailer, 28 March 2007. Interview 12A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
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Vineyard restaurant and Tabriz, the FAC held annual fashion shows with the local M.M.
Cohn department store. 66
Constantly growing, the FAC averaged between eight hundred and one thousand
members throughout the 1970s. 67 More impressive than the number was the quality of
volunteers. In 1976, two FAC members, Missy Anderson and Jane McGehee were
chosen as two of the twelve “outstanding Volunteers” for the state of Arkansas from the
National Center for Voluntary Action. 68 The success of the FAC as official volunteer
organization continued throughout the 1970s with a total of 938 volunteers working
34,376 hours in the 1978-1979 fiscal year. 69
AAC docents were a very active group of FAC volunteers. Formed in 1972, the
docent program was developed by Becky Witsell, who taught, and Missy Anderson, who
recruited the volunteers. According to Witsell, the new docents expanded the experience
of AAC visitors and often changed the way guests, especially children, viewed the
exhibited art:
A docent’s a great invitation to people to look and to try to
break down the notion that they have to stand there.
Townsend used to call it the “gallery two-step” where
people would come in, look at the painting and look at the
label . . . and then step back and look at the painting
again. 70
Missy Anderson later described her experience with the docent program: “We took
ourselves very seriously and worked very seriously . . . And I think we had a good
66
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 1 March 1976. Proceeds from these
shows were given to various AAC projects including the Yellow Space Place and acquisitions
67
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club and Board Meeting Minutes, 1 May 1975.
68
Ibid, 29 April 1976.
69
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1978-1979.
70
Becky Rogers Witsell, interview by Teresa Lauderdale, 27 March 2007. Interview 11A, transcript, AAC
Oral History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
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program . . . I learned so much in that program and I think so did everybody else. I still
have people come up and say ‘that was one of the best things I ever did.’” 71
The docents remained extremely occupied since the founding of the program.
Visitation to the AAC’s galleries averaged 154,000 people each year from 1972 to 1979
with local and traveling exhibitions displayed each year. Several of the shows exhibited
in the AAC were familiar to the visitors. For example, the competitive Annual Delta Arts
Exhibition and the Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition had both been events taking place
since the 1950s. 72 Ned Metcalf, State Services Manager at the AAC, explained the
importance of the Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition:
Not only is it inspiring because you have the opportunity to
see works from kindergarten through senior level . . . but
it’s also an excellent teaching tool . . . It gives the teachers
the opportunity to show his or her student all different types
of art plus provides a little challenge to the students to step
up their work and gives them a little confidence that they
too can become young Arkansas artists. 73
At the time of exhibition, the Annual Delta Arts Exhibition in 1973 was the largest ever
seen by the AAC. 74 Other competitive exhibits, Annual Prints, Drawings and Crafts
Exhibition and Toys Designed by Artists, a popular exhibit in the Yellow Space Place,
also continued to attract visitors to the AAC. 75 Jurors for these competitive exhibits were
brought in from across the county and submissions often reached over two thousand
pieces. 76 The Annual Antiques Forum started in 1970 and continued throughout the
71
Missy Anderson, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 7 March 2007. Interview 2A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
72
AAC Library, “What Did We Do?” by the Arkansas Arts Center, 1970.
73
Ned Metcalf, interview by Teresa Lauderdale, 7 March 2007. Interview 3A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
74
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Meeting and Board Minutes, 6 November 1973.
75
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1973-1974.
76
Ibid, 1974-1975.
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decade. 77 In addition to the annual exhibits, the AAC brought in shows from institutions
across the nation such as the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress. One exhibit of
over one hundred pieces of 19th and 20th century French paintings, drawings, and sketches
from the collection of art collector Armand Hammer also brought an influx of visitors
into the AAC. 78
After the development of State Services, the Foundation Board, the Docent
Program, and the FAC as official volunteer organization, the AAC approached the mid1970s with stable finances, programs, and staff. However, Wolfe felt as though the
Trustees had not met their responsibilities to the AAC and he submitted his resignation in
May 1973. 79 According to Wolfe, many of the Board members were “not doing what
they told me they would do . . . They were not . . . helping the place grow and [getting]
people involved.” 80 Wolfe did not reconsider his decision until persuaded by prominent
members of the local Little Rock community, the Rockefeller family, Board members,
and the AAC staff. By September of 1973, Wolfe had decided to remain the Director and
Chief Curator of the AAC with the promise of renewed support from the Board
members. 81 When asked about his decision to stay, Wolfe explained he wanted to stay
for “the prospect of continuing the programs he had started or stabilized.” 82
Once Wolfe’s resignation no longer threatened the stability of the AAC, the
Board looked towards future development. A Long-Range Planning Committee was
77
AAC Library, “What Did We Do?” by the Arkansas Arts Center, 1970.
AAV Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1969-1970.
79
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 7 May 1973 and 14 September 1992.
80
Townsend Wolfe, interview by Sara Thompson, 9 April 2007. Interview 14A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, AR.
81
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 10 September 1973.
82
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), 22 August 1973.
78
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created as part of the AAC Board in March 1975. 83 This committee announced its
institutional goals for the next five years at the May 1975 Board meeting. 84 The new
goals expressed the hope to continue to reach a minimum of one-fourth of the state with
quality arts programs. The AAC wanted to focus attention on outreach programs, such as
State Services and the Neighborhood Arts Project, to engage school aged children and
people over sixty-five. These new goals encouraged the AAC to strengthen its financial
base and operational budget so that all AAC jobs and salaries compared with local
businesses. The goals also reflected a desire to strengthen the Board and to formulate a
specialized group to raise funds for acquisitions. The AAC also wanted to plan for the
renovation and use of Terry home. Lastly, the AAC wanted to find new ways to serve
artists in the community. 85 Although remaining similar throughout these five years, these
goals were revised on a yearly basis to reflect accomplishments and new opportunities.
One way to fulfill these new goals was through the various on-going programs of
the AAC. Operating expenses of the AAC increased by nearly seventy percent
throughout the 1970s to support the growing programs. 86 The Museum School offered
classes, workshops, lectures, and presentations in both visual and performing arts. 87
Classes were mainly taught at the Arts Center and many students were picked up for
Saturday classes at various locations in Little Rock by a red Double-Decker bus donated
83
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 3 March 1975. According to the AAC
Annual Report from 1974-1975 fiscal year, the first members of the Long-Range Planning Committee were
B. Finley Vinson, Chairman, Virginia Bailey, James T. Dyke and William L. Patton, Jr.
84
Ibid, 30 May 1975.
85
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1974-1975.
86
Ibid, 1979-1980.
87
Ibid, 1974-1977. AAC Library, “Director’s Report and Comments, Annual Meeting Board of Trustees”
by the Arkansas Arts Center, July 1973. The classes offered were often changing, but throughout the 1970s
patrons could take classes on drawing, printmaking, paintings, sculpture, enameling, pottery, glassblowing,
jewelry, watercolor, photography, film making, modern dance, movement, ballet, creative dramatics,
theatre crafts, yoga, puppetry, woodworking, two-dimensional design, three-dimensional design, art
history, leathersmithing, mime, and creative play writing.
- 94 -
by Dillards, a national department store chain with local headquarters. 88 By 1972, the
Education department was successfully covering costs for the first time in its history and
was able to offer scholarships and work study programs for both children and adults. 89
Thom Hall, former Education Registrar who began working at the AAC in 1975,
explained his view of the Museum School, “We used to teach a lot of classes with UALR
[the University of Arkansas at Little Rock]. They were actually degree students coming
over here to take classes . . . [The AAC’s] full-time faculty with Master Degrees . . . had
the credentials that met the university requirement.” 90 The AAC averaged five classes a
year for UALR students and classes were a relief for UALR’s small art department.
Programs in performing arts were offered at the AAC in addition to visual arts
classes. Before becoming the Children’s Theatre department, the AAC Performing Arts
department dealt “directly on a person-to-person involvement with audience, participants
and public for entertainment, education, information, and personal development.” To do
this, the department offered films, plays, concerts, community service, and facility
rentals, as well as variety of classes including popular ballet and movement classes. 91
Thom Hall remembers the ballet program well:
At that time we had ballet classes and Manolo Augullo was
the primary one in charge of that . . . [he] impacted an
incredible amount of people in this town. He did teach
ballet, but he also taught some movement classes. You
know, this was before there were gyms on every block . . .
so there were a lot of people that were coming down here to
do exercise classes, but it was based on dance movement. 92
88
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1974-1975.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 10 January 1972 and 4 March 1974.
90
Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007. Interview 7B, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, AR.
91
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1971-1972.
92
Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007. Interview 7B, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, AR.
89
- 95 -
These ballet classes were so popular that in 1974, a Ballet department was organized
separately from the Performing Arts department after it merged with the Little Rock
Civic Ballet, Inc. 93 The new department even established off-site studio space named
“The Arkansas Arts Center Ballet Academy.” 94 Ultimately, this department became too
large and expensive and split from the Arts Center to become the Ballet Arkansas. 95
By 1975, the Museum School had grown enough to warrant renovations and an
addition to the education building. This $92,278 project revamped the studio space that
was original to the building. 96 Working in conjunction with the Museum School, the
AAC established a special program directed toward minorities in the community. The
Model Cities Black Arts Program, later known as the Neighborhood Arts Project (NAP),
was funded from its inception in 1971 by grants from the Little Rock Model Cities and
the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation. Eventually both original financial supporters were
replaced by two-years of support from the Council on Human Resources and then
became strictly revenue sharing. 97 Its purpose was “to further community participation
and cultural awareness in theatre and visual arts” with a specific focus on making
minority groups in Arkansas feel like they had a place in the Arts Center. 98 Events
offered by the program included an Inner City Black Arts Fair, lectures and meetings for
Black History Week, and classes at five local community centers. 99 Black History Week
averaged two thousand people in attendance, 7,200 student/teacher contacts annually, and
93
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 6 May 1974.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1974-1975.
95
Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 4 April 2007. Interview 7B, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, AR.
96
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 29 September 1975.
97
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Scrapbook: Inner City Arts Fair/Black History Week, 1974-1975.
98
AAC Library, “Annual Catalog,” by the Arkansas Arts Center, 1972-1973.
99
Classes were offered at Dunbar Community Center, East little Rock Complex, South Little Rock
Complex, Hollingsworth Court, and the AAC.
94
- 96 -
approximately a two hundred student enrollment weekly. However, the NAP was not a
complete success. Instead of giving minorities a feeling that they were appreciated by the
AAC, the off-site classes and programs of the NAP caused some people to think that the
Arts Center did not want minorities coming into the main facilities. According to the
Board minutes on March 6, 1978, Gene Malone, a member of the Board’s NAP
committee, thought that “the program should bring black people into the Arts Center and
. . . it has not been developed in that manner.” He further stated that he believed “the
NAP [was] a stepchild of the center.” 100 Seeing that the program was not successful in
its purpose, AAC staff started to work together to plan the future of the program with the
eventual hope of reorganizing it into a useful program.
Despite setbacks in some areas, the AAC continued to experience rapid growth.
The Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Library started the 1970s with 5,800 bound volumes,
20,000 art slides, 4,500 single phonograph discs, 110 albums, thirty art films, ten
filmstrips, and eight vertical file drawers. 101 Throughout the 1970s, the Library
expanded. By the end of the decade, about three thousand gifts, memorials, and
acquisitions were added to the collection each year. The Library’s holdings—including
books, periodicals, recordings, slides, films, and pamphlets—were available to the public.
Circulation was between ten thousand and twenty thousand each year. 102
Facilities also grew at the AAC during the 1970s. The local mansion promised by
Adolphine Fletcher Terry in 1963 was finally utilized by the AAC in the 1970s. Terry
was very attached to her home and had high hopes for its future with the city and the Arts
100
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 3 March 1975 and 6 March 1978. AAC
Library, Arkansas Arts Center Scrapbook: Inner City Arts Fair/Black History Week, 1974-1975.
101
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Accreditation Files, 1972.
102
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1978-1979.
- 97 -
Center. 103 Townsend Wolfe met with Terry about possible uses as early as 1968. 104
Terry was aware of the long history of the House. In a manuscript written shortly before
her death in 1975, Terry expressed,
My sister Mary and I decided that we would give the house
to the city as a memorial . . . Since it is only two blocks
away from the Arts Center, I hope it will be used for
something in connection with that and that people will
come to use it and enjoy it as much as we have. 105
Following her death, a $150,000 Challenge City Bond Issue passed as funding for
the home. Regardless of the AAC’s previous plans for the House, it was not until Terry’s
sister, Mary Drennan, gave up her life interest in 1977 that keys to the home were
officially turned over to the AAC and the city agreed to supply $7,500 for basic
maintenance. There were many proposed uses for the House including temporary
exhibits, a dedicated lecture area and rehearsal hall, a permanent collection gallery, a
sales gallery for local artists, and even a quilt-making studio for use primarily by senior
citizens. 106 Despite the proposed uses however, the AAC found it difficult to find
additional funding for the operations and renovations of the Terry House. Although the
city had granted the AAC $7,500 for maintenance, it did not dedicate additional funds for
general operations of the House and the Arts Center still faced a large renovation project.
In 1978, architects Charles Witsell and Wilson Stiles were selected to carry out the
required renovations for a proposed plan costing $363,200. In 1979, the State of
Arkansas appropriated $150,000 for the Terry House to match the city’s original bond
103
Adolphine Fletcher Terry, "Life is My Song, Also," Chapter II, unpublished manuscript, Fletcher-Terry
Papers. Ottenheimer Library Archives and Special Collections. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little
Rock, Arkansas.
104
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1977-1978.
105
Adolphine Fletcher Terry, "Life is My Song, Also," Chapter II, unpublished manuscript, Fletcher-Terry
Papers. Ottenheimer Library Archives and Special Collections. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little
Rock, Arkansas.
106
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1977-1978.
- 98 -
issue. With these new funds, the extensive renovation process was started. 107
Unfortunately, funding issues continued to challenge the Terry House and renovations
were eventually put on hold while fundraising and planning continued.
As the 1970s came to a close, the AAC staff had grown to include eleven
administration employees, seven full-time faculty members, twenty-six part-time faculty
members, eighteen staff members, seven guards, and five custodians for a total of
seventy-four employees. As the AAC moved in a new direction, the Board, staff and
volunteers had witnessed the formation of the YSP, the Foundation, the State Services
Department, the Children’s Theatre Department, the Docent Program, and the LongRange Planning Committee. The Board had supported Wolfe in his new direction for the
permanent collection and celebrated when the AAC achieved accreditation. However, by
the end of the 1970s, a new challenge faced the staff. The AAC was quickly running out
of exhibition space and determined the need for gallery expansion. The death of
supporter Winthrop Rockefeller in 1973 had been a very difficult time for the AAC and
prompted the Board to sign a resolution on February 26, 1973 dedicating “the Center, its
building, its physical environment and the spirit of all its endeavors, to the memory of the
Honorable Winthrop Rockefeller.” 108 The Board again decided to dedicate part of the
facility to Rockefeller with the gallery expansion planned for the early 1980s. After the
establishment of this gallery, the AAC concentrated on the development of programs and
the collection, along with the enhancement of the Center’s national and international
reputation throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
107
108
Ibid, 1978-1979.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes, 4 March 1973.
- 99 -
Chapter Five
Enhancing a Reputation
During the 1970s, the AAC experienced a burst of new programming and the
choice of a new direction for the collection. As the Center stabilized in the latter part of
that decade, the AAC entered the 1980s ready to focus on utilizing new ways for its art
and programs to reach the public, especially the growing middle class and minority
groups. For the 1980s and the early 1990s, the Center concentrated on enhancing its
reputation in the art world locally, nationally, and internationally. The creation of the
Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery added much needed exhibition space and the
establishment of the Decorative Arts Museum allowed the Center to exhibit decorative
arts and contemporary crafts. In addition to these accomplishments, the quality of the
collection, the expanded funding, and the record attendance numbers displayed the
AAC’s ability to thrive and to build upon past successes. Unfortunately, not all projects
and programs during this era immediately flourished; some of the AAC’s creations
struggled and persevered before achieving stability. Others did not reach this
achievement and were shut down. However, as a whole, the AAC proved to have
established itself in the art world and in the local community by the mid-1990s.
In 1978, the AAC Board decided to create exhibition space to display works from
the permanent collection while also paying homage to one of its dedicated members,
Winthrop Rockefeller. For this undertaking, the Board began fundraising efforts to create
the Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery. In 1979, the AAC raised a significant
amount of funds for the new gallery by challenging its members to “match their
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membership with an equal or greater contribution.” 1 As a result, 360 members donated
approximately $23,650. In addition, the AAC raised funds for the gallery by soliciting
large donations from private corporations and individuals. Herbert H. McAdams, the
Chairman of the AAC Board and Chief Executive Officer of Union National Bank at the
time, and others involved with the fundraising campaign successfully raised $330,000
from seventy-eight different donors. According to the 1979-1980 AAC Annual Report,
Tabriz VII in 1980 added an additional $130,000 for the Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial
Gallery. 2
After raising half the needed funds for the proposed gallery, the AAC Board
decided to search for architects. 3 By November 1980, the AAC Board announced that
the Cromwell, Neyland, Truemper, Levy, and Gatchell, Inc. architectural firm had won
the bid to design the new gallery. 4 This is the same architectural firm that designed the
AAC’s new building in the early 1960s. 5 Lauded both for its quantity of space and its
architectural design, the architectural firm received a “Design Award” in 1982 from the
Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for the Winthrop Rockefeller
Memorial Gallery. 6
The new addition added 3,720 square feet, which nearly doubled the space for
exhibitions from the permanent collection and added additional storage space. Another
1
Inside Arkansas, 18 (Fall/Winter 1982): 27.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1979-1980. Inside Arkansas, 18 (Fall/Winter 1982):
27. Inside Arkansas wrote, “Another $130,000 came from proceeds generated by Tabriz VII, held at The
Center in February 1980. In all, $482,226.89 was raised for the construction of the [Winthrop Rockefeller
Memorial] gallery.”
3
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 21 September 1980.
4
Months after this firm won the bid for the project, the firm changed its name to Cromwell, Truemper,
Levy, Parker, Woodsmall, Inc. The firm’s current name in 2007 is Cromwell Architects Engineers, Inc.
5
Ginnochio, Cromwell, Carter, Dees & Neyland was the official name of this company in 1961 when it
worked with the AAC.
6
Inside Arkansas, 18 (Fall/Winter 1982): 28.
2
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primary purpose of the new gallery was to display temporary exhibits. When asked why
the Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery was being used for traveling exhibits,
Townsend Wolfe stated, “[Winthrop Rockefeller’s] interest was not in individual objects,
but in this institution being a unifying place for people to come together to see and
experience various forms of art and therefore make the Arkansas Arts Center more of an
educational unity.” 7
On September 19, 1982, the Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery’s first public
opening boasted over one thousand visitors. The AAC featured the exhibit, 5,000 Years
of Art, organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the American
Federation of Arts. 8 The exhibition was a major national exhibit that only went to five
other museums before ending its tour at the AAC. 9 While at the AAC, this exhibit
continued in popularity averaging 582 visitors a day. 10
The Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery was not the only expansion project
that the AAC completed in the early 1980s. The Terry House sat unoccupied and had
fallen into disrepair since officially being handed over to the city in 1977. While the city
owned the property, the AAC had responsibility for rehabilitating the home and
transforming it into a decorative arts museum. Unlike the new Rockefeller Gallery, the
road to raising funds, completing renovations, and eventually opening the Terry House as
the Decorative Arts Museum proved to be a challenge for the Arts Center.
7
Ibid, 29
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1982-1983.
9
Inside Arkansas, 18 (Fall/Winter 1982): 29.
10
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1982-1983. From September 14 through
November 14, 1982, approximately 36,034 or a daily average of 581 people visited the exhibit at the
Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery.
8
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The AAC had received funding for the renovation from many different sources
including the Arkansas State Legislature, the City of Little Rock, and the State Historical
Preservation Office. Initially, Wolfe and the Board did not want to begin renovations
until they had finished collecting all needed funds. The AAC’s need for state money for
the Terry House project unfortunately did not meet success as state revenues were not
high enough for the AAC’s request to be funded. Thus, the Terry House continued to sit
empty and neglected. Inflation and a poor economy complicated the process since costs
of construction had risen since the 1977 estimate. 11 However, due to the rapid
deterioration of the House, the AAC Board decided to start renovations without full
funding. The Witsell, Evans, and Rasco Architectural Firm presented completed
renovation plans to the Board in June 1980. 12 The plans called for two phases, but the
AAC had only raised enough funds to pay for the first phase of the Terry House
renovation. Phase I planned to stabilize the entire exterior and some of the interior of the
Terry House in order to prevent further deterioration. This stage was completed
November 3, 1981. 13
Phase II called for massive renovation of the interior, installation of exhibits, and
the hire of a new staff, including a Curator. Unfortunately, Phase II had no funding
available since the AAC spent all of the raised funds on Phase I. In 1983, the AAC
Board again approached the Arkansas State Legislature, the City of Little Rock, and the
State Historic Preservation Office for additional resources. 14 These outlets responded
11
Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), 30 November 1980. Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), August 1980.
Founded in 1978, this firm currently is Witsell Evans Rasco Architects/Planners located in Little Rock,
Arkansas.
13
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1981-1982. Phase I cost $246, 256.
14
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 10 May 1982. AAC Library, Arkansas
Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 9 November 1983. Phase II was projected to cost around $273,532.
12
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and by late 1983, the AAC received $200,000 from the City of Little Rock, $25,000 from
the Arkansas State Legislature, and $65,000 from the State Historic Preservation
Office. 15 Although asking for $194,000 for the building’s annual operating expenses, the
City of Little Rock gave a one time gift of $100,000 for landscaping.16 Nearly four years
after the completion of Phase I, the Decorative Arts Museum opened to the public on
March 25, 1985. The AAC hired Patty Dean as the Decorative Arts Museum’s Curator in
October 1984. 17
In August 1984, Wolfe and the AAC Board decided it was best to create an
Endowment to provide funding for the Decorative Arts Museum’s operations and
staffing. 18 The funding raised for the Decorative Arts Museum Endowment was included
in the AAC’s Endowment and placed under the direct control of the AAC Foundation.
Amounts were deposited at the same time, but were tracked separately. The AAC
initially planned to raise $2 million. With the help of a two for one match from the
Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust, the Decorative Arts Museum portion reached
$1,652,642.55 by 1986, which was about twenty percent of the total Endowment
account. 19 Funding for the Decorative Arts Museum also came from the City of Little
Rock. Wolfe approached the city in 1984 requesting an additional $50,000 a year to add
to the AAC’s general account from the city to help pay for operating costs of the
Decorative Arts Museum among other increasing expenses. The rationale for the request
15
Ibid, 12 September 1983. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1983-1984.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 12 November 1984.
17
Dean had received her Masters in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, a
partnership between the State University of New York and the New York Historical Association. Dean
also had been the former Curator of Collections at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, Montana.
18
AAC Library, “Report to the Board of Trustees Decorative Arts Museum July-August 1984,” by the
Arkansas Arts Center, 1984.
19
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1985-1986. By June 1986, the total AAC
Endowment reached $7,631,070.50.
16
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was for the Decorative Arts Museum, but the city did not specifically earmark this money
toward the Decorative Arts Museum. 20
The Decorative Arts Museum’s exhibit space had two separate areas. One side of
the house’s interior displayed decorative arts works from the AAC’s permanent
collection, including items from the Prints, Drawings and Crafts Exhibition and the
nationally recognized Toys Designed by Artists exhibit. Both of these exhibitions were
made popular during the previous decade. 21 The other side of the interior featured
temporary exhibits. By 1987, the Decorative Arts Museum exhibited a diverse number of
modern and ancient works. For example, in one gallery the Museum exhibited a
terracotta tomb figure from the Han Dynasty of Ancient China and an adjacent gallery
exhibited a contemporary plant stand of twisted steel and glass crafted by Albert Paley in
1983. Temporary exhibits such as the Five Centuries of Italian Textiles, loaned from the
Smithsonian Institution, also indicated that the Decorative Arts Museum was recognized
and accepted by other national decorative arts institutions. 22
In April 1989, Patty Dean resigned for other employment opportunities and Alan
Dubois was hired as the new Curator to lead the Decorative Arts Museum. Under his
leadership the Decorative Arts Museum found new focus and direction. 23 Not only
relying on traveling exhibits from nationally recognized institutions, the Decorative Arts
Museum also focused on building its regional importance. The Decorative Arts Museum
began to invite local and regional artists to show their modern crafts. Dubois and Wolfe
20
AAC Library, “Report to the Board of Trustees Decorative Arts Museum July-August 1984,” by the
Arkansas Arts Center, 1984. AAC Library, Decorative Arts Museum Fund Drive Box, 4 September 1986.
21
Christian Science Monitor (Boston), 24 December 1993. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual
Reports, 1984-1985, 1993. AAC Library, Terry House History Box Newspaper Clippings, 1984. The
AAC continued its legacy of invitational exhibitions such as the Delta Art Exhibition, the Annual Prints,
Drawings and Crafts Exhibition, and the Toys Designed by Artists.
22
Sarah Harberg, 17-18.
23
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1989-1990.
- 105 -
used certain events to build the Decorative Arts Museum’s collection such as the
biannual exhibitions, Craft Biannual and Objects Invitational. 24
In the early nineties, the Decorative Arts Museum’s collections and operational
funding continued due to funds from the FAC, a few private donors, the City of Little
Rock, and the AAC. Since the Decorative Arts Museum did not conduct its own
fundraisers, the funding from these groups was its main source of revenue. However,
$150,000 annually used to maintain the Decorative Arts Museum by the AAC was not
enough. 25 As a result, the AAC provided additional funding for the amount needed to
balance the Decorative Arts Museum budget. 26
By 1993, it was apparent that the Decorative Arts Museum was not growing in
attendance and was relatively unknown to the local public. In the early 1990s, its highest
annual attendance was during 1991-1992 fiscal year in which 25,792 people visited the
Decorative Arts Museum. For the next three years, general attendance slacked off and
the following year experienced reduced visitation totaling 18,507. 27 During 1993, the
Decorative Arts Museum’s future was a major discussion among the AAC Board, the
Decorative Arts Committee, Alan DuBois, and Townsend Wolfe. All groups agreed that
the Decorative Arts Museum’s struggles were primarily because it was not physically
connected with AAC. Most visitors did not go to both museums in one visit and usually
chose to experience the more significant collections at the AAC. 28
24
Alan DuBois, interview by Dan Benton, 12 April 2007. Interview 15A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, Ar. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1990-1994.
25
Ibid. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1989-1994.
26
Alan DuBois, interview by Dan Benton, 12 April 2007. Interview 15A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, Ar..
27
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1992-1994.
28
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 11 January 1993, 12 April 1993 and 13
December 1993. Alan DuBois, interview by Dan Benton, 12 April 2007. Interview 15A, transcript, AAC
Oral History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
- 106 -
In December 1993, Dubois and the Decorative Arts Committee provided
recommendations to the AAC board. The recommendations called for the Decorative
Arts Museum’s inclusion in AAC publications and exhibitions in order to reinforce the
idea that the Decorative Arts Museum was an integral part of the AAC rather than a
separate entity. 29 These measures highlighted a concern that the separation from the
AAC might generate lower attendance and interest at the Decorative Arts Museum.
However, this plan was never realized. By the mid-1990s, the unification issue between
the Decorative Arts Museum and the AAC had not been resolved and the Decorative Arts
Museum’s future remained in question. After initial success near the opening of the
Decorative Arts Museum, lack of visibility plagued its continuance.
By the end of the 1980s, the AAC’s budget and Endowment had dramatically
increased. The AAC’s earned income almost doubled to more than $800,000. Private
contributions from businesses, private donors, and memberships multiplied two and a
half times to over $375,000. In addition, the City of Little Rock tripled its contribution
appropriating $300,000 annually. While these other sources increased funding, both state
and federal funding decreased their annual contributions approximately $110,000 and
$15,000 respectively. Yet despite those decreases, the AAC’s annual budget by the end
of the decade increased by more than one million dollars and the Endowment fund had
doubled in size. 30
The early 1990s era proved to be a challenge for the organization when it faced its
first potential deficit in twenty years during the 1991-1992 fiscal year. By June 1991, the
AAC faced an $84,000 deficit in its operational budget. Since Wolfe had joined the staff
29
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 13 December 1993.
Ibid, 1989-1990. The Arts Center’s budget reached over $2.4 million and the Endowment Fund reached
over $7.5 million.
30
- 107 -
in 1968, the AAC had not operated in a deficit. Thus, Wolfe and the AAC Board were
determined to balance the budget. Choosing a course of action, they decided to
incorporate a hiring freeze and to ensure the membership drive met its $400,000 goal.
AAC’s main hope for achieving a balanced budget relied heavily on the City and its
increase of support by $200,000 through the bond issue titled “Little Rock 2000.” 31
However, by November 1991, it was apparent that the bond issue had failed and AAC’s
hope for city support appeared out of reach. 32
Interestingly, the failed bond issue did not prevent the Little Rock City Board
from rescuing AAC’s troubled budget. The Little Rock City Board authorized a
$100,000 increase for operational support in the early part of 1992. In addition, the AAC
membership goal was met and some staff essentially worked two jobs to cope with the
hiring freeze. By July 1992, the Arts Center ended the year with a $1,000 surplus and a
balanced budget for the 23rd consecutive year. 33
In the 1980s, the collection had earned a well-deserved national reputation. As
Wolfe stated, “collecting drawings prior to 1980 was unheard of—galleries did not even
advertise them.” 34 That risk yielded high dividends for the AAC in the 1980s and the
1990s. In light of its growing national collection reputation, an opportunity arose to
further publicize the permanent collection. In July 1983, the AAC received a special
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to document and conserve art in
the permanent collection. The AAC hired an outside conservator to do the required work
and under the conservator’s guidance, Missy Anderson and Thom Hall painstakingly
31
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 7 June 1991.
Ibid, 11 November 1991.
33
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 13 January 1992, 14 September 1992 and
22 July 1992. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1991-1992.
34
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 11 July 1989.
32
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catalogued the AAC’s entire collection. 35 This grant also allowed the AAC to create the
institution’s first catalogue of its permanent collection. Missy Anderson and Townsend
Wolfe co-edited this first catalogue titled “Selections from the Permanent Collection of
the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation.” 36
At the same time, Wolfe and the AAC Board decided to deaccession and sell the
Thomas Moran painting The Cliffs of Green River in order to purchase twenty-four works
including Vincent Van Gogh’s Man with a Spade Resting. 37 The collection continued to
grow and by the time the first catalogue was released in 1983, the collection boasted
2,800 works with its focus on drawings from well-known American artists such as
George Wesley Bellows, William James Glackens, Walt Kuhn, Andrew Newell Wyeth,
Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Leslie, Ivan Albright, and Lee Bontecou. 38 However, the
AAC’s collection encompassed more than just American drawings; it included drawings
from European masters such as Giovanni Francesco Barbieri or “Il Guercino,” Piet
Mondrian, Pierre Bonnard, Albertos Giacometti, and Rembrandt Harmenszoon van
Rijn. 39 During the 1980s and early 1990s, the AAC also added works from artists Pablo
Picasso, Edgar Degas, Juan Gris, Louise Berliawsky Nevelson, Henri Matisse, Will
Barnet, and Edward Hopper. 40
35
Ibid, 10 May 1982 and 7 July 1983.
AAC Library, “Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation,”
1983.
37
Ibid. Thomas Moran, The Cliffs of Green River, oil painting, 1872. Vincent Van Gogh, Man with a
Spade Resting, chalk pencil sketch, 1882, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Thom Hall, email to Sara
Thompson, 25 July 2007.
38
AAC Library, “Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation,”
1983.
39
Thomas Hoving, “Big Art for Little Rocks,” Connoisseur, August 1984, 10.
40
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 24 July 1989. AAC Library, Arkansas
Arts Center Annual Reports, 1991-1993.
36
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From 1983 to 1986, significant organizations including the American Association
of Museums (AAM) and important magazines such as Connoisseur and Christian
Science Monitor recognized the importance of the AAC’s collection. The AAC received
national reaccredidation from AAM, which was important and an essential honor for any
museum to receive. In part of the reaccredidation narrative, the author stated, “[AAC]
has begun to build in a systematic way a distinguished holding in (primarily) works on
paper. This well-defined direction has enabled the museum to focus its expenditures
effectively, and to assemble a beautifully related group of fine objects.” 41
Thomas Hoving, arguably one of the most notable art critics of that time, was also
impressed with the AAC’s drawing collection. Hoving was the former Director of the
Metropolitan Arts Museum in New York, a major national art museum, and an art critic
for Connoisseur magazine. In the 1984 August issue of Connoisseur, Hoving applauded
Wolfe and the AAC for its collection of drawings. He criticized the art world for its
obsession with the big-name paintings or as he termed it, “Millionart.” For Hoving, the
AAC’s ability to find valuable drawings and acquire them for a fraction of the cost
proved that “if you’re dedicated and if you have the ‘eye,’ you can still find a host of
masterpieces well outside the lofty markets of ‘Millionart.’” 42 His article congratulated
the AAC for finding inexpensive, yet beautiful drawings created by important artists and
works of great importance to the art world.
As its collections grew in size and national recognition, the AAC began loaning
exhibits to national and international venues. For example, three years after the first
catalogue was published in 1983, selections from the AAC’s permanent collection were
41
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 7 July 1983.
Thomas Hoving, “Big Art for Little Rock,” Connoisseur, August 1984. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts
Center Annual Report, 1984-1985.
42
- 110 -
loaned to nationally significant museums such as the Metropolitan Museum, the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the New York City Museum. 43 In the early 1990s, this
continued. Between 1991 through 1993, works from AAC’s permanent collection
appeared in exhibitions at major museums in the United States and Canada including the
Fogg Museum at Harvard University, the National Gallery of Canada, the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Delaware Art
Museum. 44 In regards to international loans, in 1987, the United States Information
Agency invited Townsend Wolfe to create a drawings exhibit titled Revelations
Drawing/America for the International Festival of Drawings held at the Grand Palais in
Paris, France. As the only entry from the United States, Revelations Drawing/America
utilized twenty contemporary American drawings from the AAC’s collection. The fact
the United States Information Agency selected the AAC’s Director and collection to
represent the country in an international drawings exhibition testifies to the importance of
the AAC’s collection at that point in time. Unfortunately, the festival was cancelled, but
the exhibit still toured several European art museums. 45
Despite these national and international successes, other aspects of the AAC did
not fare well. Not all of AAC’s traditional space dedicated to permanent collection and
children’s programs remained. The popular and successful children’s exhibit area, the
Yellow Space Place, closed in 1982 after Becky Rogers Witsell, the program’s Education
Director, left the Arts Center that year. Since it was on the second floor and not handicap
43
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustee Minutes, 10 July 1986.
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1991-1993.
45
Theodore F. Wolff, “Arkansas Arts Center’s Unusual World-Class Drawings Collection Wins its MuchDeserved Acclaim,” Christian Science Monitor, 9 November 1987. AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center
Board of Trustee Minutes, 24 July 1989. The exhibit toured seven European countries before displayed in
Paris, France.
44
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accessible, the space was converted into an office and storage area. The AAC did not
relocate or revive the Yellow Space Place after Witsell’s departure. In addition, the
Neighborhood Arts Program, a program designed to offer arts programming to minorities
in the community, was discontinued by 1982. 46
Another AAC Program that began to experience instability was the Museum
School. In transition, the Museum School experienced challenges throughout the 1980s.
In the early 1980s, the Museum School continued its relationship with the University of
Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) which started in the 1970s and began a program with
Philander Smith College that allowed students to attend art classes at the AAC for credit.
However, by 1994, UALR no longer utilized the services of the Museum School and
Philander Smith College students were the only ones attending the Museum School for
class credit. 47
During the 1981-1982 fiscal year, State Services and the Museum School
consolidated into one department known as Programming in order to “more effectively
present a cohesive set of services to Little Rock and other communities throughout
Arkansas.” 48 Bill Atkins, former Director of State Services, became Acting Director of
Programs and was responsible for both State Services and the Museum School. During
reorganization, the Museum School did not flourish as hoped. The School never grew
while operating under the control of the Programming department. General attendance
dropped five hundred people from 2,631 at the start of the decade to 1,941 in the middle
46
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1980-1982. Thom Hall, phone interview with
Jamie Metrailer, 25 March 2007.
47
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1980-1981, 1989-1990 and 1993-1994.
48
Ibid, 1981-1982.
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of the decade. 49 After reexamining the program, the AAC decided to restore the Museum
School as a separate department.
In April 1986, the AAC chose David Bailin as the new Director of the Museum
School. Under Bailin, the Museum School began to thrive again. During his first year as
Director, Bailin created new classes for beginner and advanced adults, children and
professionals. This curriculum included twenty-six classes in the fall 1986 session
expanding to thirty classes in the spring 1987 semester and fifty in the summer 1987
session. 50 By the end of the decade, attendance reached near 3,500 marking the School’s
rebound from its earlier slump to become a vital part of the AAC. 51
Bailin also created outreach programs in the surrounding community. In addition,
the School cultivated relationships with Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Pulaski
County School Districts by developing a program of studio education for students aged
ten through eighteen. The new program aided students in becoming more aware of
social, racial, and environmental issues. Approximately 654 public school students from
twenty-six schools participated in a workshop based on the sculpture Tide Garden IV by
Louise Nevelson. 52 Each year the format and themes of the two programs changed, but
the at-risk and school aged programs were new ways for the Museum School to access
the community by sparking interest in the arts among the younger generation of
Arkansans. 53
49
Ibid, 1979-1980 and 1984-1985.
Ibid, 1986-1987.
51
Ibid, 1988-1989.
52
Ibid, 1990-1991. Louise Nevelson, Tide Garden IV, wooden sculpture, 1964, Arkansas Arts Center,
Little Rock.
53
Ibid, 1990-1991. From 1990 to 1994, the Museum School developed a scholarship program for at-risk
youth. During the 1990-1991 fiscal year, over 20,000 from private donations was given to 132 under
privileged youth to attend art classes at the School.
50
- 113 -
In 1990, the Museum School also developed another program that existed well
into the twenty-first century. The “City Project” was a program funded in part by the
City of Little Rock and administered by the Community Services Office and New Futures
for Little Rock Youth. The outreach program provided art projects for groups such as the
physically disabled, AIDS patients, domestically abused wives, and juvenile
delinquents. 54 Like the outreach programs that provided art education to at-risk youth,
the “City Project” allowed AAC’s Museum School to provide meaningful services to a
wider range of citizens.
With all of these new programs, the Museum School had fully revived and was
achieving growth and stability by the early part of the 1990s. It struggled during the
1980s to maintain and increase public interest, but a new director with a new focus on
outreach breathed new life into the program. As a result, the Museum School enjoyed a
favorable reputation by the community, which in turn enhanced the AAC’s image.
Much like the Museum School, the Children’s Theatre also found success in its
new direction. The Children’s Theatre had restructured under Bradley Anderson in 1979
and during the 1980s, the Children’s Theatre consisted of a professional acting company
with six actors, a playwright, a music composer, and a few other staff members. The
program averaged five to seven productions each year with around 150 performances for
each production. This included plays featuring classic literature adapted for general
audiences such as Dracula, Lord of the Flies, and The Odyssey. The company also had
an impressive array of plays adapted from children’s stories such as Alice in Wonderland,
Pinocchio, and Cinderella. Elementary school aged children were the primary audience
for the performances, but the general public attended about fifty performances during the
54
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1990-2000.
- 114 -
1980s. Financial support included government funding through programs such as the
National Endowment for the Arts, but the AAC ticket sales were crucial to the Children’s
Theatre’s continued operation. The success of the plays allowed the program to
continue. 55
During the first decade of operation under Anderson, the Children’s Theatre grew
in popularity. Its massive growth in attendance was evidence to the ability of the
program. Attendance tripled from Anderson’s first year to the end of the decade, setting
a record-breaking number of 60,543 people in the 1989-1990 fiscal year. 56 The
Children’s Theatre also received the Tenth Annual National Governor’s Association
Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from Governor William J. Clinton in 1986. 57
This was the only award presented to the arts. 58 This award suggested the widespread
appeal and recognition of the Children’s Theatre soon after its reorganization. The
Children’s Theatre broke records in the earlier part of the 1990s. During the 1989-1990
season, 60,543 people came to see the six productions offered by the Children’s Theatre.
Two years later, the attendance increased to 66,528. 59 From its restructuring in 1979 and
into the 1990s, the Children’s Theatre was a success and proved to enhance the visibility
of the Arts Center’s in the community.
State Services programs also changed as the AAC leadership adapted its focus.
Having been a mission of Winthrop Rockefeller and the AAC’s since the late 1950s,
State Services programs such as the Tell-A-Tale Troupe and the Artmobile were major
55
Ibid, 1987-1990. Bradley Anderson, interview by Dan Benton, 30 March 2007. Interview 13A,
transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
56
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1979-1980 and 1989-1990. During the fiscal
season of 1979-1980, the average attendance for each theatre performance was 19,388.
57
William J. Clinton later became the President of the United States. But at this time, he was the Governor
of Arkansas.
58
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1986-1987.
59
Ibid, 1990-1995.
- 115 -
examples of this vision applied in the 1980s. The Tell-A-Tale Troupe traveled
throughout Arkansas while performing children’s plays similar to those presented at the
AAC. When Anderson came to the AAC in 1979, he insisted on combining the
Children’s Theatre and the Tell-A-Tale Troupe under one budget. Since then, the Troupe
has been under the responsibility of the Artistic Director of the Children’s Theatre.
Actors in the Children’s Theatre Company participated in both Children’s Theatre
productions and Tell-A-Tale productions. While Anderson had artistic control of the
Tell-A-Tale Troupe, State Services operated as its manager booking its appearances and
performances across the state. 60 The partnership between the Children’s Theatre and
State Services allowed continuity between the two theatre programs.
Interestingly, after the Children’s Theatre grew rapidly under Anderson’s wing,
Tell-A-Tale Troupe attendance began to decline. The Tell-A-Tale Troupe had reached
80,075 people across the state in the 1978-1979 season, but attendance dropped to 65,802
in the following season. The next year, attendance increased, but the Troupe never
recaptured the attendance numbers in the 1980s averaging 50,000 people a season.
However, during the 1985-1986 season, the Tell-A-Tale Troupe was invited to the
Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina for nine performances. It was the only
Arkansas-based group invited to the festival that year. 61 Although statewide numbers
were declining, the program still received national attention. 62
60
Ibid, 1979-1980. Bradley Anderson, interview by Dan Benton, 30 March 2007. Interview 13A,
transcript, AAC Oral History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
61
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1978-1989. The Spoleto Festival is a major
American Art festival that includes all types of Art. It was founded in 1977 as a sister to the original
festival held in Spoleto, Italy.
62
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1985-1986.
- 116 -
Bradley Anderson continued to have full artistic control over the Tell-A-Tale
Troupe throughout the 1990s and the Troupe experienced little change in that time. The
Troupe began providing educational materials on its plays to teachers and incorporated a
question and answer session with the audience after each performance. In the early
1990s, attendance figures for the Troupe hovered around 50,000 people. 63
Like the Tell-A-Tale Troupe, the Artmobile ensured the entire state could enjoy
the AAC’s resources. Every two years, the AAC curators put together a touring exhibit
from the AAC’s permanent collection for the Artmobile. Most Artmobile exhibitions
featured objects from the AAC’s permanent collection and exhibitions displayed a variety
of art types. For example, the 1979-1981 exhibit, Fiber, Fabric and Form displayed,
“fiber and its uses, as well as its transformation into fabric and forms that serve utilitarian
and aesthetic ends.” 64 Artists or student interns from UALR usually toured with the
Artmobile to provide demonstrations and seminars. The Artmobile made stops at various
locations including schools, colleges, state parks, Dillards department stores, festivals,
and nursing homes around the state. 65
Unfortunately, the first half of the 1980s proved disappointing for the Artmobile.
The attendance numbers dropped from 30,990 people in the 1979-1980 season to 13,076
people in the 1982-1983 season. The situation grew worse when State Services cut
funding and the Artmobile was forced to close for the 1983-1984 season. The Arkansas
Arts Council had functioned as the major contributor of funding for the State Services
63
Ibid, 1990-1991. For example, in 1990-1991 fiscal year, the Troupe entertained 51,950 people.
Ibid, 1979-1980.
65
Ibid, 1979-1980, 1984-1985, 1989-1990, and 1993-1994.
64
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giving approximately $80,000 to $85,000 annually. When the Council cut $16,000 from
State Service’s budget, the Artmobile was sacrificed. 66
After successful lobbying before the Arts Council, the AAC regained its typical
funding from the Arts Council in less than a year since the money had been cut. The
AAC reinstated the Artmobile program and the tour restarted in the Fall of 1984 with an
impressive rebirth. From 1984 to 1986, State Services booked the Artmobile to visit
forty schools in Arkansas Educational Cooperatives in the southwest and southeast parts
of the state. When the program visited schools, it provided new “teacher in-service
training sessions” developed by both Arts Center curatorial staff and state specialists for
teachers with little to no art education. The curriculum provided information and ideas to
fulfill certain state standards. Attendance for the Artmobile significantly increased and
by the 1989-1990 season, 53,350 people came to see exhibits, seminars, and educational
training in conjunction with the Artmobile. 67
Separate from the State Services, the FAC ran other outreach programs such as
the Traveling Seminars. Started in the 1970s, the Traveling Seminars continued to
provide the AAC members with the opportunity to travel to see the world’s artistic
treasures. With Jeane Hamilton as their leader, the Traveling Seminars provided FAC
and AAC members the opportunity to travel around different parts of the world to visit a
number of diverse art museums. Much like in the 1970s, the Traveling Seminars toured
various impressive locations throughout the world. Some countries the Traveling
66
Ibid, 1983-1985. The relationship between the Arts Council and the AAC began deteriorating in the
mid-1980s. In May 1985, the Board discussed its strained relationship with the Arts Council. As other
programs and entities around the state began to ask for money, the Arts Council cut funding to the AAC to
accommodate the new demands. Some Board members attending the Arts Council meetings indicated that
the Council believed that the AAC’s members and donors were wealthy enough to supplement the funding
lost from the Council.
67
Ibid, 1989-1990.
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Seminars visited during the 1980s and early 1990s included Ecuador, India, China, Tibet,
and France. 68
Without the help of the FAC, arguably the AAC’s most significant support
organization, AAC’s programming, operations, and collection would not have
experienced the success it did during the 1980s and early part of the 1990s. The FAC
continued to organize programs such as the Forum on Decorative Arts, a seminar that
brought in renowned speakers including Martha Stewart, who on September 22, 1986
discussed various aspects of decorative arts. 69 The volunteer arm of the AAC continued
to support the docent program with fifteen members in the 1980-1981 fiscal year and at
the time, a record-breaking number of forty in the 1993-1994 year. In its various outlets,
the FAC volunteered 22,755 hours in the 1988-1989 fiscal year and maintained that
number in the mid-1990s. 70
While the FAC significantly contributed to the AAC’s programs and operations,
fundraisers were its two most significant projects at the Arts Center. One fundraiser that
the FAC managed was Vineyard in the Park, a restaurant at the AAC. Following
tradition, profits from the restaurant and the tips earned from the volunteer wait staff
were donated once a year to the Decorative Arts Museum’s acquisition fund. During its
first fiscal year of operation in 1985-1986 and during 1993-1994, the Decorative Arts
Museum received around $8,000 from the Vineyard in The Park. 71
Tabriz was the other major fundraiser administered by the FAC and was a
success. Each Tabriz event raised more money than the previous one throughout the
68
Ibid, 1980-1981, 1988-1989 and 1993-1994.
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1985-1989.
70
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1988-1989 and 1993-1994. The FAC served
20,000 hours in the 1993-1994 fiscal year.
71
Ibid, 1985-1986 and 1993-1994.
69
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1980s to the early 1990s. For example, in 1980, Tabriz VII raised $156,000, which at the
time was more than any previous Tabriz event. In 1986, Tabriz X doubled the amount
raised in 1980 with $318,743. 72 Tabriz funds were a large part of the acquisition funding
the AAC received during the 1980s. The FAC presented most of the profits from Tabriz
to the AAC Foundation Board with earmarked funds for collection acquisitions. 73 Thus,
Tabriz in the late 1980s and early 1990s provided the financial base to catapult the AAC
into greater visibility with its collection’s growth and enhanced reputation.
By the middle of the 1990s, AAC had overcome its challenges, sustained its
programs, and reached a new level of operation and reputation. The publication of the
first catalogue in 1983 allowed the AAC to reach the art community around the world
and brought recognition for its unique and innovative collection. The Arts Center found
increased success in fundraising, such as Tabriz, the Decorative Arts Museum campaign,
and programs, such as the Children’s Theatre and the Museum School. These triumphs
highlighted its enhanced reputation and appreciation from Arkansans and other art lovers
from around the world. As the AAC headed into a major Capital Campaign fundraising
project at the turn of the century, these accomplishments provided the needed momentum
to achieve the AAC’s goals for the latter part of the 1990s and the 2000s. In addition to
larger exhibits with wider appeal, the AAC would undergo yet another expansion project
as the institution entered the new century.
72
Ibid, 1979-1980, 1981-1982, 1983-1984, 1985-1986, and 1987-1988. In 1982, Tabriz VIII broke that
record by raising $178,000. In 1984, Tabriz IX raised $243,000. In 1988, Tabriz XI raised $385,421.
73
Ibid, 1979-1980.
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Chapter Six
Achieving Goals
The achievements of the 1980s and early 1990s provided not only the precedent,
but also the momentum for similar success onward. As Arkansas reached a new level of
fame across the country with the election of its first United States President, William J.
Clinton (1993-2001), the AAC continued to maintain its worldwide reputation. Largescale fundraising goals in the Capital Campaign of the 1990s targeted the City of Little
Rock, corporate institutions, and individual donors and were achieved with the
construction of the AAC’s current facilities, including a number of new gallery spaces
and a drawing center. The Capital Campaign began in September 1994 and ended with
the Grand Opening of an expanded and renovated AAC in February 2000. Two years
later, Townsend Wolfe retired as Director and Chief Curator after thirty-two years of
service and was replaced by Dr. Ellen A. Plummer of Toledo, Ohio. Under Plummer, the
AAC realized additional expectations by displaying larger exhibits with greater popular
appeal, but continued to face the challenges of previous decades including growing
expenses and struggling programs.
The AAC had been working to obtain funding for the new expansion since the
mid-nineties. In September 1994, despite the proposal by Townsend Wolfe for the
expansion, the Little Rock Board of Directors did not place the project on the October 11
special election ballot. The City Board of Directors believed this money needed to be
raised through other venues. Wolfe’s proposal would have given the AAC $2 million for
an addition of about 40,000 square feet. During Wolfe’s presentation, City Director John
Lewellen asked Wolfe whether an AAC expansion would put Little Rock in line for
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exhibits similar to those hosted in Memphis, Tennessee, namely the Napoleon and
Catherine the Great exhibits. In regards to larger exhibits, Wolfe prophetically stated,
“This [expansion] would put us on the map.” 1
New advertising strategies marked the early phases of the AAC’s Capital
Campaign. This marketing campaign was a collaborative effort with Stone and Ward, a
local marketing firm, and aggressively promoted the AAC through newspaper and
television advertising. Works, the AAC’s new magazine, offered additional promotion.
Director and Chief Curator Townsend Wolfe elaborated on the purpose of the advertising
venture stating, “We’re trying to maintain our base and open awareness in some ZIP
codes we haven’t penetrated yet.” 2 The marketing campaign promoted the AAC as a
whole and avoided promoting individual departments. According to Wolfe: “Too many
people saw us separate entities rather than as one place.” 3 For this reason, the formerly
separate budgets for the Children’s Theatre, Museum School, and other departments were
combined into a single marketing budget.
In 1995, the combined budget was
$300,000. 4
Without funds from a special election ballot, the AAC and its new public image
raised the funds for this expansion via other venues. In October 1996, investment banker
Jackson T. Stephens donated $5 million to the AAC; this was the largest donation in the
AAC’s history. To put this into context, the gift doubled the amount already collected for
the Capital Campaign. Wolfe stated, “This gift is for this institution, but more
importantly, it is so we can serve all of the people of Arkansas with our programs and
1
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 8 September 1994.
Ibid, 20 August 1995.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
2
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activities. I think that is certainly what was in Mr. Stephens’ mind. I think his interest in
the people of Arkansas is overwhelming.” 5
In May 1998, the AAC entered into the public phase of the Capital Campaign in
order to gain donations from corporations and individuals. 6 The second phase included a
“New Dimension” effort aimed at corporate donors and a “Builders’ Club” aimed at
obtaining the donations of individuals. Less than a month after announcing the public
phase, the AAC had collected $1.5 million in donations of its $18.5 million goal. 7 The
public phase also received grants from the Ben J. Altheimer Charitable Foundation Inc.
of Little Rock, the Ottenheimer Brothers Foundation of Little Rock, and the Brown
Foundation, Inc. of Houston, Texas.
Renovation work on the expansion project began at the groundbreaking ceremony
on September 1998. 8 This groundbreaking ceremony was unique in its eccentric, yet
effective, approach. With a large dose of reverse logic, Wolfe rationalized, “We’ll move
everything indoors and it will be sure to stop raining and the sun will come out. Then we
can finally pour asphalt for our parking lot tomorrow.” 9 For this reason, Harriet
Stephens, president of the AAC’s Board of Trustees, shoveled dirt on stage at the
Children’s Theatre.
The AAC’s galleries closed in July 1999 in order to complete the expansion and
renovation work. 10 The Capital Campaign had allotted $11 million to add 32,000 square
feet to the AAC’s existing space and to renovate another 12,000 square feet. 11 This
5
Ibid, 23 October 1996.
Ibid, 29 May 1998.
7
Ibid, 27 June 1998.
8
Ibid, 20 February 2000.
9
Ibid, 27 September 1998.
10
Ibid, 20 February 2000.
11
The existing space totaled 70,000 square feet.
6
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increased space provided greater opportunity and options for the AAC’s exhibits. In a
recent interview, Robyn Horn, a Little Rock artist and AAC Foundation Board member,
claimed the most important change in the AAC since her involvement was the Capital
Campaign project “because it enables them [the AAC] to have the permanent collection
on exhibition all the time in addition to having the traveling exhibitions that they bring in
or exhibitions that they put together.” 12
In 1999, the AAC received the $150,000 Henry Luce Foundation Inc. grant to
help pay for the new 2,500 square foot American Drawing Research Study Center. 13 Part
of this grant money aided in creating a new position, Curator of Education, which was
filled later by Erin Branham. 14 This center was later renamed the Donald W. Reynolds
Center for Drawing and Research and Education after the Reynold’s Foundation gave
$500,000 to the AAC in order to complete this proposed center. 15 The new national
drawing center had three goals: providing research opportunities through exhibitions,
traveling programs, and academic partnerships, promoting the collection of unique works
on paper, and strengthening “the national intellectual fabric of American drawing
research and exhibition.” 16
Amidst all Capital Campaign fundraising, the AAC continued to experience
successful fiscal years throughout all of the 1990s never experiencing a deficit in its
operating budget. 17 This financial situation allowed for collections and exhibits to
remain active during the planning phases of the Capital Campaign in the 1990s. The
12
Robyn Horn, interview by Teresa Lauderdale, 20 March 2007. Interview 9A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
13
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 10 August 1999.
14
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1999-2000.
15
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 8 January 2000. The name of the foundation was the Donald
W. Reynolds Foundation.
16
Ibid, 10 August 1999.
17
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 1992-1999.
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permanent collection was on display at both the AAC and other institutions. As Told in
the Bible: Religious Works from the Permanent Collection was exhibited onsite and
included works dating from the 1930s. 18 Many of these works were some of the earliest
gifts to the AAC. Two large drawings exhibitions put together by the AAC traveled the
nation and were documented in major catalogues. 19 The AAC brought in works from
other locations including Spirits: Selections from the Collection of Geoffrey Holder;
Driven to Create: The Anthony Petullo Collections of Self-Taught and Outsider Art; and
Powerful Expressions: Recent American Drawings, which was created by Townsend
Wolfe. The AAC was the only institution in the nation to exhibit Bella Pittura: The Art
of the Gandolfi from Canada. 20
In the mid-1990s, the AAC faced the possibility of eliminating its prize
competitions, such as the Delta Art Exhibition, Young Arkansas Artists, Toys Designed by
Artists and Prints, Drawings and Photographs. Wolfe commented on the AAC’s
decision to avoid this elimination:
Museums all over the country have cut exhibits like these
out. They are in a lot of trouble, and the quality can be
uneven. But my feeling is pretty strong that they are a very
important activity. They give unknown artists an
opportunity to bring their work to our attention. 21
The AAC decided to keep these traditional exhibitions despite the reduction of similar
programs in other art museums.
The new millennium brought changes to the expansion and renovation plans of
the Capital Campaign. These plans were altered when James Dyke, former President of
18
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 9 September 1994.
These two exhibits were titled Twentieth-Century American Drawings from the Arkansas Arts Center
Foundation Collection and the Large Drawings and Objects.
20
Thom Hall, phone interview with Jamie Metrailer, 25 March 2007.
21
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 20 August 1995.
19
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the AAC Board, founding Trustee of the Arts Center Foundation, and Little Rock
philanthropist, promised 133 of Paul Signac’s watercolors and drawings to the ACC.
Dyke had started collecting art under the guidance of Townsend Wolfe, particularly the
works of the French Neo-Impressionist, Paul Signac. “I had decided some time ago to
give it [the Signac collection] to a museum, but I wasn’t certain which one or the
desirable timing,” Dyke said. “Townsend and I talked about the renovation . . . and he
approached me about the idea of creating a special gallery committed to Signac’s
work.” 22 With this gift in mind, the AAC altered its original renovation and expansion
plan to include a $400,000 gallery for this collection. Dyke’s Signac collection was
valued at $20 million and nearly doubled the value of the AAC’s collection, then
appraised at about $22 million. 23 Today, this is the world’s largest collection of Signac’s
works on paper that is publicly available. 24
The Capital Campaign concluded when the Grand Opening special events were
held from February 11 to February 20, 2000. 25 After one and a half years of expansion
and renovation, the AAC welcomed patrons and accepted their congratulations on the
century’s new arts center. 26 Congratulatory remarks were in order as “the Arts Center
completed its most ambitious expansion – a $22 million Capital Campaign.” 27 Seven
galleries were remodeled. The drawing center was created and theatre modernized and
22
Ibid, 13 February 2000. When asked why he had donated this collection, Dyke stated, “All good art
ought to wind up in museums . . . To me the whole point of art is that it should be seen by the people.”
23
Ibid, 8 January 2000.
24
Thom Hall, interview by Stephanie Bayless, 15 March 2007. Interview 7A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
25
Arkansas Arts Center, “General Information: History,” Arkansas Arts Center, http://www.arkarts.com.
26
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 20 February 2000.
27
Ellen A. Plummer and Michael Preble, “Arkansas Arts Center,” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and
Culture, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
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renovated. Administrative and office spaces for the staff were redone. 28 The renovations
added 2,600 square feet to the Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Library, which also served as the
Hussman Board Room for the Arts Center Board of Trustees, the Arts Center Foundation
Board and all of their committees. 29 The Townsend Wolfe Gallery, Jeannette Edris
Rockefeller Gallery, Jackson T. Stephens Gallery and the Alice Pratt Brown Atrium
added a combined six thousand square feet to the AAC. 30 In addition to the expansions,
the Capital Campaign added an additional $11 million to the Endowment Fund. Wolfe
remarked, “This is the most impressive change since 1963” and “we celebrate the
renaissance of the Arkansas Arts Center.” 31
Although the gallery for Signac’s watercolors and drawings was not complete in
time for the Grand Opening, the public was still able to view the AAC’s newest
collection at the event. 32 The initial Signac exhibition at the AAC ended in October 2000
when the collection began a worldwide tour. Other collections exhibited during the
Grand Opening included Living with Form: Art and Furniture from the Robyn and John
Horn Collection, a collection of more than one hundred works of furniture, sculpture, and
craft. The new space allowed the AAC to mount another exhibition, Without
Parameters: Reinstallations of the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection. 33 The
AAC also hosted an exhibit of glass artist Dale Chihuly during the winter months of
28
“Two Exhibitions on view at Arkansas Arts Center in Celebration of Expansion, February 19 – October,
2000,” Journal of the Print World, 23 (Winter 2000): 40.
29
Arkansas Art Center, “History of the Library,” Arkansas Arts Center, www.arkarts.com.
30
University of Arkansas for Medical Services, “Art in the Institute on Aging: Townsend Wolfe,”
University of Arkansas for Medical Services, http://centeronaging.uams.edu.
31
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 20 February 2000. “Two Exhibitions on view at Arkansas
Arts Center in Celebration of Expansion, February 19 – October, 2000,” Journal of the Print World, 23
(Winter 2000): 40.
32
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 13 February 2000.
33
“Two Exhibitions on view at Arkansas Arts Center in Celebration of Expansion, February 19 – October,
2000,” Journal of the Print World, 23 (Winter 2000): 40.
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2000. Chihuly Installations was exhibited in the recently renovated Townsend Wolfe and
Jeannette Edris Rockefeller Galleries and included glass sculptures ranging from
tabletop-sized pieces to twelve-foot chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. 34
The annual meeting of the AAC Board, held in September, reflected the success
of year 2000. The Capital Campaign raised a total of $21,570,778.82 with 1,700
individual gifts and pledges. Warren Stephens, the Vice Chairman of the Foundation,
considered it “the most successful campaign of any arts organization in the history of
state.” 35 Nearly 14,000 visitors toured the AAC during the week that followed the Grand
Opening and the Center’s membership grew from 2,700 to 4,200 households. 36
During the Grand Opening, the AAC also expanded into the realm of cyberspace.
Work on the arkarts.com website started about six months prior to the Grand Opening.
Much of the work in getting the Internet project on its feet was attributed to Michael
Preble, a staff member of the ACC. Preble researched other sites and attended
conferences devoted to art museums and the Internet. After consulting Aristotle, a full
service Internet firm located in Little Rock, the AAC realized that the website was too
costly. At this point, Aristotle offered to do half of the work for free. Thus, the website
continued to develop and by 2001, additional features, such as the AAC’s collection
database, were online. In June 2002, the website experienced its 50,000th hit. 37
A year after the expansion and renovation of the Center, the AAC’s Collector’s
Group, a touring group that educated members on collecting art, celebrated the exhibition
of the Paul Signac Collection in the Musee Marmottan of Paris, France. Portions of the
34
“Calendar,” Active Years, 23 (October 2000): 24.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 20 September 2000.
36
Ibid, 15 September 2000.
37
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 2000-2001.
35
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Paul Signac Collection, first seen in its entirety in Little Rock in February of 2000, made
additional stops in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York, and the Courtland Institute of Art in London, England in
2001. Jeane Hamilton commented on this event:
In 2000, we took a group from the Arts Center to Paris
because of our Signac Collection that Mr. James Dyke put
together . . . [It] was one of the feature things at this huge
recognition of the 100th Anniversary of Signac. And the
Arts Center collection was one of the major exhibits. And
we went over and were treated like major important
dignities in this week of activities at the Grand Palais. 38
In May 2001, the Paul Signac Collection returned to the AAC to be permanently
stored. 39 The Paul Signac Gallery opened in July 2001 and allowed for rotated selections
of his work to be displayed. The Donald W. Reynolds Center for Drawing Research and
Education also opened to the public in July 2001. The Reynolds Center allowed for
research opportunities and access to stored objects by appointment. 40
Even with the international and national scope of exhibitions such as the Paul
Signac Collection, Curator Brain Young believed that the AAC did not always receive
the sort of attention it deserved. However, Young was encouraged by the fact that “our
reputation has grown and the momentum builds on its own.” 41 Young felt that the
AAC’s reputation needed to reflect its substantial holdings in addition to the Signac
Collection. Such holdings included “other French modern masters . . . significant
38
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 26 March 2007. Interview 1B, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
39
“Two Exhibitions on view at Arkansas Arts Center in Celebration of Expansion, February 19 – October,
2000,” Journal of the Print World, 23 (Winter 2000): 40.
40
Ellen A. Plummer and Michael Preble, “Arkansas Arts Center,” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and
Culture, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
41
“Select Acquisition: Barnett’s Mothers at Arkansas.” Art on Paper, 6 (July/August 2002): 86.
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collection of Russian Avant-Garde drawings, and a large group of Post-Minimalist
drawing.” 42
Other acquisitions of major drawings enabled the AAC to expand its exhibitions
schedule. One such collection, acquired through purchase and partial gift of the artist,
was of seventy-two drawings of American artists Will Barnet, reflecting his entire
career. 43 To celebrate, Will Barnet: A Timeless World was exhibited from March 22 to
June 3, 2001. 44 Long-time AAC supporters Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr. made a
promised gift of their important collection of portrait drawings that same year. Those
works were on view in the exhibition About Face at the AAC from October 5 to
November 11 and then traveled to several other venues in Arkansas, accompanied by a
major catalogue funded by the donors. 45
The AAC incorporated significant changes to several of the more established
programs in the first several years of the new century. During the summer of 2001, the
Museum School’s “City Project” expanded its after-school programs at the Neighborhood
Homework Center and Wakefield Elementary School. In March 2002, a grant of
$174,134 from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation allowed the AAC to purchase a new
Artmobile trailer, replacing the trailer used since the early 1960s. The new and upgraded
Artmobile traveled to rural and underserved areas of Arkansas in memory of Jeannette
Rockefeller. The Traveling Seminar programs originating in 1972 also experienced
change. The AAC had added two components to the Traveling Seminar program. One
42
Ibid, 86.
“Select Acquisition: Barnett’s Mothers at Arkansas.” Art on Paper, 6 (July/August 2002): 86.
44
Arkansas Arts Center, “Special Collections: Will Barnet,” Arkansas Arts Center,
http://www.arkarts.com.
45
Townsend Wolfe, About Face: Collection of Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr: October 5-November11, 2001,
Arkansas Arts Center, (Little Rock, AR: Arkansas Museum of Art/Arkansas Arts Center, 2001), 5.
43
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was an annual trip organized through the Decorative Arts Museum and the other was the
Arts and Adventure travel series. Nancy Dickins was the escort for both additions to the
Traveling Seminar program. 46
However, the biggest change at the AAC at this time was Wolfe’s retirement as
Director and Chief Curator. The fall 2002 edition of Number 42: An Independent
Journal of the Arts stated, “Certainly the biggest change faced by any museum in the tristate region is the retirement of Townsend Wolfe from the Arkansas Arts Center where
he has been directing for nearly 33 immensely successful years.” 47 When Wolfe took
over the Little Rock institution in 1968, it owned only eight hundred works. 48 But Wolfe
“helped amass what has become a nationally and internationally respected collection of
more than 2,000 drawings from the Renaissance to the present” including works by
Rembrandt van Rijn, Pablo Picasso, and Edgar Degas. 49 In the words of Warren
Stephens, former Chairman of the AAC Board,
Townsend Wolfe’s role in the evolution of the Arkansas
Arts Center cannot be overstated, it cannot . . . it wouldn’t
be what it is without Townsend. And he’s a very unique
individual. It’s really rare that you find someone that has
his eye for art and yet has complete grasp of virtually all of
the financials of the Arkansas Arts Center down to the
penny of where money was going, what it had been spent
on . . . And you know, it is one of those great things in life,
he loved it . . . you just cannot overemphasize the great job
that he did and the effect he had on creating the Arts Center
virtually out of nothing. 50
46
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 2000-2001.
Harvey, “Editorial,” Number 42: An Independent Journal of the Arts, (Fall 2002), 6.
48
National Endowment for the Arts, A Legacy of Leadership, (National Endowment for the Arts, 2000), 46.
49
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 8 January 2000.
50
Warren Stephens, interview by Jennifer McCarty, 17 April 2007. Interview 16A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
47
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The AAC definitely had a challenge in finding a suitable replacement for Wolfe, who
hoped that the AAC would find his replacement by year’s end. 51
In July 2002, an independent search committee interviewed four candidates to
replace Wolfe as the AAC Director. Two of the four were asked to participate in another
round of interviews in August. These two candidates were Ellen A “Nan” Plummer,
Programs Administrator at the Toledo Museum of Art, and Annette DiMeo Carlozzi,
Curator of American and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum of Art at the
University of Texas. 52 In September, the Arts Center Board announced that Annette
DiMeo Carlozzi had asked to be withdrawn from the candidacy; Carloizzi cited
unexpected personal reasons for her decision. 53
The September 17, 2002 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette informed the community
that Dr. Plummer had been named Executive Director of the Arkansas Arts Center.
President of the AAC Board, Doug Buford, explained: “Plummer’s resume, with its mix
of education, outreach, management and fund raising, fits nicely with the Arkansas Art
Center’s mission.” 54 Curt Bradbury, head of the Search Committee to find the new
Director, elaborated: “I felt all of the candidates could do the job, [but] what I felt about
Nan was that she had the potential not just to do the job, but to be extraordinary.” 55 Dr.
Plummer’s pursuit of a business degree also appealed to the AAC community.
Plummer assumed duties on November 1, 2002, the day after Wolfe’s
retirement. 56 Plummer commented on the context of this transition:
51
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 7 September 2002.
Ibid, 7 September 2002.
53
Ibid, 10 September 2002.
54
Ibid, 17 September 2002.
55
Ibid, 17 September 2002.
56
Ibid, 17 September 2002.
52
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Townsend had fulfilled his ambition and the community’s
ambition, doubling the size of this place and making it a
great party space and a place where you can always have
changing exhibitions . . . you can always have parts of the
permanent collection on view. And there had been great
achievement there, and now the job was to fulfill that. 57
While Wolfe was both Director and Chief Curator, Plummer’s new position
allowed her to primarily focus on the duties of Director. Plummer’s first year was a busy
one. “A new strategic plan, including a revised mission statement, was implemented with
a strong emphasis on integrating increased educational components.” 58 The revised
mission statement was rewritten in order to clarify the AAC’s purpose. According to
Plummer, “The core of it is that we exist to ensure that enjoyment and learning in the arts
flourish in Arkansas with people of all ages and backgrounds.” 59 The new strategic plan
was divided into five areas: collections, exhibitions, education, development, and
infrastructure. Since the collection was primarily the result of Townsend Wolfe,
Plummer believed that the AAC as an organizational whole needed to gain a better
understanding of the collection in terms of strengths, weaknesses and future growth.
Education and exhibitions were designed to bring a broader audience to the AAC. The
new strategic plan acknowledged the need to increase the size and scope of the
development office of the AAC.
City funding had been an issue in the years before Plummer’s hiring. In the
winter of 2001, the AAC “closed its doors on Mondays in response to Little Rock’s 10
57
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, interview by Jamie Metrailer, 14 March 2007. Interview 6A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
58
Ellen A. Plummer and Michael Preble, “Arkansas Arts Center,” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and
Culture. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
59
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, interview by Jamie Metrailer, 14 March 2007. Interview 6A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
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percent funding cut to cultural groups in 2002.” 60 Related funding problems continued
after Plummer’s hiring. These problems, in large part, resulted from reductions in the
City of Little Rock’s annual contributions to the AAC. “We will be eliminating at least
two positions and we will have to reduce our days of operation somewhat,” said
Plummer. 61 With a reduction in city funding, the AAC was required to raise more money
on its own. 62
One of the most drastic changes to the AAC community in 2003 involved offsite
issues with the Decorative Arts Museum. Shrinking budgets caused the Decorative Arts
Museum to close and use the house for storage. Plummer provides additional insight into
the closing of the Decorative Arts Museum:
It was the city budget that forced us to close it and
consolidate operations. But the real reason [is] that we
would have closed it eventually. And that was because
contemporary craft is an important part of our mission. It’s
an important part of our collection. We have a small
devoted audience that deserves to be bigger. And that was
not happening with an offsite [location], in a place not
visible from here. So we have brought that program into
the limelight here [the AAC] and indeed it has grown. 63
Alan DuBois, Curator of Decorative Arts, was in full agreement with Plummer’s
assessment. 64 In other words, the AAC moved the programs from the Decorative Arts
Museum to the newly renovated main AAC building in June 2003. 65 For example, the
annual Toys Designed by Artists and the Celebrating Contemporary Craft exhibits
60
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 12 December 2002.
Ibid, 12 December 2002.
62
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, interview by Jamie Metrailer, 14 March 2007. Interview 6A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
63
Ibid.
64
Alan DuBois, interview by Dan Benton, 12 April 2007. Interview 15A, transcript, AAC Oral History
Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
65
Ellen A. Plummer and Michael Preble, “Arkansas Arts Center,” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and
Culture. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
61
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opened at the AAC in that winter. In September, the AAC Board of Trustees voted to use
the Terry House as a center for community collaborations in the arts. 66 In the fall of
2004, the AAC Board renamed the Decorative Arts Museum the Arkansas Arts Center
Terry House Community Gallery and reopened as a space for collaborative exhibitions
and programs with arts and non-profit agencies. 67
The AAC continued in the tradition of offering a growing number of services to
the public during the first several years of the 2000s. Beginning in 2002, the AAC joined
forces with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). The institutions created an
online catalog for the Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Memorial Library. The AAC Library
became a research branch of CALS and the AAC Library doubled its hours open for
public use. 68
The Children’s Theatre experienced notable changes in 2004. The Theatre
transformed its rehearsal theatre into a 120-seat black-box theatre in order to present the
plays of the AAC’s Studio Series. According to Bradley Anderson, the Director of the
Children’s Theatre, the Studio Series was meant “to appeal to an age group that feels too
old for the main stage titles” by providing “an alternative theatre and laboratory
experiment with new plays, methods of production and performance techniques.” 69 The
first play to employ this new theatre concept was a production of John Steinbeck’s Of
Mice and Men.
Many of the AAC’s exhibits were of presidential proportions during the decade
after the expansion. Gilbert Stuart’s famous 1796 portrait of George Washington, the
66
Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Little Rock), 12 September 2003.
Ellen A. Plummer and Michael Preble, “Arkansas Arts Center,” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and
Culture. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
68
AAC Library, Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports, 2002-2003.
69
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 3 October 2004.
67
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Lansdowne Portrait, was on display at the AAC from April 23 to August 23, 2004. 70 Art
and the White House: Presidential Selections, 1960-2000 was exhibited at the AAC’s
Jeannette E. Rockefeller Gallery from November 19th to January 23rd. The exhibition
purposely coincided with the grand opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential
Library and Museum. AAC Executive Director, Nan Plummer, and the Center’s Curator,
Brian Young, selected works ranging from the Kennedy to Clinton administrations for
this AAC exhibit. Art and the White House was accompanied by eighty-two presidential
photographs of the Diana Walker: Photojournalist exhibit in the Townsend Wolfe
Gallery. Plummer commented on the importance of the event: “It will be the high point
of the fall, and maybe the whole year . . . It’s also a way to grow our audience and raise
the bar for future exhibitions.” 71
The presidential theme was brought to its apex with a visit from Former President
Bill Clinton. On November 17, 2004, Clinton and nearly one thousand guests celebrated
the opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum at the AAC.
Those in attendance were invited to view the Art and the White House exhibit and Diana
Walker’s photographs of Presidents and their families. The AAC also invited guests to
the Children’s Theatre to a lecture by Betty Monkman, Curator Emeritus for the White
House. 72 Besides President Clinton, other famous people present included Vermont
Governor Howard Dean, comedians Chevy Chase and Robin Williams, and actor Kevin
Spacey. 73
70
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (Lansdowne portrait), oil on canvas, 1796, National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
71
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 9 May 2004.
72
Ibid, 21 November 2004.
73
Ibid, 18 November 2004.
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A noticeable trend towards larger exhibitions was evident during the first decade
of the twenty first century. Plummer stated: “We’re doing fewer exhibitions as an
institution, but . . . we’re ramping up the scale. And we hope that the popular appeal
comes.” 74 Several exhibits exemplify this trend. In April 2003, the AAC displayed the
exhibition entitled Drawn Toward the Avant-Garde: Nineteenth-Century French
Drawings from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. These eighty French works
followed the transformation of modern art into the avant-garde abstraction of the 20th
century. 75 Artists represented in the exhibition included Pable Picasso, Auguste Rodin,
Edgar Degas and Henri Matisse. This exhibit only made four stops in North America,
including one at the AAC.
In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite was on
display as “the first ancient art exhibition ever in Arkansas” in February 2005. 76 This
was the exhibit’s first stop on a national tour originating in the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington. According to the Arkansas Gazette, “The total 71 pieces, including 26
colorful, well-preserved sections of walls and ceilings . . . is arguably one of the most
prominent exhibits in the Art Center’s history.” 77 The educational parallels to the exhibit
included a lecture entitled “Powerhouses of Rome: the Villas of Ancient Roman Stabia”
that examined the political and social role of these villas and their art. Another was the
lecture, “Dining Like An Ancient Roman” that focused on the art, food, and
74
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, interview by Jamie Metrailer, 14 March 2007. Interview 6A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
75
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 11 April 2003.
76
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, interview by Jamie Metrailer, 14 March 2007. Interview 6A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
77
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 10 February 2005.
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entertainment of the Roman elite. 78 The lectures associated with In Stabiano highlight
the role of education as a tool for the AAC to reach a broader audience.
Other larger-scale exhibits intended to reach a broader audience as well. One such
exhibit was the AAC’s first major exhibition of African art. African Masterpieces from
the New Orleans Museum of Art was shown at the AAC from January 20, 2006 to April
16, 2006 in the Townsend Wolfe Gallery. As with In Stabiano, African Masterpieces
was accompanied by educational programs. A curator and art historian both presented
lectures on African art and the Studio Series of the Children’s Theatre presented a play
entitled “African Tales.” 79
Pursuing Picasso ran from June 9 through September 3, 2006. The exhibition
consisted of three parts: Picasso Ceramics from the Bernie Bercuson Collection,
organized by the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Picasso: Imaginary Portraits,
on loan from the collection of the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Florida; and
Picasso and Paris, fifty-nine paintings, drawings, and prints by Picasso and his
contemporaries, organized by the AAC and drawn from its own holdings as well as from
local and national collections. 80 The exhibit reached a broader audience while utilizing
the existing resources of the AAC. Pursuing Picasso included the painting Still Life with
78
Ibid, 10 February 2005.
Lyndsay Hansen, “African Masterpieces from the New Orleans of Art Comes to the Arkansas Arts
Center,” Arkansas Arts Center, www.arkarts.com.
80
Dr. Ellen A. Plummer, interview by Jamie Metrailer, 14 March 2007. Interview 6A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar. The imaginary portraits refers to works that Picasso had painted on
corrugated cardboard that was the packaging from a delivery of art supplies.
79
- 138 -
Red Bull’s Head. 81 Warren and Harriet Stephens also loaned a Picasso painting, The
Artist and His Model, to the exhibition. 82
The AAC continues to achieve its goal of presenting larger-scale exhibits to a
broader audience with the Craft in America: Expanding Traditions exhibition. The AAC
was the first museum in the United State to host this exhibit. Components, such as a
three-part PBS series, a book, and a website, continued to fulfill the AAC’s dedication to
education. Craft in America was on exhibit from April 13 to June 24, 2007 in the
Townsend Wolfe and Jeannette Edris Rockefeller Galleries.83
From its origins as a social club for prominent local women in 1914, to the
struggling Museum of Fine Arts in 1937, to an internationally recognized and appreciated
Arts Center in 2007, the AAC has demonstrated its impressive ability not only to survive,
but also to grow and increase in facilities, programming, and visibility. This growth of
the AAC in recent decades drew inspiration from and was a continuation of the
institution’s past. The Capital Campaign of the 1990s was an extension of earlier
expansion efforts, such as the WPA project in the 1930s, the campaign in the 1960s, and
the Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Gallery in the 1980s. Many of the programs
instituted by Townsend Wolfe in the 1970s are still in operation; the Children’s Theatre
remains highly visible and well attended. Although the Bachelor of Fine Arts program
was terminated due to a lack of funding, the Museum School continued to grow and offer
art classes to the general public of all ages.
81
Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Red Bull’s Head, oil on canvas, 1938, on loan to the AAC from the Estate
of Jackson T. Stephens.
82
Pablo Picasso, The Artist and His Model, oil on canvas, 1963, Collection of Warren and Harriet
Stephens, Little Rock.
83
Arkansas Arts Center, “Calendar of Events,” Arkansas Arts Center, http://www.arkarts.com.
- 139 -
The AAC’s decisions with collections and exhibitions in the twenty-first century
were also dependent on the institution’s past. Staff expanded the collection from a
“handful a good paintings . . . lost among the mediocrities and bric-a-brac” in the 1920s1950s to a nationally and internationally respected collection by the 1980s. 84 With the
creation of the Arts Center Foundation in 1972, the AAC ensured the preservation of this
collection for many generations to come. The current quality of both the ACC’s
collection and reputation allows the institution to present large-scale exhibits to a broader
audience fulfilling Winthrop Rockefeller’s vision of an “Arkansas arts center, not just a
Pulaski County thing . . . something that will serve the entire state of Arkansas.” 85 As
best explained by Warren Stephens, a long-time supporter of the Arts Center, “I do think
the recognition and appreciation [are appropriate] for what the Arts Center has
accomplished over the last [century] . . . what this institution has accomplished is
miraculous. I mean, it’s one of the great success stories in Arkansas.” 86 Valued and
enjoyed by its visitors, the Arkansas Arts Center has secured its place in Arkansas history
and will continue to spread the love of art across the state for years to come.
84
AAC Library, Fine Arts Club Scrapbook, 1954-1958. This information came from a newspaper clipping
pasted in the scrapbook dating to February 1956.
85
Jeane Hamilton, interview by Sara Thompson, 6 March 2007. Interview 1A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
86
Warren Stephens, interview by Jennifer McCarty, 17 April 2007. Interview 16A, transcript, AAC Oral
History Collection, Little Rock, Ar.
- 140 -
Bibliography
AAC Library. Arkansas Arts Center Annual Reports. 1950-2003.
AAC Library. Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees Minutes. 1960-1993.
AAC Library. Arkansas Arts Center Member Bulletin . 1961-1963.
AAC Library. Community Center of Arts and Sciences Scrapbooks. 1957-1959.
AAC Library. Fine Arts Club Minutes. 1941-1951.
AAC Library. Fine Arts Club Scrapbooks. 1928-1989.
AAC Library. Fine Arts Club Yearbooks. 1928.
AAC Library. Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustee Minutes. 1957-1960.
AAC Oral History Collection.
Adelson, Warren. “Childe Hassam and the French Impressionists.” The Magazine
Antiques (1 November 1999).
American Association of Museums, AAM Accreditation Program. Internet online.
Available from <www.aam-us.org> [20 April 2007].
Arkansas Arts Center. Calendar of Events. Internet online. Available from
<www.arkarts.com> [19 April 2007].
Arkansas Arts Center. History. Internet online. Available from <www.arkarts.com>
[19 April 2007].
_______. “Arkansas Arts Center.” Southern Accents (March-April, 1986).
Arkansas Arts Center. Special Collections: Will Barnet. Internet online. Available from
< www.arkarts.com> [ 19 April 2007].
Arkansas Democrat. 1928-1980.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. 1994-2005.
Arkansas Gazette. 1932-1973.
_______. “Calendar.” Active Years, 23 (October 2000).
- 141 -
Christian Science Monitor. 1963-1993.
Council on Museum and Education in the Visual Arts. “Arkansas Arts Center: Yellow
Space Place.” in TheArt Museum As Educator: A Collection of Studies as Guides
to Practice and Policy. University of California Press, 1978.
Dougan, Michael. Arkansas Odyssey: The Saga or Arkansas from Prehistoric Times to
Present. Little Rock: Rose Publishing Co., 1994.
El Dorado New Times. 1982.
GFWC. General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Internet online. Available from
<www.gfwc.org> [15 April 2007].
Hamilton, Becky. “An Art Gallery Which Shall Be Little Rock’s Own.” Pulaski County
Historical Review 33, no. 3 (Fall 1985).
Hansen, Lyndsay. “African Masterpieces from the New Orleans of Art Comes to the
Arkansas Arts Center.” Internet online. Available from <www.arkarts.com>
[19 April 2007].
Harberg, Sarah. “The Decorative Arts Museum: Historic Home for the Arts.” Arkansas
Journal (Spring 1987).
Harvey. “Editorial.” Number 42: An Independent Journal of the Arts. (Fall 2002).
Hoving, Thomas. “Big Art for Little Rocks,” Connoisseur. (August 1984).
_______. Inside Arkansas 18, no. 3 & 4. (Fall/Winter 1982).
Jaffee, Irma B. and Yvonne Korshak. Selections from the Permanent Collection of the
Arkansas Arts Center Foundation. Little Rock: Arkansas Arts Center, 1983.
McHaney, Marylyn. “Address to Junior League.” Southern Accents (April 1986).
Museum News. 1936.
National Endowment for the Arts. A Legacy of Leadership. National Endowment for the
Arts, 2000.
Plummer, Ellen A. and Michael Preble. “Arkansas Arts Center.” Encyclopedia of
Arkansas History and Culture. Internet online. Available from
<www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net> [19 April 2007].
- 142 -
Terry, Adolphine Fletcher. "Life is My Song, Also, Chapter II.” n.d., n.p. Fletcher-Terry
Papers. Ottenheimer Library Archives and Special Collections. University of
Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Sallee, Julianne. “General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Arkansas (GFWC).”
Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Internet online. Available from
<encyclopediaofarkansas.net> [25 April, 2007].
_______. “Select Acquisition: Barnett’s Mothers at Arkansas.” Art on Paper, 6 (JulyAugust 2002).
“Two Exhibitions on view at Arkansas Arts Center in Celebration of Expansion,
February 19 – October, 2000.” Journal of the Print World, 23 (Winter 2000).
University of Arkansas Medical Sciences. Art in the Institute on Aging: Townsend Wolfe.
Internet online. Available from <centeronaging.uams.edu> [ 6 May 2007].
Whayne, DeBlack, et al. Arkansas: A Narrative History. Fayetteville: University of `
Arkansas Press, 2002.
Wolfe, Townsend. About Face: Collection of Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr: October 5November11, 2001, Arkansas Arts Center. Little Rock: Arkansas Museum of
Art/Arkansas Arts Center, 2001.
Wolff, Theodore F. “Arkansas Arts Center’s Unusual World-Class Drawings Collection
Wins its Much-Deserved Acclaim.” Internet online. Available from Lexis Nexis
[1 April 2007]
- 143 -
Closed Library Stacks Bibliography
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. Organizational History, undated.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. Mrs. John P. Baird, “History of the Fine Arts Club
of Arkansas.”
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. AAC Library, “Arkansas Plans and Activities” by
the Museum of Fine Arts Little Rock, 1959-1960.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Arkansas Plans and Activities” by the Museum of
Fine Arts Little Rock, 1959-1960.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Report of the Community Center of Arts and
Sciences to October, 1960 and of the Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “The Junior League of Little Rock Project
Research Report, Community Arts Center” by Mrs. Robert W. Newell, 7 June
1957.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. From Little Rock, Arkansas Junior League to
Oakland, California Junior League, 9 August 1957.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. From Little Rock, Arkansas Junior League to
Marjorie Lyons Theatre, Centenary College of Louisiana, undated.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Community Center of Arts and Sciences – A
Program of Development for the Junior League of Little Rock, Arkansas,” by
Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson, 5 May 1958.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Memorandum of Understanding Between the
Museum of Fine Arts, Junior League of Little Rock.”
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Report of the Community Center of Arts and
Sciences to October, 1960 and of the Arkansas Arts Center to May, 1963.”
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Community Center of Arts and Sciences”
Booklet.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Museum of Fine Arts Little Rock, AR Plans and
Activities 1959-60 Copy for the Museum” by George Ware.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. Arkansas Arts Center Dedication Program, 18 May
1963.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. Blue Booklet.
- 144 -
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “What Did You Do” by Arkansas Arts Center,
1969-1970.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. Arkansas Arts Center Accreditation Files, 1972.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “State Services Booklet” by the Arkansas Arts
Center, 1972.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “What Did We Do?” by the Arkansas Arts Center,
1970.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Director’s Report and Comments, Annual
Meeting Board of Trustees” by the Arkansas Arts Center, July 1973.
AAC Library. Closed Library Stacks. “Annual Catalog,” by the Arkansas Arts Center,
1972-1973.
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Appendix A
Project Proposal – Arkansas Arts Center
Prepared and Presented by PHP
Introduction
The Public History Project (PHP) 1 shares the Arkansas Arts Center’s (AAC)
commitment to the community for education and cultural experiences. This interpretive
history project will utilize a holistic approach using the chronological evolution of the
AAC as the organizing feature. PHP will include contributions of individuals involved in
this evolution from AAC’s inception in 1914 as the Fine Arts Club through present day.
In addition, the team will track physical changes to AAC’s building and property since
the 1937 Works Progress Administration design. PHP will follow the growth and
expansion of AAC’s permanent collections and will examine the sub-groups whose
contributions support the institution. The project team will conclude with AAC’s role
and significance in the arts community in a regional and national context. PHP views the
AAC as a living, evolving entity that with proper stewardship will exist into perpetuity.
The Masters of Public History program at the University of Arkansas at Little
Rock (UALR) enjoys a deserved reputation of excellence for the professional quality of
final products produced in its graduate seminar class. Pairing graduate students with such
a visible community institution such as the AAC creates a challenging and rewarding
client service experience to showcase the students’ skills. Dr. Deborah Baldwin, Dean of
the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at UALR, will supervise the sixmember team.
Primary Objectives and Methodology
PHP will conduct research to study and track AAC’s existence from its early roots
in the 1910s to its present condition. The research and writing of AAC’s history will
emphasize the importance of the AAC as a collective institution comprised of many
1
The project team chose the name Public History Project (PHP) in conjunction with the article in the
January-February 2007 edition of Works, AAC’s publication.
A-
1
facets such as the board, staff, donors, programs, galleries, special exhibitions, the
Museum School, the Children's Theatre, and the Decorative Arts Museum. The ultimate
goal of this project is to produce a history for the museum and its public audience.
Portions of this history may appear in the future on AAC’s website or may contribute to
grant proposals for AAC. This institutional history could also become a published work
in its own right for distribution to members of the AAC.
PHP will conduct research using historical methods. This includes searching for
sources in real and virtual libraries, classifying resource materials, note taking from
various records, and interpreting statistical charts. In addition, the team will obtain
historical data from oral histories. A historical project must have proper analysis of
historical information, organization of this data, and documentation of research sources to
meet academic standards.
AAC’s library already houses a large number of internal records. Holdings
located in the AAC library of specific interest to the project include annual reports,
scrapbooks, and chronologically arranged vertical files. Since AAC library materials are
integrated with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), many of the published
sources at the AAC are cataloged and searchable through the CALS database. This study
will take advantage of other materials housed at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies,
the UALR Archives and Special Collections, the Arkansas History Commission, and the
MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. In addition, PHP will collect oral
history interviews of persons connected to the history and development of AAC. These
oral histories will examine the role of individual community leaders, and thus greatly
contribute to this project.
Literature Review
In its study of the AAC’s history, PHP will research both primary and secondary
sources to develop a comprehensive and annotated bibliography. The study will review
scholarly sources that discuss art movements and art museums in the 20th century. PHP
seeks to place the AAC in a local, state, and national context to discover how the
institution has contributed to all three communities. As the Museum School is an integral
part of AAC, the study will also examine sources pertaining to art education. PHP will
A-
2
construct a historical framework charting AAC’s evolution from its beginnings in 1914
through present day. Thoroughly researching all avenues, the team intends to provide a
fair and balanced understanding of AAC’s past.
Several institutions are essential in providing useful information concerning the
AAC. The AAC itself is the primary location for PHP’s research as they possess records
dating back to the Fine Arts Club in 1914. AAC’s collection includes publications,
internal correspondences, personal papers, financial documents, photographs, and
scrapbooks. These will provide key insight into the inner workings of AAC’s past. In
addition, the sources in the AAC’s collection will illustrate the AAC’s involvement in
and from the community. The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History has a
collection of AAC’s event pamphlets that will supplement the study’s understanding of
event planning and collections at the AAC. The Arkansas History Commission has a
complete collection of Arkansas newspapers that will provide insight to the working
relationship between the AAC and the various media outlets throughout the state. The
UALR Archives and Special Collections house the Winthrop Rockefeller collection,
which contains the Jeannette Rockefeller files. Jeannette Rockefeller and other family
members were essential supporters of the AAC. The Winthrop Rockefeller collection
will offer an example of AAC’s efforts using donor-based support in the further
development of collections, staffing, and building construction.
Other valuable sources outside these institutions will contribute to this project.
The journal, Museum News, is one primary source that has covered past events and
exhibitions at the AAC providing a scholarly viewpoint of the AAC from the museum
field. In addition, Museum News published several articles concerning art education.
Secondary sources such as, Palaces for the People: A Social History of the American Art
Museum (1977), Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture (1992),
Museums and Modernity: Art Galleries and the Making of Modern Culture (2002), and
The Two Art Histories: The Museum and the University (2003), 2 are a few other sources
PHP will utilize.
2
Burt, Nathaniel. Palaces for the People: A Social History of the American Art Museum. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1977; Haxthausen, Charles. The Two Art Histories: The Museum and the University. Williamston,
Mass.: Sterling and Francis Clark Art Institute, 2002; Karp, Ivan. Museums and Communities: The Politics
A-
3
Chronological Narrative
Using the literature review as a starting point, PHP will compose a narrative
chronicling the AAC’s past. The project will begin with AAC’s formation and continue
with its subsequent development. This history will focus on AAC’s impact in the public
on local, state and national levels providing background information when necessary.
Although the team will focus on specific people, events and changes over time, the final
product will connect these aspects for a complete picture of the AAC’s history. To
accomplish this goal, the narrative will focus on these basic themes as research allows:
•
Conception, Founding, and Development
The formation of the Fine Arts Club of Arkansas, the founding of the
Museum of Fine Arts, and the growth into the Arkansas Arts Center.
•
Expansion
The various construction and expansion project processes as well as how
these relate to AAC’s mission and impact on the community.
•
Operations
The changes over time in AAC’s day-to-day operations including its
staffing, administration, governance and funding.
•
Exhibits and Programming
An overview of the origin and development of the AAC’s exhibits,
programming, and outreach to show AAC’s evolution throughout its
existence with specific focus on notable exhibitions and programs,
including the Museum School.
Oral Histories
In addition to archival research, the team will conduct a series of oral history
interviews that will be a vital part of the project. The goal of the oral history portion of
this project is to collect no fewer than six (6) interviews with persons selected from a list
provided by the AAC staff. Interviewees will include former board members, former and
of Public Culture. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992; Prior, Nick. Museums and Modernity:
Art galleries and the Making of Modern Culture. Oxford: Berg, 2002.
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4
current AAC employees, and others pertinent to the project objectives. The interviews
will document personal experiences throughout the history of the AAC with a special
focus on its role in the community.
PHP will create a release form that every interviewer and interviewee will sign.
This form will give ownership of the original recording and transcript, as well as any
future copies, to the AAC and to UALR. This release form will allow the team to use
information gained from the interviews in the history of AAC and will insure the
preservation of the information for future use.
During the interviews, the team will work from a previously prepared
questionnaire. However, the questions will only guide and will not prevent interviewees
from discussing a specific subject concerning the AAC that they wish to document.
Historical Timeline
The Public History Project will provide a comprehensive timeline using current
technology to illustrate the evolution of the AAC. The timeline, as resources allow, will
extend from the birth of the Fine Arts Club in 1914 to the institution’s current place in the
city, state, and national art community.
Archival and Artifact Recommendations
PHP will utilize the AAC, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History,
the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, the CALS database, the Arkansas History
Commission, the UALR Archives and Special Collections, and other sources useful to the
project related to AAC’s history. In regards to additions to AAC’s collection during the
course of this project, PHP members, in conjunction with AAC library staff, will evaluate
all donated items for proper care and storage. Where necessary, PHP will implement
professional archival standards.
PHP will review the current holdings of the AAC identifying care and storage
concerns on a collection-wide basis as well as on an item-by-item basis. The team will
make recommendations concerning the use of vertical file storage, the organization of
archival materials, the use of acid-free boxes and folders, the preservation of fragile
materials and the preservation of scrapbooks. The final document will include an
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5
appendix of these recommendations regarding current and future archival needs at the
AAC.
Project Phases
PHP developed four specific phases to meet objectives for AAC’s history project
– planning, research, production and presentation. The final product will portray AAC as
it developed internally as well as its evolution in the local and national art communities.
Central to the development of the AAC are the people who devoted time, energy, and
often life-long commitment to ensure continued success of the institution.
During the planning phase, PHP will be on an information-gathering mission that
includes interviews with AAC staff. PHP will identify individuals, groups, and concepts
associated with the AAC to include as elements in the project. The team will set
proposed dates for research, writing, rewriting, approval, and completion of the project.
PHP will locate primary resources available in various local repositories for possible use
on the project. The main goal of this phase will be to ensure PHP’s ensuing work is in
conjunction with AAC’s vision for the final product.
The research phase will include the study of primary and secondary sources from
in-house AAC records as well as from the UALR Archives and Special Collections, the
Arkansas History Commission, CALS, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and the
MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. PHP members will utilize available
technology and include appropriate on-line resources and selected electronic trade journal
articles. The project team will organize and conduct a series of oral histories and
incorporate significant portions of these interviews into the final product.
Production will involve the compilation of traditional research and oral histories
into a cohesive history with a life and identity as unique as that exhibited by the AAC.
The team of six Public History graduate students will author, edit, and organize the
interpretation of AAC’s history. The last element of this phase includes the logistics of
producing a hard copy and a digital copy of the final product.
PHP will present the final product, post approval, to the AAC in a formal meeting
at a time to be determined later.
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**Not a legal document, for educational purposes only**
PHP Proposed Budget
Research
Primary and secondary sources, published literature, archives
Hours
Teresa Lauderdale (Project Manager)
15 hours @
Sara Thompson (Report Manager)
15 hours @
Jaime Metrailer (Research Manager)
25 hours @
Stephanie Bayless (Oral History Manager) 15 hours @
Daniel Benton (Researcher/Treasurer)
25 hours @
Jennifer McCarty (Researcher)
25 hours @
120 hours
Cost
$35/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$25/hr
Research
Total
$525.00
$450.00
$625.00
$450.00
$625.00
$625.00
$3,300.00
$3,300.00
Data Collection and Analysis
Oral Interviews and transcription
Teresa Lauderdale
Sara Thompson
Jaime Metrailer
Stephanie Bayless
Daniel Benton
Jennifer McCarty
20 hours @
20 hours @
20 hours @
30 hours @
20 hours @
20 hours @
130 hours
$35/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$25/hr
Data Collection and Analysis
$700.00
$600.00
$500.00
$900.00
$500.00
$500.00
$3,700.00
$3,700.00
Draft Report
Organization of data, writing of first draft, editing and revising
Teresa Lauderdale
Sara Thompson
Jaime Metrailer
Stephanie Bayless
Daniel Benton
20 hours @
35 hours @
15 hours @
15 hours @
15 hours @
$35/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$700.00
$1050.00
$375.00
$450.00
$375.00
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7
Jennifer McCarty
15 hours @
115 hours
$25/hr
Draft Report
$375.00
$3,325.00
$3,325.00
Final Draft
Writing, editing, revising, binding, and distribution
Teresa Lauderdale
Sara Thompson
Jaime Metrailer
Stephanie Bayless
Daniel Benton
Jennifer McCarty
20 hours @
35 hours @
15 hours @
15 hours @
15 hours @
15 hours @
145 hours
Final Draft
$35/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$30/hr
$25/hr
$25/hr
$700.00
$1050.00
$375.00
$450.00
$375.00
$375.00
$3,325.00
$3,325.00
Report Total
$13,650.00
Expenses 3
Recorders
Microphones
Cassette tape-5 pack
Transcription Machine Rental
Cotton Gloves – 12 pack disposable
Copies
Photograph Reproduction (each)
Compact Discs for final document
Package of Compact Disc labels
Batteries (20 pack)
Extension Cord (25 feet)
Acid-Free Folders – package of 100
Acid-Free Boxes (each)
Telephone – long distance
Postage - stamps, shipping, etc.
Supplies – pens, legal pads, etc.
Gas/Travel – by mileage of $0.37/mile
Expenses
3
Qty
3
3
4
2
1
1,000
12
20
1
1
3
2
10
Cost per unit
@
$31.43
@
$9.99
@
$5.49
@
$45.00/month
@
$10.00
@
$0.10
@
$1.00
@
$9.97
@
$15.00
@
$10.86
@
$4.83
@
$11.89
@
$6.68
Total
$94.29
$29.97
$21.96
$90.00
$10.00
$100.00
$12.00
$9.97
$15.00
$10.86
$14.49
$23.78
$66.80
$30.00
$30.00
$30.00
$30.00
$619.12
Prices based on estimates from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Causy R.B. Company, and gaylord.com.
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Printing 4
Printing – final text
Printing – oral histories
Cost
$0.66/page
$0.66/page
Printing
Total Project Costs
Number of Copies
14 copies, 200 pages
14 copies, 100 pages
Final Cost
$200.51
$110.57
$300.76
$14,569.88
**Not a legal document, for educational purposes only**
4
Prices based on estimate from Office Depot.
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Project Staff
Teresa Lauderdale, Project Manager
Ms. Lauderdale graduated in 2001 from Pulaski Technical College with an A.A.S. in
Computer Information Systems after working fifteen years in banking. Ms. Lauderdale
then attended UALR, where she graduated in 2005 as a Donaghey Scholar. She earned a
B.A. in German Studies and a B.A. in History. Ms. Lauderdale continued her education
at UALR and is currently a second year student in the Masters of Public History program.
She currently holds a graduate assistantship at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and
Culture, which she started August 2005. Ms. Lauderdale recently received the
outstanding Alumnus Award 2006 from the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges
by Pulaski Technical College. Ms. Lauderdale lives with her husband, three dogs, and a
cat in Jacksonville, Arkansas.
Sara Thompson, Report Manager
Ms. Thompson graduated with a B.A. in History and minors in Sociology and Spanish
from Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, Louisiana in May 2005. She
currently is a second year graduate student at UALR in the Masters of Public History
program. Ms. Thompson worked as a graduate assistant at the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library for a year and currently holds a graduate assistantship at Central
High School National Historic Site. She continues to work part-time at the Arkansas
History Commission where she was once an intern. In addition, Ms. Thompson is a girls
U10 classic soccer coach. A Texas native, she now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Stephanie Bayless, Oral History Manager
Ms. Bayless obtained an A.A. degree from National Park Community College in 2003.
She graduated with a B.A. in History and a minor in Presidential Studies from the UALR
in 2005. Ms. Bayless is now a second year student in the Masters of Public History
program at UALR. Her professional experience includes work as a docent on the Life
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Interrupted: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas. In addition,
she served as Project Manager for the Central High School Oral History Project in Fall
2005. Ms. Bayless currently holds a graduate assistantship at the Arkansas Inland
Maritime Museum. Ms. Bayless lives with her husband and four-year-old daughter in
Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Jamie Metrailer, Research Manager
Mr. Metrailer earned his B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology with emphasis in
Anthropology from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas in 2001. He worked for the
Central Arkansas Library System for several years before entering the Masters of Public
History program at UALR. Mr. Metrailer interned with the Encyclopedia of Arkansas
History and Culture in Fall 2005. He currently holds a graduate assistantship at the
UALR Archives and Special Collections. Mr. Metrailer currently lives in Little Rock,
Arkansas.
Daniel Benton, Treasurer
Graduating in 2005, Mr. Benton holds a B.A. in History and a minor in Religion from the
University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas. He is currently a second year student
in the Masters of Public History program at UALR. Mr. Benton serves as a Residential
Mentor at the Arkansas School for Math, Science, and the Arts (ASMSA) in Hot Springs,
Arkansas. Raised in Booneville, Arkansas, Mr. Benton currently lives in Hot Springs,
Arkansas. He is the grandson of Merl H. Benton, a history teacher.
Jennifer McCarty, Research Staff
Ms. McCarty graduated with a B.A. in History and a minor in Speech Communications
from UALR in 2005. She is a second year student in the Masters of Public History
program at the same institution. Her professional experience includes ten years in
restaurant management and seven years in retail management. She volunteers with the
Downtown Partnership as a Downtown Navigator and worked as a docent on the Life
Interrupted: the Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas. She currently
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is the lead bookseller and new hire coordinator at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Ms.
McCarty lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband.
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Appendix B
Literature Review
The project conducted a review of literature related to the histories of the Fine
Arts Club (FAC), the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Arkansas Arts Center (AAC).
Primary and secondary sources were reviewed as well as websites and oral histories. The
resulting information served as a historical framework from which to write a narrative
history of the organization, highlighting the roles of significant people and events, and
shedding light on the institution’s contribution to the local, statewide, regional, national,
and international art communities.
The Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Library, along with AAC’s archives, provided the
majority of the materials necessary for historical analysis of the AAC. Primary source
information from the Taylor Library included annual reports, Board meeting minutes,
AAC publications, scrapbooks, and a collection of AAC publicity in other publications.
The annual reports, Board meeting minutes, and AAC publications allowed for insight
into the exhibits, collection, programs, and financial situation of the AAC from the
perspective of the institution itself. The collection of AAC publicity in other publications
along with the FAC and AAC scrapbooks not only offered perspectives of the
international, national, and local communities, but from the broader art community as
well. All chapters utilized this variety of primary resources in producing the narrative.
Newspaper articles and newsletters cited in many chapters also constitute a
significant portion of primary source material. These primary resources offered state,
national, and international perspectives in addition to the viewpoint of the larger art
community. Many relevant newspaper articles were located in the scrapbooks and
archives of the Taylor Library and thus assisted in the location of desired materials.
Other newspaper articles were obtained through the Microfilm collections of local
libraries, namely the Ottenheimer Library at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Newspaper articles came from The Arkansas Gazette, The Arkansas Democrat, The
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, The Christian Science Monitor, and The El Dorado New
Times, while newsletters were represented by titles such as The Museum News and the
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Journal of the Print World. Newspaper articles and newsletters provided detailed
information about the AAC’s international, national, and local reputation as an art
museum.
Secondary sources placed these primary sources within a social and historical
context and also placed the AAC within the context of the larger art community. Books
included Michael Dougan’s Arkansas Odyssey: The Saga of Arkansas from Prehistoric
Times to the Present (1994), which examined the FAC within the context of other
women’s groups of the period. The Art Museum As Educator: A Collection of Studies as
Guides to Practice and Policy (1978) by the Council on Museum and Education in the
Visual Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts’s A Legacy of Leadership:
Investing in America’s Living Cultural Heritage Since 1968 (2000) both examined the
AAC in the context of the national art community. Other secondary sources came from
journal articles, namely the Pulaski County Historical Review with Becky Hamilton’s
“An Art Gallery Which Shall Be Little Rock’s Own.” This article provided insight into
the early years of the FAC.
Another valuable group of sources were websites. The AAC website,
www.arkarts.com, provided incredible insight into the institution. This website provided
an outlined history of the AAC, a catalogue for works in its collection, and sections
describing the various galleries mentioned in the historic narrative. The online entry
from The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture titled “Arkansas Arts Center”
provided an additional general history of the AAC. The website for the American
Association of Museums at www.aam-us.org allowed for a better understanding of the
national accreditation process.
While studying the AAC, the project also utilized the oral history interviews of
those involved with the institution. The oral histories allowed for a broader framework to
understand the events of the AAC and filled in the gaps between known events. Quotes
from the oral histories provided a human element to the narrative and allowed the
narrative to highlight those individuals who significantly contributed to the AAC.
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Appendix C
Archival Recommendations
The Arkansas Arts Center deals in the preservation of art in all of its various
forms including paper and photographs and is knowledgeable in methods of preservation
and preventative care of those materials. This same care can also be applied to its
historical archives. Basic guidelines for preservation of archival materials include the
following:
•
Prevention is the best tool in maintaining your archives. Do not allow documents
to be handled with bare hands, white cotton gloves are recommended. Never use
the following on documents: scotch tape, metal staples, and metal paper clips.
Do not laminate documents.
•
The temperature should remain between 65° and 75° Fahrenheit, humidity should
be kept at around fifty percent. There should be little to no fluctuation in these
conditions.
•
Good housekeeping is vital and does not appear to be a problem at this time. The
close proximity of the kitchen to the collection should be watched closely.
•
The current policy of turning lights off in unoccupied rooms is good and should
be maintained. Ensure that all archival materials are stored in lightproof boxes or
containers.
•
Different papers have different acid levels and should not be stored together.
Newspaper clippings have especially high acidity levels and will destroy other
items around them.
•
Photocopy newspaper clippings that have intrinsic value and store the clipping
and the copy separately. Clear sleeves are a good choice for storing newspaper
clippings.
Paper
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Many of the Arkansas Arts Center records are kept in vertical files in the closed
stacks in the Library. While vertical files can be used, it would be best to replace
the files with shelving and archival boxes. Not only would this better protect and
organize the collection, more storage space for future items would be gained as
well. In the event the vertical files are retained, all items must be transferred into
acid-free folders or envelopes. The current file folders are not acid-free and will
damage the collection. The items in the vertical file drawers are composed of a
variety of paper types, sizes, and bindings. As a rule, loose papers of the same
type and material can be placed together in acid-free envelopes or folders.
Especially brittle items should be stored individually to prevent damage.
Pamphlets, brochures and programs should each be placed in individual
envelopes. The envelopes and folders should be of a uniform size, such as all
letter or all legal. The envelopes and/or folders then should be placed in archival,
acid-free boxes, with spacer boards in place to ensure documents do not bend or
sag.
Photographs
The same procedures apply to photographs that apply to paper. Every photograph
should be stored in a separate envelope or polyester enclosure. Photographs that
have low intrinsic value, such as snapshots, can be stored together in one
enclosure, but this is not recommended due to chemical degradation and the
damage that will cause to all of the photos. Photos and paper should not be stored
together in the same file or folder as the different mediums cause damage to each
other, especially to the photographs. Each photograph should be labeled with
who, what, when and where using a soft lead pencil to write on the back of the
picture. Do not use ink or adhesive labels on the photographs.
Scrapbooks
The items in the Arkansas Arts Center archival collection of greatest concern are
the scrapbooks. Stabilization is the most important thing that can be done for
them. The scrapbooks in this collection are a record of their times and have
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intrinsic value as objects, therefore they must be preserved as they are. The
scrapbooks are very fragile and are rapidly disintegrating. For instance, the 1928
Fine Arts Club scrapbook binding is made from green fabric over wood. The
fabric is frayed, dry rotting and has tape applied to the spine. Inside the
scrapbook pages are torn and taped together, edges are flaking off of the pages
and acid from the many newspaper clippings has discolored everything they have
touched. Fine Arts Club Yearbooks are glued into the pages and are likely not
removable. There are various metal pins and staples throughout the scrapbooks.
There are a variety of conservation and restoration methods available, each with
potential risks and rewards. A professional with experience in the conservation
and restoration of scrapbooks is the best choice for handling and preserving these
priceless items.
Our recommendations are as follows:
•
Take the scrapbooks out of general use. They should be placed in archival boxes,
wrapped in acid-free paper, and stored flat, in a single layer with nothing on top.
•
Reduce the acid damage by placing acid-free tissue paper (interleaving) between
the pages. Do not do this if the bulk of the paper causes strain on the binding.
•
Make copies for research and general use. A good photographic copy is ideal for
researchers, and microfilm is ideal for long-term preservation. Both are
recommended. Have a professional make these copies to reduce damage to the
scrapbooks. Making the copies available on the website would be a valuable
addition to the Arkansas Arts Center’s online content.
•
There are some documents and photographs in the scrapbooks that are not
attached and have significant value, such as the donation letter from Kress
(Adoration of the Shepherds), photographs of Bertha Baird and others, etc. We
recommend you remove these items, replace them with copies in the scrapbooks,
and add them to your closed stacks.
•
Always handle the scrapbooks while wearing white cotton gloves.
•
Do not allow anyone, including the Fine Arts Club members, to remove the
scrapbooks from the Library. The risk of loss and damage are too great.
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The Missouri Secretary of State includes detailed recommendations and additional
source materials on handling scrapbooks on their website:
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/localrecs/conservation/notes/scrapbooks.asp
Oral History Recommendations
During this project the Public History Project conducted a number of oral history
interviews with a few of the people who have been integral to the development of
the AAC. The Public History Project has recommendations for future use of these
interviews. First, AAC staff should make additional copies of the original tapes.
These copies could be analog or digital or, preferably, a combination of both.
Second, AAC staff should use the completed transcriptions to build an index of
each interview or of the group of interviews. A space on the Oral History Catalog
Form has been provided to record the completion of an index. Lastly, the AAC
should make sections of the interviews (whether print or audio clips) available on
the website to alert possible researchers to the new information.
Additional Resources
Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts by Kathleen D Roe.
Archives and Manuscripts: Conservation (SAA basic manual series) by Mary Lynn
Ritzenthaler.
Caring for Collections: Strategies for Conservation, Maintenance and Documentation
by American Association of Musuems.
Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives by Gregory S. Hunter.
Preserving Archives and Manuscripts (Archival Fundamentals) by Mary Lynn
Ritzenthaler.
Supplies
www.archivalmethods.com
www.gaylord.com
www.holliingercorp.com
www.lightimpressionsdirect.com
www.metaledgeinc.com
www.universityproducts.com
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Appendix D
Lists
List of Museum Directors/Administrators
Irene Robinson (October 1937 - October 1957)
William E. Steadman (January 6, 1958 - December 1958)
George Ware (July 1959 - October 1960)
Muriel Christison (May 1961 - August 1961)
Alan Symonds (February 1962 - June 1, 1964)
William H. Turner (June 1, 1964 - December 1965)
Louis Ismay (May 1966 - date unknown)
Townsend Wolfe (August 1968 - October 31, 2003)
Nan Plummer (November 1, 2003 - present)
Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Award
Townsend Wolfe (1972-73)
Jane McGehee (1973-74)
Jeane Hamilton (1974-75)
Sam Strauss, Sr. (1975-76)
Evelyn McCoy (1976-77)
Jim Dyke (1977-78)
72nd General Assembly of the State of Arkansas (1978-79)
John J. Truemper, Jr. (1979-80)
Missy Anderson (1980-81)
The Alcoa Foundation (1981-82)
Raida Pfeifer (1982-83)
Manolo Agullo (1983-84)
B. Finley Vinson (1984-85)
Sanford M. Besser (1985-86)
Jane Wolfe (1986-87)
Virginia Bailey (1987-88)
Robena “Ben” Hussman (1988-89)
Jane Faust (1989-90)
Curtis Finch (1990-91)
Will Barnet (1991-92)
None (1992-93)
Curt Bradbury (1993-94)
Andre Simon (1994-95)
Iris Cantor (1995-96)
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Jackson T. Stephens (1996-97)
John C. Pagan (1997-98)
Junior League, Fine Arts Club, Community Center of Arts and Sciences (199899)
William E. Clark and Thom Hall (1999-00)
Carrie and Tyndall Dickinson (2000-01)
Robyn and John Horn (2001-02)
Lee Davis (2002-03)
Bradley D. Anderson (2003-04)
Harriet and Warren Stephens (2004-05)
Sandra Connor (2005-06)
Traveling Seminars
Florence- November 8-15, 1972
Russia- March 16-24, 1973
Spain- November 1-9, 1973
Greece- April 15-26, 1974
Vienna- November 1-9, 1974
The Orient- April 15-26, 1974
Kansas City- Archaeological Finds- May 14-17, 1975
People’s Republic of China- September 1-19, 1975
South of France- November 1-9, 1975
Houston- Master Paintings from the Hermitage- February 5-7, 1976
Egypt- March 5-26, 1976
Fort Worth- Fauve Exhibit for Docents and Volunteers
Istanbul- November 5-13, 1976
Mexico City- February 23-28, 1977
Persia (Central South Asia, Afghanistan, Iran)- May 6-30, 1977
New Orleans- Treasures of Tutankhamen- September 21-24, 1977
Switzerland- November 4-12, 1977
Houston- Cezanne Exhibition- February 23, 1978
Italy and Yugoslavia- May 3-25, 1978
St. Louis- Monet Exhibition and Nureyev Dance Concert- August 15-16, 1978
Germany- November 3-11, 1978
Dallas- Pompeii, AD 79- February 8-10, 1979
India- March 15- April 7, 1979
West Coast- San Francisco/Los Angeles- September 5-12, 1979
Pairs- November 1-9, 1979
South America- April 11-25, 1980
New York- Picasso Bronze Exhibit- June 4-9, 1980
Rome- November 8-16, 1980
England- June 4-9, 1980
Peoples Republic of China- September 12- October 9, 1981
Boston- November 4-8, 1981
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Central Europe/Vienna- April 1982
Spain- November 1982
Dallas- El Greco Exhibit- January 27-28, 1983
Greece- April 9- May 2, 1983
France- November 4-13, 1983
South China Seas- February 21- March 8, 1984
Italy- October 31-November 13, 1984
Dallas- Pierra Bonnard- September 27-28, 1984
Amsterdam- February 28- March 7, 1985
Northern England/Scotland- May 1-15, 1985
France- October 29-November 8, 1985
Lisbon- February 6-13, 1986
South Pacific- April 5- May 3, 1986
New York- August, 1986
Ireland- September, 1986
Asia- February 11- March 4, 1987
Memphis, TN- Ramesses, April 16-17, 1987
Sweden, Finland, Poland- October 1987
East Africa- April 1988
Ecuador/Galapagos Islands- September 29- October 6, 1988
Memphis, TN- Thyssen Bornemisza- November 2, 1988
India- February 16- March 9, 1989
Turkey- September 16- October 3 1989
France- Berry Region- April 17-28 1990
Egypt- Fall of 1990
Memphis- Catherine the Great- May 1991
Japan- May 1991
Central Europe- September 1991
Wales and the west of England- October 13-25 1992
Italy, Florence, Sicily- March 6-20 1993
China and Tibet- September 15- October 1, 1993
Riviera- Provence
World of Ancient Greece and Holy Land- September 1994
Jerusalem- 1994
St. Petersburg- November 1994
Dallas/Fort Worth- Barnes Collection- May 11-12 1995
Iberia/Morocco- June 1995
New Orleans- Monet- 1995
Indochina- October 1995
St. Petersburg- 1997
Eastern Europe- April 1998
Middle East (Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Yemen)- October 1998
Ireland- May 1999
France and Italy- September 1999
Indian Ocean Odyssey (Song of the Flower Cruise)- March 2000
South America (Silver Shadow)- November 2000
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Spain- March 2000
Paris- February 2001
Majesty of Spain Jackson 2001
Normandy Beach (Song of the Flower Cruise)- June 2002
St. Petersburg- November 2002
Cuba- February 2003
St. Petersburg- New Year’s 2003-2004
Botswana- September 2004
Libya and Tunisia- November 2005
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