In September 1956, Jeannette began her Arkansas community involvement by speaking to Little Rock’s Fine Arts Club on the subject of Colonial Williamsburg, her famous in-law’s passionate project. She also raised money for Arkansas’s U.S. Savings Bond program. From these modest beginnings, she co-led with her husband a successful statewide fundraising campaign for the Museum of Fine Arts (now the Arkansas Arts Center). As a result of the couple’s leadership, the state raised a total of $1,500,000, which ensured the project’s success. In 1960, she assumed the role of president of the Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees, a position she held until 1968. Also during the 1960s, she served as president for the Arkansas and National Associations for Mental Health, and as trustee for the Research Foundation of the National Association for Mental Health, Finch College in New York City, and Philander Smith College in Little Rock.
(Jeannette’s papers are available as a part of the Winthrop Rockefeller Collection (ualr.ms.0001). Find out more by visiting the finding aid online.)
