ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Volume 22 (Spring 1963), p.3 Arkansas' Flag Is Fifty Years Old   By WALTER L. BROWN Fayetteville ON FEBRUARY 26, 1963, THE STATE FLAG OF ARKANSAS WILL BE 50 YEARS OLD. THE story of its adoption and evolution into the present design is an interesting part of our heritage. Early in 1912 the Pine Bluff Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution decided to present a state flag to the soon-to-be commissioned battleship U.S.S. Arkansas.(1) The flag committee of the chapter, composed of Mrs. C. W. Pettigrew, who originated the idea of giving the flag, Mrs. W. A. Taggart and Mrs. Frank Tomlinson, immediately wrote to Secretary of State Earl W. Hodges asking for a design of the Arkansas State Flag. "Arkansas has no State flag," was his startling reply. (2) The dauntless patriots of Pine Bluff resolved that this was a void that should be filled at once, and immediately launched a campaign to find a flag design that would best represent our state. They asked, in a widely publicized contest, that Arkansans submit designs for the flag to Secretary of State Hodges, who had agreed to become custodian of the entries and to appoint a committee of selection. Sixty-five separate designs, ranging from miniature silk flags to crude crayon drawings, arrived at Secretary Hodges' office. Having satisfied himself that Arkansas had never had a regularly adopted state flag (3) Hodges proceeded to appoint the committee of selection. _______________ 1. Willie K. Hocker, "A History of the Official Flag of Arkansas," Arkansas Historical Association Publications, IV (Conway, 1917), 207- 209, gives the story of the adoption of the flag. 2. The Arkansas Federation of Women's Clubs at its annual convention in 1911 had adopted a state flag design painted by Mrs. Ike Moore, but failed in an attempt to get it adopted by the legislature in 1911. Mrs. Clara B. Eno, "Some Accomplishments of Arkansas Federation of Women's Clubs," Arkansas Historical Quarterly, II (September, 1943), 257. 3. A committee, composed of Major C. R. Breckenridge, chairman, Professor J. J. Doyne, secretary, George B. Rose, General B. W. Green, Colon V.Y. Cook , Dr. Junius Jordan, Mrs. Julia McAlmont Noel, and Mrs. Jo Frauenthal, caused a search to be made of the historical records of Arkansas to determine whether or not the state had ever adopted an official flag. The search failed to turn up any such record. Hocker, "A History of the Official Flag of Arkansas," Arkansas Historical Association Publications, IV, 207-208.           Contents  Words  Study Questions  Related Sites Next