by Corey Ayers, Video Production Specialist

In December of 2011 the Oklahoma Historical Society purchased two telecine machines that allow for the transfer of 16 and 8mm film to full 1080p digital files. The digital conversion allows film of all ages to be seen in their original state but enhanced by high definition resolution. The use of these machines has ushered in a new era for the film and video department at the OHS. We are now digitizing and cataloging entire film collections giving moving images not seen for 80 years a new life and the public a rich new source for research. For example, the Haskell Pruett Collection documents community events such as parades and rodeos as well as leisure activities of an Oklahoma family from 1929 to the late 1960s. These films present a visual testament of life in Oklahoma at the time. This is only one of many collections in film storage at the Oklahoma History Center and the beginning of a new era for the use of film in research at the Historical Society.

by Jon D. May, Research Division

While exploring the OHS Research Catalog online I discovered an old black and white photograph in the Frederick S. Barde Collection (82.89) captioned, “Indians - Osage - Cyprian Tayrien.” Cyprian, or “Cyp” as he was more commonly known, was my great-great-grandmother’s first cousin. Although you probably never heard of Cyp, he was well-known in the Bartlesville and Pawhuska, Oklahoma, areas prior to his death in 1922.

Born in Clay County, Missouri, in 1836, Cyp was the son of a French father and a French-Osage mother. Educated at the Osage Mission in St. Paul, Kansas, Cyp spoke English, Osage, and French, and served as a scout and interpreter in the Missouri Home Guard during the Civil War.He worked as a clerk, operated a trading post, farmed, and was one of the first mixed-bloods to serve on the Osage tribal Council. Cyp had three wives (he was twice widowed) and twelve children. After the Osage relocated from Kansas to what is now Osage County in 1871-72, Cyp settled along Sand Creek just southwest of present Bartlesville. It was in that vicinity where he and ten of his children received their Osage land allotments in 1906. Many of their descendants reside in that region today.

What makes Cyp’s life story so interesting are the “unusual and occult powers” he was known to have possessed. With a few softly spoken words and a wave of his hand Cyp—dubbed“Saint Patrick of the Osages”—could drive snakes from under buildings or from shocks of grain. He knew by intuition where strayed livestock could be found. Cyp healed snake bites and other ailments by simply passing his hand over the afflicted individual. A man claimed he conferred with Cyp about a woman who was ill and lived some miles distant. Cyp asked a few questions and sent the gentleman on his way, telling him “everything will be alright.”When the man returned to the lady’s residence, he saw her condition had improved.

How Cyp healed the sick and from where he received his foreknowledge is anyone’s guess (if you believe in such things). According to one of his grandchildren, Cyp acquired his powers from an old Osage medicine man. Cyp, however, said his skills were innate and quite common. In fact, he believed a person with similar abilities could be found in almost every family.

Cyprian Tayrien died October 18, 1922, and was interred in Bartlesville’s White Rose Mausoleum.

Image: #16581 from the Frederick S. Barde Collection

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 Chad Williams, Deputy Director of the Research Division

The collections of the Oklahoma Historical Society contain well over seven million photographic images. Over the past year the Research Division has begun a project to reproduce many of these historic Oklahoma images and make them available to be purchased. The initial fifty images chosen include iconic photographs of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, Oklahoma Land Runs, the Oklahoma oil industry, a Buffalo hunt, dust bowl depictions, historic street scenes from

Oklahoma towns, and a number of images of Oklahoma farms, businesses, and territorial dwellings. In addition, individuals with historic ties to Oklahoma are represented.

These include Apache Indian Chief Geronimo, Comanche Indian Chief Quanah Parker, Wiley Post, Future President Theodore Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy, Native American Jim Thorpe, U. S. Marshal Chris Madsen, Buffalo Bill Cody, Zack Miller (101 Ranch), Will Rogers, and Oklahoma Governor Charles Haskell. My personal favorite is a photograph taken of The U.S.S. Oklahoma and the U.S.S. Arizona at the Pedro Miguel Locks, Panama Canal on February 23, 1921, twenty years before they were both lost at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This image has a wonderful grittiness and of course is special because the Oklahoma and Arizona are the only two battleships which did not return to fight in World War II after being sunk at Pearl Harbor.

The majority of the reproductions have been produced in a 11” X 14” format, although ten of the reproductions vary from that size. Prices range from $2 for a 4” X 6” bird’s-eye view of Oklahoma City’s Bricktown in 1910 all the way to $15 for a 10.5” X 37” panorama image of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention in Guthrie. All 11” X 14” images are $10. Unless the reproductions are picked up at the Oklahoma History Center there will be a $6 shipping and handling fee added. In the future we hope to reproduce more photographs with themes that include Native Americans, African Americans, Dust Bowl, Oil Industry, OKC Fire Department, Weather, Land Openings, Military, Buildings, Law Enforcement, Sports, and Wild West Shows. View the 50 historic photo reproductions available for sale.

The OHS online catalog includes thousands of additional scanned images that are available for purchase. Visit www.okhistory.org/research to find out more.

So long for now from the mother ship of Oklahoma History, the Oklahoma History Center, Home of the Oklahoma Historical Society.