OHS Masthead
by Susan Berberet, Assistant Curator of Collections
 
A couple of weeks ago, I was working down a row of objects and came across a 1950s retro-pink enameled perfume dispenser. The choices of fragrant scents were classics, Chanel No. 5 and My Sin. For 10 cents you could be sprayed Perfume Dispenserwith the perfect perfume, just in case you forgot...but that made me start thinking, we have vending machines for everything! Hot coffee, soda pops, candy, sandwiches, DVDs, the list goes on; and it made me wonder, where did this all begin?
 
Well, it seems the first group to demand such on the spot purchases were the Greeks. The first mention of a coin-operated dispenser was in 215 B.C., by a mathematician and engineer named Heron (or Hero) of Alexandria. His machine would accept a coin and then dispense a set amount of "holy water" in the Egyptian temples!

However, the method did not catch on as quickly as you would think. It was not until the Industrial Age that the vending machine made a comeback. Early in the 1880s, the first modern coin-operated machine introduced in London, England dispensed postcards and books. By 1888, the Thomas Adams Gum Company built their own vending machine in the U.S. and sold their gum on train platforms.
 
While the coin-operated perfume dispenser is no longer found in the restrooms of nice restaurants, we must appreciate the history and the ever-changing convenience of vending machines. Today we can buy just about anything; entertainment with arcade games, jukeboxes and slot machines; traffic regulation with parking meters; and technology with iPods and MP3 players sold in airports. So the next time you insert your dollar bill to buy a bag of chips think back to where this all started, with Heron and the Greeks.
Fort Gibson 
Black History Month Community Program

1 PM, Saturday, February 20, 2010

Fort Gibson National Historic Landmark

907 North Garrison Street, Fort Gibson

 

"Police Duty at Fort Gibson" looks at the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in keeping peace and order in Indian Territory. Program includes live presentations as well as a video. Event admission is free. For information please call (918)478-4088 or email [email protected].

OIL FIELD LINGO (Part 3)
 
From 1899 to 1939 Oklahoma was one of the greatest petroleum producing areas in the world.  Much of the prosperity and quality of life we have in Oklahoma is owed to the wealth produced during this golden era of petroleum and to subsequent discoveries of oil and natural gas in the state.  The early oil fields also spawned a language or lingo of their own.  Below is the first of a three-part series of oil field terms and definitions.  This information was taken from the teachers' guide materials in our Petroleum Education Trunk.
 
Pebble puppy:  a fresh from college geologist.
 
Platform:  the base on which an off shore rig is erected.
 
Pulled:  removing casing or pipe from a well.
 
Punching Holes:  to drill for oil, as in "He's out punching holes in the ground."
 
Rat hole:  A slanting hole into which the grief stem is lowered while adding drill pipe to the drill string.
 
Rig:  includes the engine, pumps, draw works used in drilling, particularly in rotary drilling.
 
Rock hound:  A geologist.
 
Roughneck:  Laborer on a rotary rig.
 
Roustabout:  Laborer on an oil lease.
 
Scientist:  Anyone-whether a roustabout or an engineer-with college training.
 
Seep:  as in oil seep, places where oil literally squeezes out of the ground.
 
Setting:  refers to placing casing, or pipe, in a well.
 
Spider:  a heavy, steel frame over the mouth of the hole in rotary drilling.
 
Stove pipe:  welded or riveted casing
 
Stripper:  a small-volume but steadily producing oil well.
 
Swivel Necks:  rotary drillers
 
Thief:  an instrument for removing oil samples from a tank.
 
Thief sand:  a stratum of sand encountered in drilling that absorbs oil from richer strata.
 
Three-D Seismic:  Use of seismic waves to create a three-dimensional image of subterranean rock formation.
 
Tool Dressers:  Helpers on a cable tool rig.
 
Tool pusher:  foreman of the drilling crew.
 
Tour:  an eight-hour shift
 
Tulsey town:  Tulsa, State's second largest city.
 
Wildcat:  a test well drilled on unproved land.
 
Wildcatting:  the process of drilling exploratory wells.
Route 66 Museum: More "Celebrity" Sightings
by Valerie Haynes
 
We assumed it was just another tour bus, at maximum capacity, with British tourists.  Then, when Colin Fellows stepped off the bus, staff members did a doubletake; we thought it was Willie Nelson!  Then he said, "Cheers, Loves."  WeColin Fellows, Willie Nelson Look-a-Like knew he wasn't Willie Nelson, and he wasn't just an ordinary tourist.

As shown in picture, Colin was dressed head to toe in Elvis: his hat, similar to the style Elvis wore in the movie poster for Girls! Girls! Girls!, hat pins from his travels, an Elvis t-shirt, an Elvis travel bag (Europe's male purse), and the coolest pair of converse tennis shoes! Colin was definitely the highlight of our day.

Colin is from Northern Ireland (the English controlled portion of the island). This particular trip was his 16th trip to America. He said that he's been to Graceland, "oh, at least four or five times. "I won't ever tire of seeing it! And, America is grand, just grand!" Of course, he said he'd come back to the Route 66 Museum as often!
Delaware Tribe receives Historic Quilt
 
The Delaware Tribe was recently presented with a gift of history. A quilt made in Bartlesville in 1910 by Mrs. Frank Overlees, the former Carrie Armstrong, a granddaughter of Chief Charles Journeycake, found its way home. Mrs. Donna Rohwer donated the quilt to the tribe after the passing of her mother-in-law, Gerry Rohwer, who was an avid quilter and had purchased this quilt in 1977 from theCouncilor Chet Brooks and Chief Jerry Douglas "Quilter's Attic" in Tucson, Arizona, where it had been left on consignment by M.H. Overlees, the 84-year old son of the maker. Documentation of the quilt's heritage was done by Patchwork Quilt appraisals.
 
The quilt is white solid with a delicately patterned tiny rose print in red and white, which gives the overall appearance of pink. It is finely quilted by each piece in small cross hatches. It is an unusual manipulation of the print blocks used, as the plain block and the pieced blocks set diagonally. There is an inner white stripe border with a straight edge binding.
 
The quilt will be on display at Bartlesville History Museum and will have showings at the Nowata History Museum.
 
Pictured with the quilt are Councilor Chet Brooks and Chief Jerry Douglas.
February 9, 2010 

Oklahoma Historical Society 

 2401 N. Laird Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK  73105
(405)522-0317
www.okhistory.org

Shelly Crynes, Editor
(405)522-0317
Do you have questions?   Call (405)522-0317 or email  
 
Don't Miss These Upcoming Events
 
 
2/9 Quilt Block of the Month Class, 6:30pm, Pawnee Bill Museum, Pawnee
 
2/10 Annual Quilt Show, 9am, Jim Thorpe Home, Yale
 
2/12 Pawnee Bill's Birthday Reception, 11:30am, Pawnee Bill Museum, Pawnee
 
2/20 Black History Month Community Program, 1pm, Fort Gibson, Fort Gibson
 
2/26  Ft Towson Time Line and Public Education Event, 9am, Fort Towson, (580)873-2634 or [email protected]
 
 
 
On the importance of history...
 
"A page of history is worth a volume of logic."  Oliver Wendell Holmes
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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