Thomas Hart Benton

November 7, 2025- July 31, 2026

A collection of 25 paintings and drawings produced by Benton in 1943 and 1944 as a commission for Abbott Laboratories and the U.S. Navy. These works depicted the intensity of life aboard a submarine, the USS Dorado, and the wartime bustle of a shipyard in Ambridge Pennsylvania, building LSTs (landing ships for tanks). These unique encounters produced equally unique works of art, which capture the anticipation of war and the many contributing efforts.

In addition to these works, Benton’s Year of Peril series will be featured in reproduced images. The paintings, conceived and created in the weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, capture the unadulterated brutality of the war and his fear of the rising Axis Powers. Full of evocative imagery, color, and symbolism, these works served as Benton’s rallying cry to the American public to support U.S. entry into World War II.

From Shangri-La to Tokyo: The Story of the Doolittle Raiders

April 18, 2023- June 30, 2025

One of the most compelling factors of the Doolittle Raid was the enormous amount of secrecy afforded to the mission. Despite the need of tests, training, and modifications made to the B-25s to be used on the mission, neither the airmen, nor the crew of the U.S.S. Hornet were aware of the intended target until just days before their arrival. This secrecy continued even after the raid’s conclusion.  Not wanting to alert the Japanese to the launch site of the raiders, the U.S. government would reveal limited information on the attack to the press. In order to evade the question from journalists, President Roosevelt would historically state that the B-25s took off from “Shangri-La,” a fictional city found in James Hilton’s novel, Lost Horizon. This exhibit will set this secrecy as its backbone, using it as major takeaway that will highlight the heroic undertakings of Lt. Colonel Doolittle and his crew of raiders. 

Imagery and Irony: The Fight for Women’s Suffrage through the Political Cartoons of Nina Allender

Nina Allender’s political cartoons illustrated the fight for women’s suffrage in ways that no other medium could. The battle for equality became accessible, tangible, funny and gut-wrenching through her art. From 1914 until her final cartoon appeared in 1927, Allender created more than 300 illustrations during the woman’s suffrage campaign. This exhibit explores the power of those illustrations and their connections to government propaganda created to support World War I. 

Vietnam, America’s Conflict

Vietnam, America’s Conflict brings together the powerful photography of Jim Guy Tucker and Bruce Wesson, graduates of Little Rock’s Hall High School class of 1961. The work of these two schoolmates captures the faces of men, women, and children learning first hand their own profound lessons of war. Using the portraits in this exhibit, Tucker and Wesson remind museum patrons of the reality of war. 

War and Remembrance

Learn how photos, letters, other memorabilia and events help us to understand the Civil War perspective through memory and time.