The Arizona Capitol Museum Guild will sponsor the last Saturday Family Fun Day for the 2013-2014 season on Saturday, May 31 from 10am to 2pm. The museum will reopen for the 2014-2015 season the Saturday after Labor Day.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, this will be the public’s chance to see the Silver Service from the USS Arizona without a barrier as the Guild and Museum Volunteers polish the service presented to the Battleship Arizona in 1919. Guild Members, Museum Volunteers and Staff will be on hand to tell stories about the service.
The Silver Service was finished in 1916, but because final payment was not made until after the Arizona went on active duty, the distinctively Arizonan service decorated with copper and images from Capitol Art could not be placed on the ship until 1919. This set of Presentation Silver was used for special events such as President Herbert Hoover’s working vacation on the newly refitted Arizona in the early 1930s. The silver is not flatware, it is a set with a copper and silver punchbowl with matching goblets, bread trays, compotes, vases, candle holders, cigarette trays, an awesome humidor and more. The service was removed from the ship in late 1940 and placed into storage almost a year before the ship was sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The Museum Guild is providing materials needed for polishing the service, coordinating staffing with the Arizona Capitol Museum’s Volunteer Coordinator and wants to use this event to help others learn how they can become involved in preserving the history of the Battleship Arizona and our last Territorial Capitol and first building in the State Capitol Complex now known as the Arizona Capitol Museum.
For more information visit the museum’s website. Located at 1700 W. Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85007 the museum is free as is the parking in Wesley Bolin Memorial Park just east of the building.