Early in 1912 the Pine Bluff Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), decided to present a "stand of colors" to the new U.S.S. Arkansas battleship, which would include a United States flag, a naval battalion flag, and an Arkansas flag. Secretary of State Earle W. Hodges informed the DAR group that Arkansas had no state flag, which led the Pine Bluff Chapter to immediately launch a movement to obtain one. Through the newspapers, they asked that designs be submitted to Secretary of State Hodges, who agreed to appoint a committee to select an official flag. Sixty-five separate designs were considered by Hodges' committee. The design chosen was the work of Willie Kavanaugh Hocker of Wabbaseka, a member of the Pine Bluff Chapter, DAR. The Arkansas General Assembly passed a resolution on February 26, 1913, affirming the choice of the committee. The Arkansas State Archives holds 43 of the submitted designs.
Description
This flag design features a centered white shield edged in red, containing the blue-edged outline of the state of Arkansas containing a blue star, over a field of red and white stripes on the lower half of the design and a field of blue on the upper half of the design. Upon the blue field is the outline of the Arkansas State Capitol, the words ARKANSAS and the state motto, "REGNAT POPULUS"as well as shields on the left and right of the capitol, containing apple blossoms.
Physical Description
One color drawing, 11" x 17"
Subjects
Drawings; Competition drawings; State flags
Local Identifier
Flag38
Digital Resource
Image
Digital Collection
Arkansas Flags
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Preferred Citation
G. C. Timmerman 1913 Arkansas Flag design, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.
