Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 15, No. 2
June, 1937
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
April 22-23, 1937
Chickasha, Oklahoma
Page 245
The Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma Historical Society convened April 22, 1937, at Chickasha. Following registration of members
and visitors, dinner was served at 6:30 p. m. in the new Chickasha Hotel with Mr. George H. Evans as toastmaster. The address
of welcome was delivered by Mr. Lloyd Benefield, Secretary of the Chickasha Chamber of Commerce, after which Judge Harry Campbell,
Tulsa, member of the Board of Directors, responded. Dr. M. A. Nash, President of Oklahoma College for Women, introduced the
College Quartette which sang several numbers. Judge C. Ross Hume of Anadarko, presented a group of Caddo Indians, Stanley
Edge, Harry Edge, Mrs. Harry Edge, Mrs. Frank Cussens, and Miss Josephine Inkanish, dressed in native costumes. Harry Edge
made a short talk in the Caddo language, which was interpreted by his brother, Stanley Edge. Judge Hume presented to Dr. Emma
Estill-Harbour, Vice President and Presiding officer, for the Historical Society, a gavel of Caddo County timber made by Wade
Moore. Copies of the itinerary of the Anadarko trip with covers painted by Kiowa Indian artist were presented to officers
of the Society by Mr. Hume, assisted by Miss Inkanish, on behalf of the Anadarko Chamber of Commerce. Under the direction
of Gen. William S. Key, Administrator for the Works Progress Administration of Oklahoma, moving pictures were shown of the
dedication of the Sequoyah Home, Fort Gibson after restoration, and Darlington. Capt. W. S. Nye, U. S. A., of the Field Artillery
school at Fort Sill, then told of the Battle of Wichita Village.1 The officers and members of the Historical Society and the visitors were introduced by Mr. George H. Evans, Editor of the
Chickasha Daily Express and chairman of the program committee.
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The next morning, at 9:00 o'clock the program opened in the Austin Hall Parlors of the College, at which session Miss Jean
Carmichael read a paper on Grady County Area history, and Dr. Grant Foreman, Director of Indian-Pioneer History project, reported
on some interesting bits of information gathered by his workers. Mrs. Blanche Lucas moved that the report of Dr. Foreman be
accepted. Motion was seconded and carried.
At 10 a. m. the meeting was transferred to the College Auditorium, where a musical program was given by the College Orchestra
under the direction of Elias Novikow, following which a song dedicated to Oklahoma College for Women and the song "Oklahoma"
were sung by students. Dr. Nash introduced Dr. Emma Estill-Harbour, Head of the History department of the Central State Teachers
College, and Mrs. Lois Gillis Hall, Professor of English at Northeastern State Teachers College, who related their experiences
as early day students of the College.
At 11:00 o'clock the business session convened in the Austin Hall Parlors with Dr. Emma Estill-Harbour, Vice President, presiding
in the absence of the President. Invitations were presented from various organizations in Tahlequah, Ponca City, Shawnee,
and Tulsa for the Society to hold its next annual meeting with them. Mr. J. B. Milam of Chelsea, moved that the next annual
meeting of the Oklahoma Historical Society be held at Tahlequah. Motion was seconded and carried. The Secretary moved that
the other cities be thanked for the invitations to be their guests next year. Motion was seconded and carried. The Secretary
presented the following list of applicants for annual membership in the Society.
William Austin Arbuckle, Muskogee; Ernest Parks Chrestman, Spiro; William Tecumseh Clark, Medford; Dr. Isabel Cobb, Wagoner;
Leonard H. Dickerson, Oklahoma City; Eugene Dandridge Ellis, Hugo; Mrs. George F. Fluke, Ponca City; Mrs. Lois Gillis Hall,
Tahlequah; Mrs. Adriah Helmbrecht, Tonkawa; Benjamin Holladay, Oklahoma City; Rev. Charles E. Hoole, Blair; Mrs. W. D. Humphries,
Oilton; Icko Iben, Stillwater; Judge P. W. Keen, Clinton; Lola McAninch, Pawhuska; Mrs. Charlotte Mc-
Page 247
Clendon, Tulsa; J. W. McCollom, Medford; Walter S. Mills, Clinton; T. T. Montgomery, Chickasha; Walter W. Morton, Okmulgee;
Clarence Dodds Musser, Norman; Mrs. J. T. Nichols, Muskogee; Omar Ellsworth Null, Arnett; Dr. Oscar Lee Owens, Oklahoma City;
Mrs. Jesse Pelphrey, Shawnee; W. G. Phillips, Tulsa; Wip Robinson, III, Wewoka; Mrs. L. S. Schowalter, Kingfisher; Robert
H. Searcy, Tulsa; Judge James R. Tolbert, Hobart; William Henry Villines, Byars; Tipp Herman Watts, Oklahoma City; Tipp Warren
Watts, Oklahoma City; Mrs. J. T. Wilkinson, Muskogee; Ralph Lee Woodward, Oklahoma City; Jeffie Davis Young, Chickasha.
Dr. Grant Foreman moved that the list of applicants for membership as read by the Secretary be accepted. Motion was seconded
and carried. Mrs. Anna B. Crouch of Tuttle, told of the monument that had been erected at Tuttle to mark the Chisholm Trail.
On motion of Miss Eula E. Fullerton of Tahlequah, the meeting stood adjourned. The members and visitors were guests of the
College at a luncheon in the College dining halls.
At 1:00 p. m. the group left Chickasha for a tour of historical sites of Anadarko and its vicinity, under the direction of
judge C. Ross Hume, of Anadarko. They came first to Verden where the school was dismissed and the children and citizens welcomed
the assembly. Dr. Anna Lewis of the Oklahoma College for Women, explained the significance of the monument erected there on
the site of Camp Napoleon, commemorating the compact between the Five Civilized Tribes and the Plains Indians. The following
authors of Oklahoma history were introduced: Dr. Grant Foreman, Dr. Joseph B. Thoburn, Miss Muriel H. Wright, and Supt. T.
T. Montgomery.
The new Federal Building at Anadarko was visited where the murals painted by the Kiowa Indians, Mopope, Asah, and Auchiah
were seen. These depict the life of the wandering Kiowas before the arrival of the "palefaces." The museum in the City Hall
was visited where the party was met by members of the Philomathic Club who are its sponsors. Here many interesting relics
illustrative
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of that region were seen. At Riverside Indian School (an Indian boarding school), established in 1871, the group was welcomed
by Judge Oris L. Barley and Mr. Roy Griffin, Secretary of the Anadarko Chamber of Commerce. The visitors were impressed with
the work done by Principal J. E. Shields and his associates in endeavoring to preserve the best of Indian culture and to train
the children for the responsibilities of citizenship. The pupils gave a number of beautiful Indian dances. Refreshments were
served by the Home Economics department under the direction of Mrs. Wanda Gray. The Rev. J. J. Methvin, a pioneer missionary
and educator of the Indians, Dr. Charles R. Hume, an early day physician of the Kiowa and Comanche Agency, and George Hunt,
a Kiowa interpreter for many years, were honored guests. After leaving the school the grave of Black Beaver, a famous Delaware
scout and chief was passed in the distance and pointed out by Boy Scouts. The Masonic Hall, the home of the oldest Masonic
Lodge in Western Oklahoma, and the private collection of Indian relics owned by Robert L. Boake, an early day trader, were
visited. The last stop was made at the little chapel of St. Patrick's Mission, a school for Indian children, where the party
was met by Father Aloysius Hitta, who explained the sixteen murals painted by Kiowa Indian boys. These attractive murals portray
the founding and growth of the Mission under the guidance of Father Isidore Ricklin.
Emma Estill-Harbour, Vice President,
Presiding.
James W. Moffitt, Secretary.
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