GSCOAS Monthly Meeting and Program

The Use of Native Americans during Late Victorian Times for Commercial Advertising

by Historian/Archaeologist/Curator, Towana Spivey

September 24th, at 2PM,

at the Museum of the Great Plains

601 NW Ferris Avenue

Lawton OK 73507

     Towana Spivey has spent his professional career preserving and interpreting the prehistory and history of the Trans-Mississippi West with particular interest in the Oklahoma area.  He is a native Oklahoman and the descendant of several generations of Chickasaws who came to the Indian Territory in 1837 from northern Mississippi and western Tennessee.

      His educational background includes undergraduate work in History and Natural Science with graduate emphasis in Anthropology and Museum Studies. He has conducted archaeological and interpretive investigations of several 19^th century military posts including Forts Washita, Towson, Ft. Sill, Reno, and Supply as well as other historic and prehistoric sites.  This experience has developed his expertise in the restoration and utilization of 19^th century buildings.  He has researched and is currently supervising major restorations within the Fort Sill National Historic Landmark including the 1870's Cavalry and Infantry Barracks, Guardhouse, Quartermaster Corral, etc. 

Some of his more unique experiences involved providing forensic archaeological support to the Federal Aviation Administration on an organized crime murder case in northeast Oklahoma and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation involving a serial murder case in California.  Local law enforcement has also utilized his expertise with incidental cases in the discovery of human remains associated with missing persons.

      Spivey has served on numerous boards and advisory committees for such organizations as the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, the Oklahoma Governor’s Review Committee for the State Historic Preservation Office, Oklahoma Museums Association, and Southwestern Oklahoma Historical Society.  His work experience includes:  Historic Archaeologist for the Oklahoma Historical Society, Curator of Anthropology for the Museum of the Great Plains, and Director/Curator of the Fort Sill Museum.  He also is a senior curator for the U.S. Army Museum System.  He served with the U.S. Army during the "Berlin Crisis" in the early 1960's.

      He has also been featured in live interviews promoting the cultural history of SW Oklahoma for several regional radio programs in the U.S. such as the Red Steagal Show, as well as for Australian Radio in Sydney.   In 1989, during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, he recorded several hours of audio-tape on American frontier history for the “Voice of America” to be broadcast behind the Iron Curtain.  He has been an instructor or guest lecturer for the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Center, Smith & Wesson Firearms Historical Society, American Association for State and Local History, Cameron University, Oklahoma Center for Continuing Education, and other major universities in Montana, Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma.

       Throughout his career he has regularly been involved in preserving the history, language, and material culture of many Oklahoma tribes including the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa, Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache, Apache Tribe of Oklahoma and others.  He has testified as an expert witness in state and federal courts involving criminal issues on Indian lands and also protection of sacred sites on military property.  He has advised Congress, the Pentagon, and the White House on topics such as Native American soldiers, Comanche Code Talkers, and other related subjects. He has served as an art consultant for the Oklahoma State Legislature.  

Spivey has recently completed a major exhibit gallery entitled, “The Warrior’s Journey” at the Fort Sill National Historical Landmark Museum featuring cultural materials and detailed histories of many historic figures such as Geronimo, Quanah Parker, I-See-O, Satanta, Satank, and others. 

His most recent publication “Silent Witness-The Diary of a Historic Tree at Fort Sill” is attracting wide attention for its unique perspective of a 250 year old oak tree witnessing the history of this very important historic site.  Other research projects he is currently involved with includes:  The Stagecoach History of Oklahoma; Native American Soldiers, Scouts, Marshals and Police; and Early Movies in Frontier Oklahoma.

Spivey’s presentation at the Museum of the Great Plains on September 24^th will focus on:  The Use of Native Americans during Late Victorian Times for Commercial Advertising. This will examine both the artistic and cultural perspectives of marketing products using romanticism and stereotypical attitudes regarding Native Americans so common at that time. 

GSCOAS meetings are held on the fourth Saturday of each month from 2-4 pm at the Museum of the Great Plains, 601 NW Ferris, Lawton, OK, unless otherwise announced.

For more information please contact Debra Baker at 580-581-3460.

Join us this Saturday, August 26th at the Museum of the Great Plains at 2pm. No speaker this month. Just a chance to get together, catch up on Chapter business, discuss future plans and of course, eat! Hope to see you there.

GSCOAS Monthly Meeting and Program
Medicine Park Museum of Natural Science
by Executive Director Doug Kemper
 
July 23rd, at 2PM,
at the Museum of the Great Plains
601 NW Ferris Avenue
Lawton OK 73507
 
 
Executive Director of the new Medicine Park Museum of the Natural History will be the guest speaker for the Greater Southwest Chapter of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society meeting Saturday June23rd at 2:00 P.M., at the Museum of the Great Plains. 
Mr. Kemper will give a power point presentation on the plans and ideas that are incorporated into the opening of the Medicine Park Museum of Natural History.  The Museum will be a new and exciting supplement to biology and science curricula programs for Southwest Oklahoma’s school kids and a compelling family activity and attraction for our entire region.
The Museum will also become a major component of the Wichita’s and Southwest Oklahoma’s eco-tourism appeal and an additional economic driver helping to increase visitors and visitor length-of-stay in Medicine Park, Lawton, and the entire Great Plains Country. The positive impact this Museum will have on our entire region will be tremendous, educationally, culturally and economically.

The Greater Southwest Chapter of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society

Monthly Meeting
Saturday, January 22nd at 2pm
Museum of the Great Plains
601 NW Ferris Avenue
Lawton OK 73507

Our speaker for this Saturday will be our own famous Mr. Randy Clark.  Randy's lecture will be titled " Preservation of Historic Properties of the Big Pasture".  The City of Grandfield's CLG (Certified Local Government's Program)  is administered by Randy Clark, who is the Coordinator of the Local Historic Preservation Commission.  This past year the CLG received a Historic Fund Matching grant-in-aid, administered by the Oklahoma Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office to carry out the CLG's program, which included the development and printing of a historic brochure about the historical development of Grandfield, including the relationship to the Big Pasture, the historic properties that represent Grandfield's heritage, and efforts to preserve the local landmarks and district that represent that heritage.

Mr. Clark also serves as the City Manager of Grandfield and has been an enormous help in regards to the excavation of the Grandfield Mammoth.