As part of the competition, Bertram Goodhue enlisted sculptor associate Lee Lawrie to provide preliminary sculptural
designs. Following his appointment as Capitol Architect, Goodhue retained Lawrie and muralist Hildreth Meiere to
provide the ornamentation for the new Capitol. Early in the project Hartley Burr Alexander, Professor of Philosophy at
the University of Nebraska, was called upon to provide inscriptions for the main entrance and chambers of the building.
As a result, Dr. Alexander was called upon to prepare the thematic program which guided the artists in their work on the
Capitol as well. Though Goodhue died 2 years after Capitol construction began, the artists and Alexander worked to
fulfill Goodhue's vision of a Capitol in which art and architecture were thoroughly integrated.
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