by William Welge, Research Division Director

February is recognized as Black History month, but is also the month where we honor the Presidents of the United States. Everyone knows that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln both have birthdays in February, but what few people know is that there were three Presidents who either lived or visited Oklahoma before it was a state. It must be noted that all three were not campaigning for the office at the time of their visit or residency. Can you name the three future Presidents?

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 William D. Welge, Research Division Director

With the election of Abraham Lincoln in November, 1860, a chain of events that had been brewing since the Missouri Compromise was passed by Congress in 1820 began. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. This unorthodox and unprecedented action could have been halted by lame duck President James Buchanan. However, Buchanan chose to do nothing which ultimately led other Cotton Belt states to follow suit early in 1861.

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.