Gerald Franklin, an artist-blacksmith who works outof Black Bull Forge near Duncan will be our guest this Saturday. Gerald accepts private commissions and has work in homes all over Oklahoma and Texas.  He has studied under several nationally known artist-blacksmiths to include Robert Patrick of Everton, Arkansas, and Tal Harris, of Waxhaw, North Carolina.  Gerald's work includes historic reproductions and contemporary style pieces.

Gerald is a member of the Saltfork Craftsmen Artist-Blacksmith Association and has served on the Board of Directors of that organization since 2004.  He also serves as the Education Coordinator for Saltfork.
 
Gerald does several public demonstrations a year around Oklahoma and North Texas.  He specializes in educational demonstrations for young people and has brought the magic of metal art to numerous school groups across the region.

Chapter member Randy Clark discusses, among other things, the history and importance of southwest Oklahoma's Big Pasture.


Music by Josh Woodward
http://www.joshwoodward.com/

GSC-OAS Monthly Meeting

Saturday March 22

2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Guest Leland Bement

From Mammoth Hunters to Bison Hunters: Culture Change During The Younger Dryas

As the glaciers began to melt 12,000 years ago an abrupt climate change cast the world back into ice age conditions.  This event is known as the Younger Dryas.  During this time in North America people of the Clovis culture were hunting mammoths and other large animals.  At the start of the Younger Dryas the mammoths went extinct, forcing the hunters to shift to hunting other animals.  Archaeology in Oklahoma adds to this research.  A look at the changing climate and cultures during this period will be presented from the perspective of excavations in Oklahoma. 

Dr. Bement is an archaeologist with the Oklahoma Archeological Survey, OU.  He has been with the Survey for 16 years and specializes in Paleoindian cultures, animal bones, and environmental reconstructions.

 Museum of the Great Plains

601 NW Ferris Avenue

Lawton, Oklahoma 

Randy presently serves as City Manager of Grandfield, and Trustor of the local Historic Preservation Commission, within the Grandfield community and Big Pasture area. He has worked with the Oklahoma Historical Society toward the preservation of local historic properties, and the downtown area, that have recently been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, in an effort to preserve various aspects of the past culture and history of the Big Pasture. As Chairman of the Tillman County Water Development Authority, and appointee as a Stake Holder to the Economic Development of Tillman County, he is a part of the present day effort toward the betterment of communities and organizations within Tillman and western Cotton County. He is a third generation Farmer & Rancher in the Big Pasture Area and a member of the Oklahoma Brangus Breeders Association.

A great, great grandson of John Wesley James, who was a first cousin to Frank and Jessie James, he grew up along the banks of Brush Creek in the Big Pasture area, where he discovered the renowned Brush Creek Flint Cache in1968. He has since discovered other prehistoric and historic era artifacts.
Having an interest in the anthropology and history of the Big Pasture, he was entrusted with the organization of the Big Pasture Centennial Celebration and the historic KCA Powwow that was held in September 2007. Randy said, "It was important that all participants and aspects of the Celebration were tangible links to the history and anthropology of the Big Pasture."

Randy will discuss the history of the Big Pasture, beginning with the days of the Spanish explorer Coronado to the establishment of the Big Pasture. He will also talk about present day culture and economy, as well as the significance of the Centennial Celebration.

Patsy Harper, Cynthia Vannoy and Tonda Harrup talk about the women of the fur trade and their participation at rendezvous.



















Women of the Fur Trade
www.womenofthefurtrade.com

Hata Yowin Rendezvous Women
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HantaYowinRendezvousWomen/

www.buckskinning.org
www.buckskinning.org/groups_hanta_yowin.htm
www.buckskinning.org/groups_wft.htm

Music by Eric Brown

 

Museum of the Great Plains Living History Interpretor Tim Poteete talks to Barry Hardin about the fur trade.

American Mountain Men
www.mtmen.org
Crazy Crow Trading Post
www.crazycrow.com

Music by Jonathan Coulton
www.jonathancoulton.com

 

This month, join Jana Brown as she talks to Lynn Musslewhite and Ralph Blodgett about their current research on early modes of transportation in southwest Oklahoma.  This information will be utilized in the design and presentation of the new Intermodal Transportation Center opening soon at the Museum of the Great Plains.

 Music by Jonathan Coulton

www.jonathancoulton.com

This month, Jana Brown talks to Yvonne Lever about her work with Atlas Fine Art Services, museums and NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act).

Music by Jonathan Coulton.

www.jonathancoulton.com

In March we joined Jeremy Pye, a graduate student from the University of Arkansas, as he surveyed the Diamond Cemetery in Stephens County, Oklahoma.  Also from the University of Arkansas were Li Bai and John Samuelson as well as Lauren Cleeland from the University of Oklahoma.  We also talked to Gary Bell who, along with his wife, are the caretakers for the cemetery.  If you have any information about the cemetery, the Diamond community or would like to help maintain the cemetery, with labor or money, you can write Gary Bell at Rt. 1, Box 10; Weatherford, OK 73096 or you may contact us. 

Be sure to check out the photos at our website. http://gscoas.googlepages.com/

 Music by Jonathan Coulton.
www.jonathancoulton.com

Join Debra Baker and Jana Brown as they talk with Kent Buehler from the Oklahoma Archeological Survey.