Artifact spotlight
Each month the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will highlight artifacts or a collection from the Museum. This page will feature photographs of the artifacts, donor information, and historical information.
June/JulyMarch/April/May
January/February
Artifact spotlight from previous years
June/July Spotlight
The current artifact spotlight focuses on a piece of Arkansas’ military history coming home after 145 years--the Alger Cadet Gun. The gun is not currently on display but will be ready next spring. Watch the Web site for more information as it becomes available.
Alger
Cadet Gun
Year: 1851
Dimensions: 50.5 inches long and 570 lbs.
Loaned By: Petersburg National Military Park
In 1848, the Cyrus Alger Company produced four artillery pieces called “6-pounder guns, light” which have since been known as “Cadet” guns. Only 50.5 inches long and weighing but 570 pounds, all four of the original guns were sent to the Virginia Military Institute. Three years later in 1851, two more Cadet guns were produced for the Arkansas Military Academy in Tulip, Arkansas. Four additional guns were manufactured for the Georgia Military Institute in 1852. Of these ten Alger Cadet guns, only seven are known to survive.
The guns were intended for drill and instruction; however, a shortage of field pieces in the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War resulted in the Cadet guns being commandeered for active duty. The cadets of the Military Academy in Tulip became a part of the Third Arkansas Infantry. The two Alger Cadet guns owned by the Tulip Military Academy were carried from Arkansas to Virginia in 1861.
March/April/May Spotlight
Women in the Military
In World War II nearly 400,000 women served their country. The Army had its Army Nurse Corps and the Women’s Army Corps (WAC, previously known as WAAC.) Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) allowed women to serve the Navy branch and the Women’s Reserve the Marine Corp branch. The Coast Guard had its Semper Paratus, Always Ready (SPARS). The Women Air force Service Pilots (WASP) allowed women to serve but was not officially part of the armed forces. Regardless of where they served, women in World War II were praised for their efforts and commitment.
Army Nurse Corps Jacket, Shirt
Date: c. 1942
Material: wool
Loaned By: Ron Fuller
WAVES jacket, skirt, hat
Date: c. 1942
Material: wool
Donated By: Jason Hendren
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, fewer than one thousand women served in the Army Nurse Corps. By the end of the war, more than 59,000 American nurses had served. During World War II, nurses worked closer to the front lines than ever before. Nurses served under fire in field and evacuation hospitals, on hospital trains and ships, and as flight nurses on medical transport planes. Their skill and dedication contributed to the low post-injury mortality rate among American soldiers. Overall, fewer than four percent of American soldiers who received medical care in the field died from wounds or disease.
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) officially came into existence on July 30, 1942. During World War II, some 100,000 WAVES served in a variety of capacities, from performing essential clerical duties to serving as instructors for male pilots-in-training. WAVES also performed previously atypical duties in the Judge Advocate Corps, medical profession, communications, intelligence, and science and technology. Initially, the women of WAVES did not serve overseas. Unlike the Army’s female branch, the WAVES were not an auxiliary and were accorded a status comparable to that of male members of the reserve. By the end of the war, WAVES accounted for about 2.5% of the Navy’s total strength.
Marion Reed Pastel Drawing
Date: 1945
Material: paper and pastels
Donated By: Brett Biddle Tyhurst
Marion Reed served as a WAC during World War II.
Stationary, WAC Recruiting Poster, WAC Draft Card, and
WAC Booklet
Date: c 1940s
Material: paper & ink
Donated By: Gwendolyn Stiles and Brett Biddle Tyhurst (Draft Card and
Booklet)
January/February Spotlight
January/February’s artifact spotlight focuses on a silver service set used aboard the first of two naval cruisers commissioned during World War I. The first ship was named the USS Arkansas. Three pieces-- a trophy cup, shot glass, and service tray--are on display in the World War I gallery.
Silver Service Set
Year: Circa 1916
Dimensions: Vary in size and shape according to the piece
Made of: Silver
Loaned By: The Governor’s Mansion-Governor Mike and Mrs. Beebe
From the British Navy the United States inherited the custom of giving individual pieces and small silver tea services. In the Navy’s early years, presentation silver was most commonly given to individual officers and heroes for acts of valor or victory in battle. The tradition of giving major presentation services for the wardrooms of specific ships began with the construction of the new steel Navy in the 1880s and 1890s. The new tradition was spurred in part by the general patriotic fervor re-kindled with the nation’s centennial in 1876. Gorham Silver Manufacturing Company of New York City crafted the set used aboard the USS Arkansas (BB-33). The silver service set was presented on April 23, 1919, by Miss Daisy Delony on behalf of the state of Arkansas and its governor. When the ship was decommissioned on July 29, 1946, an inventory was taken and the entire presentation set remained intact and on board throughout the conflict. Currently the entire set of silver service is in use at the Governor’s Mansion. These three items were chosen by Mrs. Beebe to represent the set and are on loan to the Museum.
(Photos and program from the silver service presentation courtesy of Ray Hanley.)
