Vol. 41, No. 2 Published monthly by the Oklahoma Historical Society, serving since 1893 February 2010
An Evening with Martha Washington on February 5 at Oklahoma History Center
Come to the Oklahoma History Center Tyron, Christiana Campbell, Mrs. Getty, and enjoy an evening with our nation’s first Mrs. Powell, Mrs. Peyton Randolph—and First Lady on Friday, February 5, 2010. created the character of Miss Manderlay The program is presented through a spe- for the Pleasant Doll Company. cial partnership with George Washington’s Wiseman also began the first charac- Mount Vernon Estate and Garden and the ter-led tour, “According to the Ladies,” fo- History Center. The doors will be opened at cusing on the lives of colonial women. The 6 p.m., and the program will begin at 7 tourbrokenewgroundinitsuniquestyle p.m. Seating is offered on a first-come ba- and information. Working to teach young sis, and reservations are not required. This interpreters about the lives of their eigh- programisfreeandopentothepublic. teenth-century counterparts, she taught In 1797 President and Lady Washington “Young Gentlemen of the College” and returned home to their beloved Mount “Young Ladies of Accomplishment,” and Vernon. After years of sacrifice, they looked has also directed the development of char- forward to a happy retirement. They en- acter interpretive programs at the Court- joyed a scant two years of peace and con- house of 1770, the Governor’s Palace, the tentment, surrounded by family and the Powell Family Evening and Christmas pro- many visitors who found their way to their grams, and many other sites in the historic home and enjoyed the Washingtons’ fa- area. mous hospitality. George Washington died Eighteenth-century language, deport- in 1799. ment, and manners have become topics of Mary Wiseman brings thirty years of in- her museum lectures and consultations, terpretive experience to the role of Amer- and she is currently writing a book on the in one of the historic Colonial Williamsburg ica’s first First Lady. Recently retired as power of first-person character interpre- area houses for most of her career. She has “Artistic Director for Character Interpreta- tation. sung in the choir of Bruton Parish Church tion and Manager of Women’s History” at Traveling extensively, with performances for thirty years—the same church in which the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, throughout this country and in England, Martha Washington’s great-grandfather Wiseman presently concentrates her tal- Wiseman has appeared at the White House came to be the first rector. In spring 1759 ents in bringing the life and times of Mar- Visitors Center, Constitution Hall, Wash- Martha Washington journeyed from Wil- tha Washington to Americans of all ages. ington’s Headquarters in Cambridge, Mas- liamsburg to her home at Mount Vernon. As the founding force in the development sachusetts, and Valley Forge and has In spring 2004, in the same week, Wise- of living history programming at Colonial brought her portrayal of Martha Washing- man retraced her famed historic counter- Williamsburg, Wiseman has supervised re- ton “home” to Mount Vernon. She has part’s journey. search, casting, and development for many made numerous appearances in television For more information on the Martha presentations. She also created the “Forum and film, including consulting and per- Washington program contact Jason Harris for Women in History” to emphasize forming in the CBS miniseries George at the Oklahoma History Center by e-mail women’s contributions to eighteenth-cen- Washington. at
Fort Gibson program to commemorate Black History Month Mark the Calendar!! Fort Gibson Historic Site will present its annual Community Program in celebration of Black History Month on Saturday, February 20, in the site’s historic stone barracks. This Durant to host Annual year’s topic will be “Police Duty at Fort Gibson.” Members of all-black units, the Buffalo Sol- diers served in the U.S. Army from the 1860s into the mid-twentieth century. In 1867 Fort Meeting in April 2010 Gibson became the first assignment of the Buffalo Soldiers in Indian Territory. Their duties Correction! Your editor named the at Fort Gibson had nothing to do with waging war against the local tribes, however, but wrong town in the headline of the Jan- consisted in trying to bring peace and order to the area in the years after the Civil War. uary article about the Annual Meeting Planned activities include a live presentation and the showing of a history film. After the in 2010. It will be held in Durant. More movie ends, refreshments will be served. The program begins at 1 p.m. and will last approx- information is forthcoming in the imately one hour. Admission is free, and the general public is welcome. March and April issues of Mistletoe Fort Gibson Historic Site is located on State Highway 80 in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, and Leaves. is operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. Regular admission to the historic site is $3 for adults, $2.50 for seniors (65 and over), and $1 for students 6 to 18. Children 5 and un- der are admitted free. For more information call 918/478-4088 or send an e-mail to
The National Register of Historic Places Since its earliest settlement the Down- deemed to be locally outstanding due to its is a catalogue of the buildings, sites, struc- town Mangum Historic District (below) has intact architectural integrity as well as its tures, districts, and objects that provide a served the needs of its surrounding com- historical connection to the settlement and glimpse into our past. These sites also may munity, providing commercial, profes- growth of Jefferson County. be selected for architectural and archaeo- sional, and social services to residents and The Ingle Brothers Broomcorn Ware- logical interests. The Oklahoma State His- visitors alike. The area’s proximity to rail house, constructed in 1908, is representa- toric Preservation Office is pleased to an- tive of an industry located nounce that the following five properties in Ellis County in the early were added to the National Register at the twentieth century. The im- end of 2009. portance of this building is The Attucks School, located in Vinita, heightened because it is Craig County, Oklahoma, is significant as the only broomcorn facility a separate primary and secondary school still standing in Shattuck. in Vinita. The Attucks School served the The settlement of this area black community of Vinita as a combined of Oklahoma was stimu- elementary, junior high, and high school. It lated by the discovery and was not the only black school in Craig adoption of drought-resis- County, as there were seven, but it was the tantcropssuchasmilo, only secondary school that was available to maize, Kaffir corn, and blacks until desegregation came about in broomcorn. Soon, broom- the mid-1950s. While the Vinita public corn proved to be the best school system readily desegregated as re- source of revenue, and it quired by law following the landmark deci- became the staple crop of sions of Brown v. Board of Education theregion.Atypeofsor- (1954), it took more than three years for de- ghum, broomcorn is used segregation to happen in Vinita. Attucks A portion of the Downtown Mangum Historic District in the manufacturing of School is also significant for its association (L. Schwan/SHPO photo). brooms and whiskbrooms. with New Deal–era programs because the WPA–constructed gymnasium/auditorium and automobile transporta- wing was constructed in 1939. For more tion routes and its agricul- than three decades the Attucks School fun- tural production, combined damentally served the black community of withthetown’sroleasthe Vinita. seat of county government, The Bassett House (pictured below), lo- allowed Mangum to enjoy a cated in Cushing, Oklahoma, is significant period of tremendous growth as an excellent and well-preserved example and prosperity. The com- of the American International style of ar- mercial success of the com- chitecture. Constructed in 1953–1954, the munity,aswellastheim- house was designed by Coston and Frank- portance of the downtown furt, Architects and Engineers, who intro- district, is reflected in its his- duced Cushing to this mid-twentieth-cen- toric properties. The Down- tury architectural style in a residence. As town Mangum Historic Dis- the Bassett family home from 1954 to trict represents the develop- 2009, it became a local landmark, not only ment as well as the matura- as an example of modern residential archi- tion of commerce in Mang- Ingle Brothers Broomcorn Warehouse, Shattuck tecture unique to Cushing but also as an um between 1900 and 1937. (L. Schwan/SHPO photo). important venue for the town’s social life and community activities. Broomcorn differs from other sorghums in The Irving Baptist Church that it produces heads with fibrous seed is representative of the peo- branchesthatmaybeaslongasthirty-six ple who settled in Jefferson inches. The broomcorn plant’s long, fi- County in the early twenti- brous shaft is used for making the brooms. eth century. The architec- By 1902 more than five thousand acres of tural style of the building is broomcorn were being planted in the area. indicative of their beliefs and By 1907 Shattuck had become a large also of the society that they broomcorn market. The building stands as were working to create in a remarkable link to Shattuck’s agricul- this relatively new state. The tural past. importance of this building The State Historic Preservation Office is heightened because it is continues to strive to gain recognition for the only building with archi- those places significant in Oklahoma’s his- tectural integrity remaining tory. For more information on these or in the crossroads commu- other National Register properties, contact nity of Irving, Oklahoma. Lynda Schwan at 405/522-4478 or e-mail The Irving Baptist Church is her at
Bassett House, Cushing (M.J.Warde/SHPOphoto).
4 Hidden Collections . . . GreatBooksseriescontinuesat Cherokee Strip Regional The Ned Hockman Collection Heritage Center By Larry O’Dell Dr. J. Rufus Fears, the David Ross Boyd Oklahoma is a young state, and its true Professor of Classics at the University of pioneers can excel in genres that many Oklahoma, will return to Enid for a new se- would not consider traditional. The Ned ries of lectures entitled “Lessons in Leader- Hockman Collection (2009.100) illustrates ship through the Great Books.” this, not only through the films that he On February 8 he will deliver a lecture on made, but also in the accompanying manu- Elie Wiesel’s Night. Wiesel was a young script collection. Hockman donated more Jewish boy who was sent to the concentra- than one hundred cubic feet of film and tion camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald thirty boxes of manuscript material to the during World War II. A book that he wrote Oklahoma Historical Society. about his experiences, published in 1955 Born in Carnegie, Oklahoma, Hockman and titled Night, is now considered a classic attended the University of Oklahoma, work- in the literature of the Holocaust. ing for the radio station WNAD. As a soldier The lecture begins at 7 p.m. in Montgom- in World War II he trained at Hal Roach’s ery Hall on the Enid campus of Northern studio for motion picture production. As an Oklahoma College. The presentation is Air Corps correspondent he filmed several open to the public, free of charge. wartime events, including the first B-29 raid in Asia. When he returned to the Ned Hockman (right) with OHS Cherokee Strip Regional Sooner State, he founded the motion picture videographer Bill Moore (Staff photo). production program at the University of Heritage Center to host Arn Oklahoma. During the Korean conflict Hockman again returned to the military in a similar Henderson for lecture position. After the war and his return to OU, he continued his teaching and began to cover the school’s sports, including directing the nationally syndicated Bud Wilkinson “coaches Professor Emeritus of Architecture Arn show.” In 1962 Hockman directed and coproduced Stark Fear, his only theatrical film. In Henderson will deliver a February 24 pre- 1987 he retired from OU, and in 2009 Ned Hockman passed away. sentation as part of the Brown Bag Lecture The collection consists of a very large number of original films, which are still being pro- Series at Enid’s Cherokee Strip Regional cessed and preserved. The papers are indexed and can be researched. They include scripts Heritage Center. An expert on historic dating to the 1940s. These are affiliated not just with the university, but also with state preservation and the architectural history agencies such as the Oklahoma Fish and Game Department, and also represent of the American Southwest, he will discuss Hockman’s work with commercials for private industries. Also included are materials re- the differences between “high style” and lated to his work with NASA and different professional associations. Several items deal with vernacular architecture on the southern the production of Bud Wilkinson’s sport shows and include scripts, correspondence, com- plains. mercial scripts, camera logs, sound logs, and scene notes. Hockman also worked on Henderson, a fellow in the American In- Wilkinson’s 1962 senatorial campaign. stitute of Architects, served as professor of As with all of the OHS archives, the finding aid to the Ned Hockman Collection can be architecture at the University of Oklahoma viewed on the Research Division’s online catalogue in the Oklahoma Historical Society’s from 1973 until his retirement in 2002 but web site,
Pioneer Woman Muse- um’s free dance classes drew a varied group of students in January. The energy-burning ses- sions were offered to the Jim Thorpe Home offers community to prepare for annual quilt show themuseum’splannedsock hop—a fund-raising event On Wednesday, February 10, the Jim held on January 15. The Thorpe Home in Yale will open its annual classes included a talk on quilt show. The exhibit, always popular rock and roll dance history and well attended, will be accessible be- by William Brigden, who was tween 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. every Wednesday the dancing instructor. Pic- through Saturday from February 10 to turedatleftareMr.andMrs. February 27. This show explores the evolu- Brigden and youthful enthu- tion of quilts old, new, and in between. The siasts Suzanna and David JimThorpeHomeislocatedat706East Moore in the museum’s new Boston Ave. in Yale. Call 918/387-2815 for Rock and Roll Gallery (Staff additional information. photo).
5 OHS Places . . . Fort Towson Time Line and Sod House Museum public education event set for February 26 Route 3, Box 28 Aline, OK 73716-9801 The annual Fort Towson Time Line is Phone: 580/463-2441 scheduled to reprise in 2010. On Friday, Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tues. - Sat.; closed Sunday, February 26, a group of education stations Monday, and state holidays. will depict periods and important occur- Admission: $4 for adults, $2 for children, and children age 6 rences that are associated with the military and under are free. occupation of Fort Towson Historic Site. Directions: Four miles N of Cleo Springs, E of SH 8. The event targets school-age children as well as history enthusiasts. Each educa- More than a hundred years ago Marshall McCully tion station will be presented by a living participated in the opening of the Cherokee Outlet history specialist dressed in period clothes. on September 16, 1893. His experiences mirrored The historian will discuss a specific era or those of other settlers who participated in the land will demonstrate a trade pursued by past openings, as his original claim was jumped by an- occupants of the fort. Exemplary are black- other individual. So McCully relocated and acquired smithing (the art of turning raw iron into 163 acres north of Cleo Springs. When Alfalfa usable products), trading practices of the County was organized in 1907, his claim would be 1840s (using silver, beads, and furs), located on the southern edge of that county. artillery demonstrations by the 20th Texas McCully initially lived in a dugout, which he replaced in August 1894 with a sod house Living History Association, using the OHS constructed from the tough, thick buffalo grass that grew in the area. The soddy consisted twelve-pound cannon, and candle making. of two rooms, approximately 10 by 12 feet each. Using poles made from local blackjack For details call Fort Towson Historic Site at trees, he made a roof. He filled the cracks between the poles with mud and piled dirt on top 580/873-2634. of the mud. In September that year McCully brought his bride, Sadie Steele, a teacher from Enid, to their new home. When the McCullys needed to buy a cow, Sadie’s organ was traded rather than Marshall’s rifle. Fittingly, they named their cow Old Organ. The Oklahoma His- It’s Pawnee Bill’s 150th torical Society acquired the sod house in December 1963, and it was listed in the National birthday! Register of Historic Places (NR 70000526) in 1970. The 115-year-old soddy remains in its original location and is covered by an outer shell building to protect it from the elements. It ThestaffofthePawneeBillRanchHis- isoneOklahoma’sjewelsintherough. toric Site and Museum celebrate their Upcoming events at the Sod House Museum will include several lectures and needlework namesake’s birthday every year, and in classes. On February 6 Dr. Aaron Mason will present “Galvanized Yankees.” Kay Farrell, 2010 comes the man’s 150th. For this very R.N., is slated to discuss “Pioneer Early-Day Health” on March 20, and Darrell Bullard will special birthday the ever-popular Birthday talk about “Cowboy Poetry and Art” on April 24. If sewing is your forte “Quilt Block of the Bash occurs on Friday, February 12. The Month” classes are scheduled for February 20, March 13, April 10, May 8, and June 12, party starts at 1 p.m. and continues until 3 p.m. The staff always serves cake and punch, and this bash is no exception. It Takes More Than Money . . . Pawnee Bill (Gordon William Lillie), the ...tocreatecollectionsandexhibitsthatcanachievetheOklahomaHistoricalSociety’s world-renowned Wild West showman, en- goals of educating the public and providing research opportunities. It takes the donation of an tered the world as the oldest child in his artifact,anartwork,abook,adocument,orawholecollectionofthosethingsthathelpustell family on Valentine’s Day—February 14— Oklahoma’s story. It also takes loyal, dedicated volunteers and docents. Here are the contribu- in 1860 in Bloomington, Illinois. He came tions of some of your friends and associates who understand those needs: to Indian Territory as a trapper, taught at Research Division Donors, OctoberBDecember 2009 the Pawnee Agency, and was an inter- preter to the Pawnee Indian agent. In 1883 Armstrong, Dorothy L., Perryton, TX Irons, Shawn, Stillwater he helped the Pawnees become part of Buf- Ashton, Sharron J., Norman Jones, Charles E., Oklahoma City Bagwell, John and Jana, Adamant, VT Kerby, Don R., Oklahoma City falo Bill’s Wild West show, and in 1888 he Ballard, Currie, Coyle Knight, Fred, Oklahoma City formed his own short-lived show. Basore, Brian, Oklahoma City Laub, Nancy, Oklahoma City After marrying May Manning in 1886, Batchelder, Nathaniel, Oklahoma City Miller, Dorthea J., Kingfisher Brown, Carol, Oklahoma City Mittelstet, Mary Vignon Goodno, Edmond he came to the Unassigned Lands in 1889, Brown, Lecil, Bethany Moser, Eleanor Ashley, Oklahoma City and he became known as Pawnee Bill. He Bryant, Anita, Oklahoma City Muskogee Public Library, Muskogee reinvented himself in “Pawnee Bill’s His- Bryant, Genevieve, Arden, NC Myers, Russell, Grants Pass, OR Burnette, Margaret, Southlake, TX Oklahoma City Zoo torical Wild West, Indian Museum and En- Cassidy, Kathryn, Estate of, Blackwell Oklahoma Gazette, Oklahoma City campment.” The rest is legend. Pawnee Chapman, Julia I., Oklahoma City Oklahoma Genealogical Society, Oklahoma City Bill’s life and his own Wild West show are Clark, Opal, Tulsa Oklahoma Society United States Daughters of 1812, commemorated at the Pawnee Bill Ranch Cochnauer, Tiajuana, New Ellenton, SC Oklahoma City Cofield, Kenneth, Oklahoma City Olds, Flora C., Guthrie Historic Site, a part of which is the family’s Cole, Jodie, Oklahoma City Rosser, Linda Kennedy, Oklahoma City mansion home and which also includes a Colonial Dames of the XVII Century, Norman Samples, Dick, Oklahoma City museum. Call 918/762-2513 for details Crain, Harold, Oklahoma City Schweinfurth, Kay, Dallas, TX Curry, Bob, Pauls Valley Scott, G. Doug, Holdenville and directions. Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Porter Haskell, Oklahoma City Stearns, Kathleen, Bethany Dittmar, Frederick, Norman Storck, Aron, Oklahoma City Eudaily, Daniel H., Dillon, MT Thompson, Alvin, Harrah Evans, Maria D., Shawnee Thweatt, Richmond F., Oklahoma City Read more about Pawnee Bill in Fendley, Jan, Norman United Daughters of the Confederacy, Robert Edward Lee Francis, Tamara, Anadarko Chapter 2127, Oklahoma City the OHS’s new Encyclopedia of Freck, Cheryl, Norman Voss, Lindsey, Oklahoma City Oklahoma History and Culture. Graham, Patricia, Wimberley, TX Warde, Mary Jane, Stillwater Hair, Roy, Oklahoma City Watkins, W. L., Dawsonville, CA Call the OHS Gift Shop after Hammons, John Tyler, Muskogee Willis, Robin, Anadarko February 15, 2010, for prices Hathorne, Chester, Oklahoma City Wingo, Larry, Yukon Hilton, Lucy L., Madison, MS Wootten, Catherine, Chickasha and more information. Hueppelshouser, Dale, Jones Wright, Donald R., Oklahoma City 405/522-5214. Hull, Don, Norman Young, Laquetha Guthrie, Oklahoma City 6 William Scott, Aurora, CO University of Oklahoma Libraries, Norman, Linda Sparks Starr, Norman, December 23, New Members, cont’d. Jack Shakley, Rancho Mirage, CA October 1, 1973 1985 Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Najera, Chandler Lawrence Sooter, Grove Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Patterson, Wewoka Lurene Stigler, Norman November 1, 1973 January 1, 1986 Rev. and Mrs. David L. Severe, Oklahoma City Bob Sturdivent, Fort Worth, TX Erma Hunter, Cleo Springs, October 1, 1974 Okmulgee Public Library, Okmulgee, June 16, Mr. and Mrs. Ron Simmons, Garland, TX Carol Thompson, Edmond University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1986 Mr. and Mrs. Ken Stoner, Oklahoma City William Utsinger, Lawton December 1, 1974 Robert and Barbara Streets, Bethany, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Truman, Phoenix, AZ John Vaughan, Tulsa Brandeis University Library, Waltham, MA, August 1, 1986 Margaret Vallion, Oklahoma City Dustin Wake, Idabel March 1, 1975 Atoka County Historical Society, Atoka, Jane Van Cleef, Oklahoma City Laura Waters, Mountain Home, AR James H. Lazalier, Norman, June 1, 1975 August 21, 1986 Mr. and Mrs. Joe Sam Vassar, Bristow Ward McCurtain, Beaumont, TX, June 1, 1975 Fred and Joyce Lucas, Watonga, Mr. and Mrs. William A. Vassar III, Edmond Institutional University of Wyoming Libraries, Laramie, WY, October 31, 1986 Carrel Wilson, Edmond September 1, 1976 Yale University Library, New Haven, CT, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Woltz, Norman Creek Council House Museum, Okmulgee Stephen F. Austin State University, November 17, 1986 Individual Teleflora, Oklahoma City Nacogdoches, TX, November 1, 1976 Mary McCormick, Seminole, November 20, Beverly Barker, Edmond UALR-Ottenheimer Library, Little Rock, AR, 1986 Doug Barkley, Panama December 1, 1976 Becky Meyer, Norman, November 24, 1986 Kenny Bomgardner, Tuttle Twenty-year Members George and Marjorie Breidenbach, Bixby, Betsy Daugherty, Oklahoma City, David Brunson, Lawton December 1, 1976 November 24, 1986 Diane Carkhuff, Midwest City renew in December Old Greer County Museum, Mangum, June 1, Michael L. Morgan, Shawnee, December 1, J. C. Carroll, Hinton 1977 1986 Gerald Cich, Spencer Listed below, with the date Darlene J. Shawn, Norman, September 1, 1977 Ray Stratton, Kansas, December 1, 1986 W. L. Collins, Ponca City they joined the OHS, are people Mary A. Blochowiak, Edmond, June 3, 1978 J. L. Fletcher, Imanol Uribe 6, January 5, 1987 Gene Cunningham, Oklahoma City and organizations that have Dallas Public Library, Dallas, TX, December 1, Geraldine C. Gesell, Knoxville, TN, January 8, 1981 1987 Ruth W. Faine, Oklahoma City been members twenty or more Sonya Gerhardt, Cherokee University of Nebraska-Omaha, NE, University of Georgia Library, Athens, GA, Jack Gill, Ferndale, WA years since renewing in Decem- December 1, 1981 January 28, 1987 Dawn Golden, Chandler, TX ber. Their long0-term loyalty is Laquitta H. Ladner, Burneyville, April 1, 1982 Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, University of California – Davis, Davis, CA, May 7, 1987 Alice Hand, Pond Ridge, NY most sincerely appreciated! Mrs. A. A. Hoffman, Bartlesville June 22, 1982 Carol J. Compton, Yukon, September 25, Paul W. Eichling, Porum, November 1, 1965 Steven and Becky Leonard, Weatherford, 1987 H. A. Horn, Wilson University of Houston, Houston, TX, William Huff, Helena November 1, 1982 Teresa Black, Oklahoma City, October 6, October 1, 1972 University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, March 1, 1987 Robert Key, Mustang State University of NY at Albany, Albany, NY, Mark Leach, Tulsa 1983 Robert L. Huckaby, Oklahoma City, October 1, 1972 Billie Dennis, Ardmore, December 1, 1983 September 2, 1988 Wayne Lewis, Gate Miami University Library, Oxford, OH, Charles Littlejohn, Stillwell Stephen E. Schuster, Stafford, TX, Sandy Garrett, Oklahoma City, September 13, October 1 September 1, 1984 1988 Mary Lou Mannschreck, Tazewell, VA Langston University, Langston, October 1, Cynthia McGill, Sandpoint, ID Rose State College Library, Midwest City, Tim and Nancy Leonard, Oklahoma City, 1972 December 1, 1984 December 14, 1988 Melba Milligan, Madill OSU-Okmulgee, Okmulgee, October 1, 1972 Auburn Mitchell, Austin, TX L. Ernestine Maphet, Gate, October 1, 1985 Donald and Grace Boulton, Oklahoma City, Texas A&M University-Commerce, TX, Nathylee Whitley, Seminole, October 1, 1985 December 15, 1988 Rosemary Morgan, Moore October 1, 1972 Darin Nelson, Oklahoma City Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, December 1, 1985 Robert Patrick, Arkansas City, KS October 31, 1972 George Pitt, Enid University of Oxford, Oxford, England, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, December 9, 1985 Carol Poe, Eufaula November 1, 1972 Kathryn Presley, Bryan, TX
SHPO adds 32 properties to Farm and Ranch Program During 2009 the Oklahoma Historical Society, in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Ag- riculture, has added thirty farms and two ranches to the Centennial Farm and Ranch Program of Oklahoma. Since the inception of the program in 1989, a total of 1,236 properties have qualified for recognition. Created by a blue-ribbon commission and launched by Governor Henry Bellmon in time to celebrate the centennial of the Land Run of 1889, the program honors long-time Oklahoma families who have owned producing farms and ranches for at least 100 years. Since 1989, when the first class numbered 37, membership has exploded. The record year was 1993 when 169 members joined. The centennial year of Oklahoma statehood, 2007, celebrated the addition of 107 new families. Today there are fifty-four counties represented by at least one Centennial Farm or Ranch. Applicants accepted into the program receive a certificate that is signed by the executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, the commissioner of agriculture, and the governor. For a charge of $60, members may purchase a 36-inch by 27-inch white metal sign. Bordered in black and adorned with a black windmill and the words “Oklahoma Centennial Farm (Ranch)” printed in bold, black let- ters, the sign is designed for hanging outdoors on a fence post or a barn door. Inclusion in the program is honorary; no legal restrictions or benefits are attached. Interested indi- viduals may find details about the program online by visiting the Oklahoma Historical Society web site at
7 Oklahoma Historical Society 2401 N. Laird Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73105-7914 PERIODICALS
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Vol. 41, No. 2 February 2010
Murrell Home to host Victorian Valentine Workshop Victorian Valentines were considered to be “love tokens from the heart.” These lav- ish constructions of fancy paperwork, ornamental decoration, and sentimental verse exemplified an era when the art of romance was enhanced by the sending of charming Valentine cards and greetings. A Victorian Valentine Workshop will be presented at the Murrell Home in Park Hill on Saturday, February 6, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a short lunch break. The cost of the workshop is $15, and par- ticipants will make at least eight unique Valentines in the style of the late nine- teenth century. Students will learn about the history of Valentine’s Day and will cre- ate their own greetings to send to special friends, family, and sweethearts. Martha Ray, former director of the His- toric Homes Division of the Oklahoma His- torical Society, will be the instructor for the Now available: Tomorrow’s Legacy: workshop. Participants will need to bring a Oklahoma’s Statewide Preservation Plan pair of sharp scissors and a sack lunch. Seating is limited, so reservations are re- The Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is pleased to announce the quired, and prepament must be made by availability of Tomorrow’s Legacy: Oklahoma’s Statewide Preservation Plan (2010).The Thursday, February 4. Contact the Murrell State Plan is the result of a one-and-one-half year collaborative effort among the Home for payment information. Proceeds SHPO, other government agency representatives, preservation professionals, and con- benefit the Friends of the Murrell Home. cerned citizens to identify the goals and priorities for the state’s historic preservation For more information or to reserve a spot, programs for the next five years. In addition to the goals and objectives, it contains dis- call 918/456-2751 or send an e-mail to cussions about some of Oklahoma’s archaeological and historical resources and