Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 9, No. 4
December, 1931
EDITORIAL
Page 355
In the September number of Chronicles, announcement was made that the annual meeting of the Oklahoma Historical Society would
be held in Tulsa some time in January, 1932, the exact date of the meeting to be determined at the quarterly meeting of the
Board of Directors to be held in October, 1931. It will be seen by the extract from the proceedings of the meeting of the
Board, which was held on the above date, published in this issue, the annual meeting has been postponed until some time in
March or April, the exact date to be fixed by the special committee on program, of which Judge Harry Campbell, of Tulsa, is
chairman. This meeting is to be one of historical importance. The special committee contemplate making it a state-wide event,
and will have on the program speakers of prominence recognized as authorities on American history. This meeting at Tulsa will
be given publicity through the newspapers of the state, and every member of the Society will receive a special notice from
the office of the Secretary.
D. W. P.
* * * *
The Oklahoma Historical Society has had installed since our last issue new bookstacks to care for the books in our rapidly
growing historical library. The new book-stacks are five tiers, or five stories high and will furnish shelf room for many
thousand volumes. This will add greatly to the facilities of the library. The Society has splendid reading and study rooms
where the student may come and study history and have at his command all the reference works now in the library. The library
is not as large as that of many other states but it contains all of the
Page 356
standard publications concerning the history of Western America. This organization has specialized upon the history of the
Indian tribes and thre are hundreds of volumes of Indian history and archaeology including nearly all government publications
upon these subjects. There are also hundreds of volumes of governmental publications extending back to the organization of
the Continental Congress, including the proceedings of that organizations down to the adoption of the Constitution of the
United States: and the proceedings of Congress of the United States from that date to the present time. The Society has only
recently added to the library several hundred volumes of history and genealogical works. They comprehend the Colonial records
of most of the original states.
D. W. P.
* * * *
THE WORK OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
By Harry Campbell.
A very important feature of the work of the Oklahoma Historical Society, seemingly not known to many people, is its stupendous
collection of most all the newspapers of the State practically complete from early territorial days.
These papers are filed in the order of publication and so arranged that any issue of any paper in the collection can be found
easily and quickly. One entire department of the Society is devoted to this work and a large space in the Oklahoma Historical
Building on the capitol grounds at Oklahoma City is, set apart for these papers.
These files are open for inspection by anyone interested in looking up the history of past events in the State and they are
especially valuable for research workers in history.
Another exceedingly important feature of the work of the Society is the arrangement of the old tribal government and court
records of the Five Civilized Tribes in the custody of the Superintendent at Muskogee. The work is being done by Mrs. Rella
Watts under the immediate supervision of Mr. Grant Foreman one of the directors of the Society who is giving his services
free. He has been engaged for a number of years in historical research pertaining
Page 357
to the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes and has written a number of books on their history.
These tribal records, are not only arranged in their many classifications and chronology for ready reference, but they are
being calendared according to the methods of the best historical libraries, so that each card or calendar, contains the date,
name or writer and addressee, if a letter, brief and description of each document. About forty thousand cards or calendars
have been made in a little over two years. The documents are filed in steel filing cases and the cards are filed under appropriate
classifications in a series of card cases which give ready and accurate reference to the documents themselves. The work is
so planned that a research student can tell by examining the card whether the document itself needs to be examined for fuller
information.
This is an extensive piece of work and is being done with great care and accuracy and the indices or calendars are so arranged
that reference to the records and even to the names of most of the people appearing in the records can be found almost instantly.
These indices are very important to anyone looking up matters pertaining to old tribal court proceedings, the genealogy, etc.,
of the members of the tribes themselves, as well as matters of general historical interest and scope affecting the tribes
and the country in which they live. Outstanding among the scores of subjects and classifications covered are schools, courts,
ferries, cattle, roads, chiefs, legislative councils, pastures, traders, railroads, minerals, law enforcement, relations with
other tribes and the United States, elections and divorces. This work is not complete, but is far advanced and no doubt will
prove of great benefit as it becomes better known. The work is being done on the fifth floor of the Federal Building at Muskogee
where the records are available to any one interested.
Return to top
Electronic Publishing Center |
OSU Home |
Search this Site
|
