Thomas Gilcrease
Thomas Gilcrease

Author: Randy Ramer

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780972565776

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The story of Thomas Gilcrease (1890-1962) is the story of the world's first oil boom, of a state in its formative years, of marriages and fortunes made and lost--but most lastingly it is the story of how the Gilcrease collection came to exist, and how Gilcrease Museum became an unparalleled treasure house now owned by the citizens of Tulsa, Oklahoma. With over 500,000 artifacts, pieces of art, and archival gems, it is a testament to one man's dedication and vision. In Thomas Gilcrease, the man behind that museum is revealed. Born in 1890, Thomas Gilcrease came of age at roughly the same time that Indian Territory became the forty-sixth state of the Union, in 1907. As a citizen of the Creek Nation, he received a 160-acre allotment near Kiefer--land located, as it turned out, within the famous Glenn Pool oil field. By August 1909, the forty-nine wells on this parcel were producing 25,000 barrels a month. Gilcrease and his wife began traveling the country, taking in art galleries and museums in New York City and the World's Fair in San Francisco. It was in Tulsa, however, that he purchasedRural Courtship, his first piece of art, and began a collection that eventually contained thousands As he advanced in age and his wealth increased, Gilcrease contemplated how to use his fortune to create something of value for future generations. In 1931 he told his friend Robert Humber of his decision: he would establish the Gilcrease Foundation, which would fund a museum, a library, and a home for underprivileged children. The ten essays in this volume, illustrated with more than 100 color images and rarely seen historical photographs, tell the story of one man's life and legacy. The contributors include present and former staff of the Gilcrease Museum and regular contributors to its journal. "Every man must leave a track," Gilcrease once said, "and it might as well be a good one."

The Great Oklahoma Swindle
The Great Oklahoma Swindle

Author: Russell Cobb

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2022-03

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 149623040X

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Russell Cobb’s The Great Oklahoma Swindle is a rousing and incisive examination of the regional culture and history of “Flyover Country” that demystifies the political conditions of the American Heartland.

Knowing the West
Knowing the West

Author: Mindy N. Besaw

Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications

Published: 2024-09-10

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 084783705X

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This expansive survey of the art and culture of the American West presents richly diverse works by more than 35 distinct Native American nations considered alongside non-Native artists from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. Knowing the West encourages deeper consideration of the variety of cultures that together reflect the complex histories and stories of the American West. Astonishing in range, historical significance, medium, and quality, more than 120 artworks by Native American and non-Native artists are presented—including textiles, baskets, paintings, pottery, beadwork, saddles, and prints—including many by women. The artworks are shown in meaningful dialogue, such as baskets by Elizabeth Hickox (Wiyot/Karuk) juxtaposed with a large-scale California landscape by Albert Bierstadt, or New Mexican tinwork in conversation with a beaded valise by Nellie Two Bear Gates (Dakota), emphasizing influence and exchange and pointing out different ways of thinking about land and place. Multiple texts by a diverse range of scholars with broad-reaching perspectives explore topics such as history and making of Lakota winter counts, the development of saddles and bridles from across cultures, and the influence of the railroad and tourism on Southwestern pottery. This unprecedented volume centers Native voices and perspectives, prompting further thinking and research about the art history of the West.

Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran

Author: Thomas Moran

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 9780806127040

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This illustrated catalog of Thomas Moran’s field sketches includes an interpretive essay tracing the artist’s seventy-year career in the field; a chronological, stylistic, and geographical survey of his fieldwork; an illustrated checklist of the 1080 sketches in public collections. Moran is best known for his work in the American West during the post-Civil War expansion, particularly in what would become Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite national parks. Yet this virtuoso painter and draftsman also traveled in search of inspiration in Pennsylvania, New York’s Long Island, Florida, Wisconsin, Mexico, England, Scotland, Wales, France, and Italy, returning repeatedly to favorite subjects. An almost compulsive desire to sketch refined his innate skill as one of America’s finest landscape artists. Most of Moran’s known field sketches are reproduced here. As described in the introduction, “their range encompasses summary contour drawings of the spectacular topography of the American West, luminous watercolors that simultaneously fix local color and evoke the artist’s rapturous response to the natural world, and fully realized works that nevertheless preserve the intensity of Moran’s firsthand experience of his plein air subjects.” No serious formal study of Thomas Moran can be made without reference to this volume.

Treasures of Gilcrease
Treasures of Gilcrease

Author: Anne Morand

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9780806199566

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In 1938, Thomas Gilcrease, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, opened the first museum devoted to the art of the American West. A true visionary, Gilcrease was ahead of his time in understanding the importance of America’s own heritage. His passion for art and history, his Native American ancestry, and his oil revenues coincided in a rare alignment. His legacy is an astounding collection of paintings, sculptures, artifacts, rare books, and documents. This lavishly produced book, featuring nearly two hundred color reproductions, tells the story of Gilcrease and of the renowned museum that bears his name. Compiled by the museum’s curators, Treasures of Gilcrease exemplifies the beauty and breadth of the museum’s resources. The fine art collection alone boasts more than 10,000 American works, ranging in styles from classical to romantic to impressionist and by such master artists as George Catlin, Charles M. Russell, Thomas Moran, and Frederic Remington. The works by Native artists also span styles ranging from painted hides to twentieth-century flat-style. The artifacts—300,000-plus pieces housed in the galleries and vaults—include ceramics, clothing, pipes, and objects of utility, ceremony, and ornamentation. The archives collection contains some 100,000 manuscripts, books, photographs, maps, imprints, and broadsides. Treasures of Gilcrease offers a vivid and engaging tour through these collections in the company of the experts who know them best.

The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory
The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory

Author: Bradley R. Clampitt

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 080327727X

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"In Indian Territory the Civil War is a story best told through shades of gray rather than black and white or heroes and villains. Since neutrality appeared virtually impossible, the vast majority of territory residents chose a side, doing so for myriad reasons and not necessarily out of affection for either the Union or the Confederacy. Indigenous residents found themselves fighting to protect their unusual dual status as communities distinct from the American citizenry yet legal wards of the federal government. The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory is a nuanced and authoritative examination of the layers of conflicts both on and off the Civil War battlefield. It examines the military from and the home front; the experience of the Five Nations and those of the agency tribes in the western portion of the territory; the severe conflicts between Native Americans and the federal government and between Indian nations and their former slaves during and beyond the Reconstruction years; and the concept of memory as viewed through the lenses of Native American oral traditions and the modern evolution of public history. These carefully crafted essays by leading scholars such as Amanda Cobb-Greetham, Clarissa Confer, Richard B. McCaslin, Linda W. Reese, and F. Todd Smith will help teachers and students better understand the Civil War, Native American history, and Oklahoma history." --Back cover.

The Year of Fear
The Year of Fear

Author: Joe Urschel

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2015-09-08

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 1250020808

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It's 1933 and Prohibition has given rise to the American gangster--now infamous names like Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger. Bank robberies at gunpoint are commonplace and kidnapping for ransom is the scourge of a lawless nation. With local cops unauthorized to cross state lines in pursuit and no national police force, safety for kidnappers is just a short trip on back roads they know well from their bootlegging days. Gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, are some of the most celebrated criminals of the Great Depression. With gin-running operations facing extinction and bank vaults with dwindling stores of cash, Kelly sets his sights on the easy-money racket of kidnapping. His target: rich oilman, Charles Urschel. Enter J. Edgar Hoover, a desperate Justice Department bureaucrat who badly needs a successful prosecution to impress the new administration and save his job. Hoover's agents are given the sole authority to chase kidnappers across state lines and when Kelly bungles the snatch job, Hoover senses his big opportunity. What follows is a thrilling 20,000 mile chase over the back roads of Depression-era America, crossing 16 state lines, and generating headlines across America along the way--a historical mystery/thriller for the ages. Joe Urschel's The Year of Fear is a thrilling true crime story of gangsters and lawmen and how an obscure federal bureaucrat used this now legendary kidnapping case to launch the FBI.

Tulsa's Haunted Memories
Tulsa's Haunted Memories

Author: Teri French

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780738583877

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Explores the forgotten history and lost folklore of “America's Most Beautiful City,” which has a haunting history that will captivate the reader with the secrets it holds from its intriguing past, while mystery and mystique follow Tulsa's urban legends and prove that truth can be stranger than fiction. Original.

Culture in the American Southwest
Culture in the American Southwest

Author: Keith L. Bryant

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2014-09-01

Total Pages: 581

ISBN-13: 1623492084

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If the Southwest is known for its distinctive regional culture, it is not only the indigenous influences that make it so. As Anglo Americans moved into the territories of the greater Southwest, they brought with them a desire to reestablish the highest culture of their former homes: opera, painting, sculpture, architecture, and literature. But their inherited culture was altered, challenged, and reshaped by Native American and Hispanic peoples, and a new, vibrant cultural life resulted. From Houston to Los Angeles, from Tulsa to Tucson, Keith L. Bryant traces the development of "high culture" in the Southwest. Humans create culture, but in the Southwest, Bryant argues, the land itself has also influenced that creation. "Incredible light, natural grandeur, . . . and a geography at once beautiful and yet brutal molded societies that sprang from unique cultural sources." The peoples of the American Southwest share a regional consciousness—an experience of place—that has helped to create a unified, but not homogenized, Southwestern culture. Bryant also examines a paradox of Southwestern cultural life. Southwesterners take pride in their cultural distinctiveness, yet they struggled to win recognition for their achievements in "high culture." A dynamic tension between those seeking to re-create a Western European culture and those desiring one based on regional themes and resources continues to stimulate creativity. Decade by decade and city by city, Bryant charts the growth of cultural institutions and patronage as he describes the contributions of artists and performers and of the elites who support them. Bryant focuses on the significant role women played as leaders in the formation of cultural institutions and as writers, artists, and musicians. The text is enhanced by more than fifty photographs depicting the interplay between the people and the land and the culture that has resulted.