The Old State House Museum reopened its exhibit on the lives of Arkansas’s leading ladies in September.

“First Ladies of Arkansas: Women of Their Times” explores the lives and accomplishments of governor’s wives throughout Arkansas’s history and contains the largest exhibition of first ladies’ gowns outside the Smithsonian.

The museum hosted a special preview event on Sept. 13, which was attended by Gov. Asa and Susan Hutchinson, as well as former governors and first ladies Mike and Ginger Beebe, Janet Huckabee, Jim Guy and Betty Tucker, and Gay White. Many descendants and relatives of other Arkansas first families also attended.

The gowns on exhibit include some of the dresses that recently went through a significant conservation process. The museum received an Outstanding Conservation Work Award from the Arkansas Museum Association in 2017 for efforts in conserving and preserving these gowns.

The newly-renovated exhibit also includes video interviews with many of Arkansas’s first ladies detailing their accomplishments and efforts during their time as First Lady of Arkansas.

Gowns in the exhibit include those worn by Susan Hutchinson, Ginger Beebe, Barbara Pryor, Hillary Clinton, Mabel Martineau, Elizabeth Little, Ewilda Robinson, Anne McMath, Betty Tucker, Gay White, Jeannette Rockefeller, Alta Faubus, Anne Brough, Betty Bumpers, Janet Huckabee, Margaret Cherry and Eula Terral.