Old State House Museum to Host Exhibits
on the Louisiana Purchase

For Immediate Central Arkansas Release - November 22, 2002

LITTLE ROCK, AR - The Old State House Museum will host the exhibit, The Louisiana Purchase: From This Point On, May 2 - May 31, 2003. In conjunction with this special exhibition, the museum is recreating its permanent Arkansas Wilderness Gallery. Both exhibits will focus on the historical events of the Louisiana Purchase and highlight the significance of the land purchase to Arkansas. Visitors will gain a greater understanding of how the Purchase affected the territory that would become Arkansas and learn about what life was like in the region during the early nineteenth century. "Both exhibits revolve around the Louisiana Purchase, but offer different perspectives," announced Bill Gatewood, director of the Old State House Museum in Little Rock. The Treaty, on loan from the National Archives, will be on view at the museum May 2 - May 31, 2003.

From 1802 to 1803, the United States conducted one of the largest real estate deals in American history. This transaction was known as the Louisiana Purchase. At a price of $15 million, France deeded 828,000 square miles of territory to the United States and more than doubled the size of the world's largest republic.

Elliot West, guest curator of the Arkansas Wilderness Gallery exhibit writes, "To millions of Americans, the Louisiana Purchase is symbolized by the great open landscapes of the far West. And yet it is anchored in an Arkansas swamp. Just off U.S. Highway 49 in Monroe County, a boardwalk reaches into a heavily wooded marsh. At its end a granite marker rises from dark water and duckweed. Here in 1815 two government agents established the initial reckoning point for all of the territory purchased from Napoleonic France by Thomas Jefferson in 1803."

Like the expeditions of the West by Lewis and Clark, Arkansas was fertile ground to be explored. The Hunter-Dunbar expedition revealed information about the Ouachita River and the surrounding region, and traveled through the Arkansas territory as far as Hot Springs. The exploration of the southern boundary of the Purchase was at least as important as the northern from Jefferson's perspective. "At the time of the Purchase, this region was home to a vigorous commerce in furs and a dynamic shuffling of power among Native American groups," notes West.

Artifacts included in The Louisiana Purchase: From This Point On are from the Old State House Museum's collection and on loan from various individuals and institutions, and includes a rare copy of Napoleon's death mask, a painted portrait of Napoleon, historic maps, and the Thomas Jefferson bust once owned by former Arkansas Governor Carl Bailey (1937-1941).

Lea Baker, guest curator of The Louisiana Purchase: From This Point On and education coordinator for the Department of Arkansas Heritage says, "The Louisiana Purchase exhibit at the Old State House will feature the treaty documents of 1802 and 1803 and focus on the geopolitics of the Louisiana Purchase. The treaty was conducted in 1802, ratified by the United States Congress in 1803, and made known to the public on July 4, 1803 - the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. We are very proud to have this document at the Old State House because it is a rare opportunity for students and citizens of Arkansas to see because it is such an important document related to our American heritage and it does not travel the country often."

The Old State House Museum hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Guided tours are available seven days a week; please call in advance for group tour reservations at 501.324.9865.

The Old State House Museum is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and shares the goal of all six Department of Arkansas Heritage agencies, that of preserving and enhancing the heritage of the state of Arkansas. The agencies are Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Historic Arkansas Museum, and the Old State House Museum.