Anyone who has ever taken a tour, or overhead one of our educators talking up in one of the chamber galleries, knows that we love showing off the Capitol’s chandeliers. After all, our building is home to a fantastic and varied collection of interesting fixtures.
Admittedly, we rarely have time to discuss anything more than the massive Michigan Chandeliers, or the sparkly chamber chandeliers. And there’s a lot that we don’t know about many of the smaller fixtures that have come in and out of this building.
But thanks to the family of a longtime Senate stenographer, clerk, and secretary, Virgilynn Nethaway, we can fill a previous gap in our knowledge! In April 2022, Ms. Nethaway’s daughters donated a former Senate side chandelier back to the Capitol’s collection.
This side chandelier was probably one of ten that hung down from the galleries between the 1920s and the 1960s. Comprised of cast brass and milky white glass, encircled by a chain of glass beads with crystal drops, these lights replaced an earlier generation of combination gas and electric fixtures. They were likely deinstalled during the 1964 Senate Chamber remodel.
.jpg)
Their removal fits nicely into Ms. Nethaway’s career. Virgilynn started working in the building as a secretary for the Legislative Service Bureau in December 1948. In the mid 1950s she shifted to the House, where she was Assistant Journal Clerk during the 1955 session, and a Senate committee clerk 1960-1961.
In the fall of 1961, Virgilynn took a recess to serve as the Journal Clerk during the 1961-1962 Michigan Constitutional Convention alongside the legendary Fred Chase (known to her girls as Uncle Fred). After wrapping up her labors as the Associate Editor of the Michigan Constitutional Convention Record, she went back to the Senate where she clerked for the Appropriations Committee from 1964-68, and then worked as a secretary/administrative assistant for Senator Toepp from 1969-1978.
Happily for us, Ms. Nethaway saw the value in the “old” castoff lights that were being removed in the mid 1960s. She repurposed this fixture as a nice living/dining room chandelier, eventually buying replacement glass for it. She enjoyed it for many years, always taking it with her when she moved from place to place.
The Capitol’s team was thrilled to work with Ms. Nethaway’s daughters to bring the chandelier into our artifact collection, so much so that the chandelier was quikcly placed on permanent display in the Capitol Special Exhibits Room. Located in the east wing of the ground floor, the Special Exhibits Room features several large pieces of Capitol history, from an lost-but-found library bookcase, the original House rostrum, as well as the Nethaway side senate chandelier!
