A Day in the Western History Collections at OU

I spent Thursday, March 19, 2015 in the Western History Collections, which is a part of the library system at the University of Oklahoma. It was rainy in Norman that day. Students were gone for Spring Break.  The Collections are held on the third floor of the beautiful old School of Law building, Monnet Hall.

Anyone who knows anything about college football knows that the Sooners are a perennial powerhouse. So I wasn't surprised, but was amused to see the note about the hours of operation on game days!

A plaque at the entrance to the building.  . . .

The central reading room for the Western History Collections, an inspiring place to study! . . .

Among the one-of-a-kind items I examined was this 1907 photograph of the First Christian Church in Chickasha, Indian Territory. The photo was taken about eight months before statehood.  . . .

Meeting with Meta at the Oklahoma History Center

I was in the archive at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City this Monday through Wednesday, March 16-18. What a great place to do research on the history of the Sooner State!

I spent almost all of my time there going through "Box 1" of the Meta Chestnutt Sager Collection. Those folders look innocent. But searching through their contents wore me out.  . . . 

Among the many documents in the collection, there were also a few photographs. In this one, probably taken in Nashville, Meta is about 26 years old. The year would have been 1889.

Here she is 50 years later, in 1939, beside her house in Chickasha, Oklahoma. This photo was taken on the day she rode the train to Oklahoma City where she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Among the few items she put in her scrapbook was the Rock Island Railroad napkin from the train ride to "the City."