by Karen Whitecotton, Curator of Collections

Ever heard of Picric acid? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most people have never heard of it, and neither had I until a few days ago. It’s a highly explosive chemical compound (the forerunner to TNT) that has been around for a couple of centuries and has been used primarily as munitions and fireworks.
Picric acid is actually a liquid that over time dries out and crystalizes. When it crystalizes it becomes highly unstable and VERY sensitive to shock and therefore handling it becomes dangerous.It also leaves a distinct bright yellow powdery residue that is easy to spot.

Why on earth would a museum have explosive chemicals, like picric acid in their collections? Simple answer- they don’t know about it. We sure didn’t! Evidently it’s way more common than I would have thought. It wasn’t until a week ago that I learned about picric acid and its explosive properties from reading several emails on the American Association of Museums Registrars’ Listserv (RC-AAM). Someone send out an email inquiry regarding procedures when disposing of hazardous chemicals. A response mentioned the dangers of picric acid -a substance many people have never heard of, but VERY common in early and mid-20th century first aid kits. You see, medical gauze used to be soaked in picric acid to treat, most commonly, burns (interesting tidbit- picric acid gauze was used in the treatment of burn victims from the infamous Hindenburg disaster).

An example of a first aid kit that may have included picric

After that initial email there were email responses DAILY reporting the discovery of picric acid in museum collections around the country and that bomb squads had to be called out to collect and detonate the picric acid infused items. In one case a whole city block was evacuated and a robot was sent in to collect ONE object. In another case an item contained so much picric acid it was enough to blow the museum worker’s hand off! So, as you can see, it’s a very serious hazard to collections and to people!

After reading those emails over the weekend, I thought I would take the cautious route and so I did a database search first thing on Monday morning and discovered 5 objects in our own collection that possibly contained picric acid. These items were all early 20th century first aid kit components: 3 packs of picric acid soaked gauze, 1 box that stored the soaked gauze, and 1 empty tin. After consulting with the museum Deputy Director/Collections Manager, Jeff Briley, I pulled the objects the next day and inspected them. I isolated the 3 packs of gauze and inspected the box. The box had the distinct yellow powdery residue of picric acid on the insides. The metal tin did not show any signs of acid residue, but under Jeff’s advice it was thoroughly swabbed to make sure. We further inspected the associated first aid kit the items came from to make sure there was nothing else of concern. Thankfully there wasn’t. He called his contact at the Oklahoma City Police Department Bomb Squad to ask if they would collect the pieces for disposal. They agreed and said they would be at our facility 7am the next morning with a robot.
Bright and early the next morning we had the police department, fire department, an ambulance, and the bomb squad standing by. At the employee entrance, the bomb squad began staging their maneuver to retrieve the items. Instead of a robot (which I was actually hoping to see - I had Wall-E pictured in my head), they had a guy dressed in a big suit (think the Halo video game suit but twice the size) carrying a long pole. He went in to retrieve the items in a bucket from the fire safe and came back out and carried the bucket around (and down some stairs!) to the containment wagon. They used a small crane to hoist the bucket of items into the containment wagon and then gave the all clear. Whew.

Our disposal of the picric acid infused items went very smoothly thanks to the expertise of the OCPD Bomb Squad. Museums don’t simply dispose of items without very clear reasoning and procedure is always followed to ensure public trust and ethical behavior is maintained. Sometimes there are extreme situations (like hazardous chemicals!) that speed up the disposal process to ensure a safe environment for the collection, the staff, and the public. Hazardous and unstable chemicals are simply not safe to have in museum collections.

This blog brought to you by Karen Whitecotton, Curator of Collections, Oklahoma History Center
Special thanks to:

OKC Area First Responders:
Oklahoma City Area EMSA
Oklahoma City Police Department Bomb Squad
Oklahoma City Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit
Oklahoma City Police Department Patrol Squad

RC-AAM Listserv, especially:
Judy Coombes, Manger of Registration, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Evelyn Montgomery, Curator of Exhibits & Collections, Dallas Heritage Village
Doug Nishimura, Image Permanence Institute
David Ryan, Registrar, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

Oklahoma History Center Staff:
Jeff Briley, Deputy Director, Oklahoma History Center
Richard Lloyd, Security, OHC
Sherry Massey, Senior Registrar, OHS
Dan Provo, Director, Oklahoma History Center
Mike Scanlan, Head of Security, OHC

by Jill Holt, Curator of Textiles

As more and more veterans of World War II military service pass away, we are receiving donations of items pertaining to their service including uniforms, insignia, documents, and footlockers. I recently accessioned a footlocker and its contents that were found in a house in Duncan, Oklahoma. The donor, Craig Lowe, had purchased the house from the family of Gabriel W. Ostroot and the footlocker had been left behind. It was an incredible collection of memorabilia. Lt. Gabriel W. Ostroot served with the 63rd Infantry Regiment, 6th Infantry Division during World War II. Inside his footlocker were multiple guide books for the South Seas islands, East Indies, Solomon Islands, and New Guinea as well as maps for those areas. Other items included officer’s pay receipts, Japanese currency, collar insignia, and a certificate from the United States Navy Domain of the Neptunus Rex, Ruler of the Raging Main acknowledging that Gabriel W. Ostroot had been initiated into the “Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep” in the South Sea Islands. This certificate was awarded when crossing the equator for the first time.

The ultimate find in this footlocker was the photograph album documenting Ostroot’s entire military service career. It begins with photos taken at basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and shows young men laughing and joking. From basic training, the photographs transition to military maneuvers held in Louisiana. The next series of photographs were taken in the South Pacific and include images of natives in New Guinea. The album concludes with photographs taken in Luzon, the Philippines. These images are the most graphic and show dead Japanese soldiers and destroyed tanks.

The stark reality of viewing these young recruits becoming battle weary soldiers was dramatic and very moving. I hope you will join me in giving thanks to these brave men who defended our country.

by Matt Reed, Curator of American Indian & Military Collections

While doing regular upkeep on the Indian collections housed within the Oklahoma Museum of History, I discovered something that had been forgotten for many years. Stored on one of our shelving units was a rolled canvas tipi that no one had seen for many decades. This tipi is known as the Tipi with Battle Pictures. The tradition and history embodied by this tipi can be traced ultimately to 1833 when Tohausen or Little Bluff became the sole leader of the Kiowa people. The tipi is easily distinguished by the way it is decorated. The northern half of the tipi is decorated with sketches depicting the war honors of the best Kiowa warriors. The southern half is decorated with alternating yellow and black stripes. The center back of the tipi features a vertical series of tomahawks to mark the war honors of Heart Eater. The front, above the door, features a series of feathered lances to symbolize the war honors of Sitting on a Tree. At the very top is a depiction of two Kiowa warriors besieged but successfully defending themselves against multiple Osage warriors. To say the least, this tipi is visually remarkable. Part of this tipi design was given to Tohausen in 1845 by the Cheyenne chief Nah-ko-se-vast. The yellow stripes represented Nah-ko-se-vast’s war honors. Tohausen added the alternating black stripes to represent his own war exploits and then invited his society brothers to add the other decorations. This overall design was subsequently put on a new tipi every year while Tohausen lived. When he passed in 1866, his name and the tipi design went to his son, Tohausen II. Perhaps because of the hard times that he lived in, Tohausen II only renewed the tipi and its design periodically. By the turn of the century the tipi had become a memory. Two of Tohausen II’s sons changed this situation. These two sons, Haungooah and Olhetoint, made plans to construct and decorate a new Tipi with Battle Pictures in 1916. As a part of this plan, two nephews with natural artistic talent were invited to help in the new tipi’s decoration. These two boys, one of them sixteen-year old Stephen Mopope and the other James Auchiah, would contribute to the sketches on the northern half. Later in their lives both of these boys would be part of the Kiowa Five, a group of Kiowa artists that initiated contemporary American Indian art. Haungooah, known in the art world as Silverhorn, contributed several sketches to the same design. Others who might have drawn their war honors include names that should be familiar to those familiar with Oklahoma history: Gotebo, Big Tree, and Sankedoty. Ironically, this 1916 version of the Tipi with Battle Pictures also figures prominently in another Oklahoma Historical Society venture. This is the recent acquisition and conservation of the silent film ‘Daughter of Dawn’. In fact, the tipi in our collections was authenticated using photo stills from the movie. So not only does OHS have the once lost and thought destroyed ‘Daughter of Dawn’ film, but OHS has also had within its collections the once lost and thought destroyed Tipi with Battle Pictures.

by Jill Holt, Curator of Textiles

Over the first half of this year, we had an exhibit of toys. I have a soft spot in my heart for toys and had a wonderful time putting the exhibit together. So many of today’s toys are made of plastic but there was a time when metal was the preferred material for toys.

One of the metal toys in the exhibit was the “Corner Grocer.” The center panel has lithograph print of the interior of a grocery store and it is flanked with shelves which swing out. The shelves contain miniature canned and boxed goods. There is also a sales counter complete with scales, telephone, and a roll of butcher paper. Wolverine Supply and Manufacturing of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, made this toy beginning in the 1920s.

Another metal toy in the exhibit was the Play Steel Colonial Dollhouse. The lithograph of the interior and exterior was done by the National Can Corporation of New York in the 1940s. The house features a living room and dining/kitchen on the first floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor.

I spent many hours playing with similar toys during my childhood and these two toys brought back many happy memories for me.