The works were completed in 1981 and permanently installed on the walls of the House of Representatives' chambers at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia;[1] the building was designed in the 1920s to accommodate murals, but they were not funded until the 1970s.
[3] The murals were covered by the state government a few weeks after their initial installation by plywood sheets behind a curtain pending their removal after a 1982 House vote,[1][4][5][6] when some lawmakers[according to whom?]
[15] Spafford won the commission for four murals to be installed in the Washington State Legislature's House chambers in the Capitol Building in Olympia.
[16][17] Spafford was awarded the commission in September 1980 along with a set of two murals by another University of Washington professor, Alden Mason (1919-2013) for the Senate chambers.
After months of debate, the Washington State House voted to drape the murals, completely covering them up and cancelling the remaining two panels.
[16] The murals were uncovered in 1989, then in 1993 four years later removed entirely and stored, at a cost of $162,200 to Washington State taxpayers—almost double what Spafford was awarded initially to create them.
[16] The mural battle eventually lasted for years, including numerous hearings, media coverage, a lawsuit, and taxpayer expense becoming a Pacific Northwest legend of bureaucratic folly.