There’s No Place Like Home and the Archives: Helmerich Center for American Research & McFarlan Special Collections Research Wrap-Up
For me the wide open spaces of Kansas and Oklahoma speak to my spirit. This view of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve north of Pawhuska, Oklahoma is one of my favorite. (Photo: the author)
There is truly no place like home. For me home is not one specific place but several that have been important in my life and to my growth and development as a historian. Oklahoma is one of those places. From June 10th-13th and 17th-19thI conducted research at the Helmerich Center for American Research (HCAR) at the Gilcrease Museum and the McFarlin Library Special Collections at the University of Tulsa. Returning to Oklahoma’s Green Country, under the auspices of the Helmerich Center for American Research with support from their short-term fellowship program, gave me the chance to do one last, critical research sweep through collections of historical materials germane to my doctoral dissertation. You never know what you will find when you begin what I like to call the archival deep dive into boxes, folders, and envelopes. One would think after eight years of intensive research into my dissertation topic I would have unearthed everything possible. My trip to HCAR and McFarlan proved to be fruitful, restorative, and enlightening.
The entrance to the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. HCAR is located on the Gilcrease campus. (Photo: the author)
Housed on the campus of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, the Helmerich Center for American Research curates and preserves an impressive array of historical materials. The history of Indian Territory, Oklahoma Territory, Oklahoma, American Indians, and the American West are well represented in the collections. The Special Collections at the McFarlan Library on the University of Tulsa campus also specialize in the history of Indian Territory, Eastern Oklahoma, and the various communities that have made Green Country their home over time. For my work, that interrogates the intersections of power, gender, race, and ethnicity in the Indian Territory from 1870-1898, both archival units house materials that I hoped would bear historical fruit for my work. By the end of my research fellowship I returned to Arizona with armloads of new documents, answers to some questions, and new questions to ask as I continue outlining and writing my chapters.
Opened in 2014 the Helmerich Center for American Research at the Gilcrease Museum features a wealth of historical archival material for those wishing to research topics related to Indian Territory, Oklahoma, and the American West. (Photo: the author)
Historians, by our very nature, are hung up on names, dates, places, events, and the nitty gritty of life in the past. These tangibles help us tell complex stories and make the past accessible for new generations of readers, students, and scholars. To the casual observer or those not familiar with historical research, stereotypes about historians and what we do abound. During my teaching career many of my students thought that historians sat in libraries perusing books and documents in austere silence. My time at HCAR and McFarlan was anything but austere, silent, and boring. Two examples of research delight will help me illustrate the importance of archival units to the preservation and production of history.
Research means digging into sources that you would not consider useful. The Vinson Lackey collection contained a wealth of descriptive information about the build environment of Indian Territory that helps me describe that time and place with rich detail. (Photo: the author)
With the expert assistance of Renee Harvey, HCAR’s incredibly helpful and insightful head archivist, I dove into the Hargrett Collection. An eclectic assemblage of historical broadsides, pamphlets, ephemera, and original newspapers, the Hargrett Collection is a gem for any historian willing to decipher the somewhat archaic finding aid and take a leap of research faith. One of the goals of my research is to help restore historical agency to an AfroMvskoke/Seminole man who lived in the Mvskoke Nation in the 19thcentury. Unearthing materials that help me show the multiple facets to his life has proved challenging. I am always looking for my gentleman in unexpected places. After slogging through several boxes of the Hargrett Collection I decided to take a break, stand, stretch, and peruse a set of original newspapers in the collection. On the table in front of me issues of The Indian Journal (published in Eufala, Indian Territory) awaited my gloved hands and careful eye. Imagine the surprise on the faces of my husband, Renee, and others in the Zarrow Reading Room when I found my gentleman on the front page of the first issue of The Indian Journal I read. Yes! A man, who had been marginalized by his white wife in her diary, was highlighted as a good teacher and respected individual on the front page of the newspaper. Now to some this would seem a trivial item. However, after reading a steady diet of racially charged diatribes that portray my gentleman as a sub-human creature this article helps me show that he was a complex human being who contributed to society. Given the fact he left behind few written documents this is an important discovery. And yes, I do believe that I jumped up and down and let out a little squeal when I saw the name A.D. Bemo on the front-page. This one discovery made digging through the Hargrett Collection more than worthwhile. I had a similar experience at the McFarlin Library Special Collections as well.
The McFarlin Library is home to the Special Collections department on the campus of the University of Tulsa. (Photo: the author)
The McFarlin Library Special Collections at the University of Tulsa is home to the Alice Robertson Papers. The daughter of missionary parents, Alice went on to have a lengthy career in American Indian education (through her service at Presbyterian missions in Indian Territory) and was the first woman elected to represent Oklahoma in the United States House of Representatives. The collection is comprised of not only her papers but those of her parents, sister, and associated missionaries that served under the Presbyterian banner in the 19thcentury in Indian Territory. Despite the fact I had already combed through box after box of this collection, I discovered several boxes (about 11 to be exact) that I had not mined for historical nuggets. My first day at McFarlin I was accompanied by my dear friend and fellow historian Kay Little of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Kay had never ventured into the McFarlan Special Collections and took her along so she could see for herself the richness of the collections.
The reading room at the McFarlan Library Special Collections. Large, well lit workspaces make research enjoyable. Note the gorgeous chandelier! (Photo: the author)
Sitting across from one another at stately tables in a reading room that boasts a lovely chandelier, we both dug deep into boxes of historical materials. For me time seems to slip away when I am researching. Flipping through folders of original handwritten documents and taking notes on my laptop I lose all sense of time and even place when I am immersed in archival materials. I worked my way through seven boxes with some success finding items that would help enrich my descriptions of the Tullahassee Mission, the Old Creek Agency, and life for Mvskoke students attending the mission school. In particular I searched for any mentions of my young AfroMvskoke/Seminole student from Tullahassee that I had not previously unearthed. Little could I know that in my eight box of the day I would find two important answers to questions that had plagued my research for eight years.
The view from the McFarlan Library looking toward downtown Tulsa. (Photo: the author)
In a chunky folder at the back of an archival storage box the daily desk calendar of Ann Eliza Worchester Robertson (AEWR) was carefully housed in a small archival box to protect its fragile, yellowing pages. A photocopy enlargement of the entire calendar made working with the document easier. As I flipped from day to day AEWR made little notations of happenings, letters received, visitors who called, and weather observations in a tiny spot for memoranda. I noticed quickly that she also noted the births, marriages, deaths, and funerals of many of the Mvskoke Nation’s citizens who lived in and around Muskogee, the old Tullahassee Mission, Fort Gibson, and even Okmulgee. This gave me hope that perhaps I would find the death date of my gentleman. (Note: A five-year section of the diary kept by the wife was destroyed and any information about his death was contained in that section.) As the months rolled along, I began to give up hope until I flipped to the page for December 7, 1897. There on a tiny desk calendar AEWR noted the death of Alson Douglas Bemo. Now, after eight years of searching, I knew when he left this life. On December 9, 1897 AEWR’s only entry for the day told of his burial. Once again, I could not contain my joy. I squealed with excitement and literally jumped up and down at the discovery, thankfully there no one else was researching that day with the exception of my friend Kay who was equally delighted.
Access to archival collections is important to the production of scholarship and sharing knowledge about the past. (Photo: the author)
To many historians a person’s death and burial dates mean little. In the case of Alson Douglas Bemo they mean everything. The fact his wife’s diary that corresponds to his passing was intentionally destroyed (by later historians seeking to sanitize the historical record) leaves gaps in the narrative of his life. For all of her best efforts at denigrating her husband in and erasing him from her diary’s pages, Kate Bemo failed as other individuals who knew and respected Alson Douglas thought enough of him and his contributions to the world of Indian Territory to mark his passing. While on the surface this discovery appears to answer major questions in reality it creates more questions that I hope to be able to answer with additional research.
Upon my return to Arizona I printed my latest research finds and assembled primary source binders for each archival unit. (Photo: the author)
Were it not for the funding provided by the Helmerich Center for American Research’s short-term fellowship program I would not have been financially able to conduct research at both HCAR and McFarlan. Archival units like HCAR and McFarlan Special Collections preserve, protect, curate, and share the documentary record of the past with scholars, students, and the community at large. The collections at both institutions help historians illuminate the complexity of the past and how it impacts our present. My time as a Helmerich Center for American Research short term fellow was informative and restorative. Who would have thought that a trip to the archives could be so refreshing!
Lunchtime views like this one of Alan Houser’s Arrows Skyward on the Gilcrease Campus make research a delight! (Photo: the author)
Many thanks to the following individuals who made my HCAR fellowship so successful: Dr. Natalie Panther, Renee Harvey, Alex Patterson, Kenny Ruggiano, Dr. Brian Hosmer, Dr. Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel, Marc Carlson, Jennifer Donner, Melissa Kunz, Milissa Burkhart, Dr. Donald L. Fixico, Kay Robinson Little, Katie and Bill Griffin, Kari West, and my entire Oklahoma family in Bartlesville! Mvto (Thank You)!
