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Historical Society supports a wide range of learning initiatives, the House murals exemplify yet another way in which it strives to "develop a wider and more avid interest in our Capitol" through the enhancement and preservation of its art and architecture. 9 As noted in the introduction to this essay, the didactic potential of the arts is intrinsic to the building's multiple functions as "our national temple;" a "civic museum;" "the people's house," or in modern parlance, a popular tourist site; and "the Congress hall." From its beginnings, the Capitol has been remarkably accessible to all visitors. Even with current security constraints it remains so today, and accessibility is also integral to the art housed there. In a posthumous Congressional tribute to Allyn Cox, Senator How- ard Baker described his paintings as "instant history, with a legacy that is instantly secured." 10 e phrase "instant history" suggests Baker's perception of the public appeal of Cox's murals, the leg- ibility of the historical events and figures they portray, and the didactic intent of the "teachable moments" they convey. At the time of Cox's death, he le preliminary notes and had a watercolor sketch approved by the Joint Committee on the Library for a third House corridor on the theme of west- ward expansion. ese included a basic design concept that fea- tured maps picturing the physical growth of the United States in each of the Corridor's bays (its barrel-vaulted compartments), with smaller, medallion-like images grouped in the groin vaults (smaller segmented areas in the ceiling ) between them (figs. 9a, 9b). Following an open competition initiated by the Architect of the Capitol's office, EverGreene Painting Studios of New York City (now EverGreene Architectural Arts), under the direction of artist Jeffrey Greene (b. 1953), was awarded the commission for the final House corridor in the summer of 1992. Work on the corridor began immediately—with exhaustive research and, in Greene's words, "much brainstorming" among many collabo- rators. Pencil sketches, figure studies, color charts, three-dimen- sional maquettes (or models), and finally, full-scale cartoons, were produced in preparation for the actual painting. Once the final cartoons were approved, the EverGreene artists relocated to Washington for the on-site painting of the corridor. "The Westward Expansion Corridor" was dedicated in September 1993, the Capitol's bicentennial year. To maintain visual and nar- rative continuity and an overall unity in all three House hallways, the methods and materials used were the same as those employed in the first two series of corridors. Painting proceeded quickly due in part to the fact that, for the most part, the EverGreene artists worked collaboratively (fig. 12), with each specializing in one component of the overall de- sign, such as portraiture, landscape, trompe l'oeil, maps, or painted texts. (Allyn Cox had painted the earlier corridors with a single primary assistant, Cliff Young.) Just as Cox had worked in the style of Brumidi in order to maintain compositional unity in the Frieze of American History and had sought to situate the Cox Cor- ridors within the Neoclassical fabric of the building established and maintained by earlier presidents and legislators, architects, artists, engineers, and other officials, so the EverGreene artists adhered to the visual model Cox had established in "e Hall of Capitols" and "e Great Experiment Hall" (figs. 13a, 13b, 13c). In their totality, the three House corridors testify to the ongoing importance of public art that, within the precincts of the Capitol, continues to play a role in "the general diffusion of knowledge" advocated by George Washington and his contem- poraries. At the same time, they also illustrate the principles of unity and multiplicity, of continuity and change, that charac- terize both the architectural structure and decorative program of the building as a whole. While adhering to the parameters of Cox's stylistic model, the historical narrative of the "Westward Expansion Corridor" at the same time foregrounds the new, more inclusive views of American history evolving in the early 1990s when it was created. As modern muralists of the Capitol, Allyn Cox and Jeffrey Greene upheld an ongoing tradition to which many have contributed by visualizing the nation's past as well as its significance in the present. 9 Fig. 13b. Cox, Corridor II, detail ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL Fig. 13c. Greene, Corridor III, detail