Girl Scout Statue Coming

Phyllis Mantik has cast a statue of a Girl Scout. She is a Canadian who has made sculpting her purpose in life. Now a resident of Stillwater, Oklahoma, she was chosen to make a bronze cast for the scouting program. That vision will be unveiled at the Three Rivers Museum on Saturday, May 31 at 4 o'clock.

Phyllis is celebrating the Scouting program by portraying a girl in her Scout uniform. This girl is an accomplished youngster as attested by the number of badges she wears on her sash. She has raised her right hand in the three-fingered salute recognizable around the world as a pledge to "do her best."

One tradition of the Girl Scouts is the selling of cookies to support the Scouting program. It is an important rite of passage for girls who meet the public while selling cookies. Thousands of local girls have become more confident in themselves while asking someone to buy a box of cookies.

The location of the statue in Muskogee is no accident. Four boxes of cookies are shown stacked by the Girl Scout who is forever frozen in bronze. Girls in the scouting program first sold cookies in Muskogee during December 1917 to raise money. The girls sold cookies in order to raise money to purchase uniforms.

The Muskogee's Mistletoe Troop was a new group in town. However, so was the Girl Scout organization. Juliette Gordon Low organized the first troop in the spring of 1912 in Georgia. It was only in 1915 that she incorporated the organization as Girl Scouts, Inc. Juliette sold her valuable necklace to support the society during these early days. This was because there was no regular income until troops all across the country began following Muskogee in selling cookies.

Members of the troop were able to sell cookies in Muskogee only until the middle of the month. A shortage of gas and the discovery that the heating plant at the Central High School was deficient forced the local school board to start the Christmas holidays on December 16th.

Since those days when Muskogee girls first peddled their cookies in the high school cafeteria, troop activities all across the United States have benefited. Because of those first sales, the "Cookie Seller" statue is coming to Muskogee.

Beginning May 21st, the Three Rivers Museum will display current and former Girl Scout uniforms. Also on exhibit will be memorabilia illustrating the scouting tradition and activities. This material may be viewed until June 7th.

Girl Scouts from all across Eastern Oklahoma plan to be at the Three Rivers Museum on the 31st to celebrate the "Road to a New Beginning." This celebration begins at 4:00 pm and will include the unveiling of the new statue.

If you were ever a Girl Scout, parented a Girl Scout or purchased cookies in support of the Girl Scout activities, plan to attend the dedication of the new Girl Scout statue at 220 Elgin Avenue in Muskogee.

Museum Digitizing Interviews

Alexander Hamilton Mike, Jr. was born in the Creek community surrounding the Union Agency now atop Agency Hill west of Muskogee. His birth occurred, he said, in 1874.

When Dub West interviewed Mr. Mike in September 1973, his voice showed the weakness of advanced age. Despite his low volume, A. H. could recall events and people from the earliest days of Muskogee's history.

Since 1860, man has been interested in recording the human voice. Mr. A. H. Mike was among the first persons Dub West recorded for posterity. Dub recorded nearly two hours of Mr. Mike's recollections.

Mike's interview is among the more than 180 discussions Dub recorded. He began in 1970 and continued recording on audiotape for nearly two full decades. His interviewees were all born before 1924. Mr. Mike, for example, was nearly 100 years old when Dub interviewed him.

Dub West sought out many long-time residents to interview. While most lived in the Muskogee area, he did not limit himself to the immediate area. He also sought out knowledgeable people in McIntosh and Cherokee Counties. Though West conducted interviews year round, he visited informants more between late winter and summer.

Following Dub West's death in 2001, the family donated the collection of interviews to the newly established Three Rivers Museum. The museum duplicated many of the tapes for preservation purposes years ago.

Developments in technological areas, however, mean today's audiocassette tapes are a dying recording media. Realizing this, the staff and volunteers have begun the process of digitizing these audiocassettes for the long-term future.

The process necessitate that each tape be played on a tape player that is connected to a computer. The computer used a recording program to re-record the stories digitally.

After this comes more steps before the interviews will be of much use to historians. Transcriptions of an interview are necessary, too. Such transcriptions point to accounts of an individual, place or event that historians will want to study.

The Three Rivers Museum has an offer for you. If you have a taped recording of an area resident, you may bring the cassette tape to the Three Rivers Museum. Then the museum will create a digital file for you to take home on the flash drive. There will be no charge for this service.

All the museum asks is that you allow it to retain a copy of the recording in order to expand the museum's collection. You get the added benefit of seeing that your relative's voice lives on in an institution dedicated to preservation of area history.

Trolley Tour of Historic Downtown

Become a "historical tourist" this coming Saturday. Muskogee's "Trolley Tour of Historic Downtown" will visit many local points of interest. This annual event by the Three Rivers Museum lasts about an hour and a half.

Historic re-enactors will enliven this year's stops. They will illustrate some of the flavor of early day residents and scoundrels who once walked down the streets or once rode the old (pre-1939) Muskogee Electric Traction Company trolley cars. The cast of re-enactors include actors from the Muskogee Little Theater.

Barbara Downs really enjoyed her tour last year. When asked for a comment, her excitement amplified her memories. She exclaimed that it was so much fun and so informative that she was going on the tour again this year. This time a friend is going with her to share the experience.

There are many historical sites that we drive past each day. While some of the old structures are now gone, not all are. The tour will demonstrate that Muskogee is a historic town.

There are two tours scheduled this year. Seating for both tours have sold out. All that remain are spaces for standing in the aisles. Standing spaces are available for both tours.

While saving gasoline, join with your neighbors to see Muskogee as you never have seen your town before. Compare the photographs of the historical structures with today's buildings. See how some buildings have changed while others are either unchanged or are gone forever.

Each ticket costs slightly more than a movie pass at $10. The profusely illustrated booklet describing the historical sights alone is worth the price of a ticket. Reservations can be made by calling the museum at 686-6624. Departure times are 10:00 am and 1:00 pm at the Three Rivers Museum parking lot, 220 Elgin Street, three blocks south of Muskogee's City Hall.

Linda Moore, Museum Director

Linda Moore appears in the adjacent photograph. She shows how a man's tie was used in an exhibit.

Linda Moore has been involved with the Three Rivers Museum for the past ten years. She began as a volunteer on May 7, 1997. Roger Bell asked her to identify and catalog a growing collection of artifacts.

The museum board started accepting donations of historical material before 1997. There was no building for storage then. Connors State College solved the need for space. The three rooms used by the museum soon began to be congested as donations piled on top of earlier donations.

Roger Bell, the Three Rivers Museum board chairman, called for volunteers. He realized it was possible the collecting effort might backfire if there was no way to keep track of the collection.

Linda saw the first effort at cataloging as a good start that needed to get better. Descriptions of donated items were first recorded on paper forms. Linda said she envisioned the day when there would be a stack of paper forms while the board was still in the dark about what the museum possessed.

Next the museum acquired a computer for inventorying. Linda, unfamiliar with computers, began mastering the skills of operating one. She assumed the responsibilities of "collection management" when she joined the museum board.

The Three Rivers Museum continued to grow rapidly over the next couple of years. In February, 2000, Linda resigned from the board to become the museum's first Executive Director. She continued to catalogue items in the museum collection. Now over 10,000 artifacts are included in the museum's catalog.

The public rarely sees the work that goes into making a museum function successfully. This labor occurs out of the sight of the viewing public. In addition to cataloging, workrooms are used to preserve artifacts and to build exhibits.

Preservation is a major practice in museums. Linda said the she knew nothing about preserving artifacts when she started. She said she learned most of what she knows about preservation from reading how-to books and studying websites. Specialized knowledge about preserving a unique item requires expert advice. Such information often came from online sources.

Linda also learned how to build exhibits. She learned how by taking classes and attending state conferences. Linda has attended the last nine conferences conducted by the Oklahoma Museum Association.

Thanks to Linda Moore's dedication, the Three Rivers area has a professional museum residents can be proud of.

Expanded Railroad Day at Museum

This year the annual Railroad Day at the Three Rivers Museum is on Saturday, May 19th. If you have not visited the museum on Railroad Day before, come out for an interesting time.

Over the years the museum has collected artifacts depicting early Muskogee County life. Because the museum is housed in the old Midland Valley Railroad depot, it is natural that railroading would be a focus. An extensive collection of railroad memorabilia is on exhibition for this special occasion.

The largest artifact is the black and red train engine located on the north side of the depot. It is a switching engine. Such an engine was not designed to pull trains over long distances. Instead its function was to pull box cars into position for coupling in a switchyard. That's where the long-haul trains were assembled. Why not come climb into the switch engine control booth and feel the rush of an engineer as you look down the imaginary track?

The switch engine is only one of many items from the railroading past. Touring the exhibits inside the depot will give visitors a fuller idea of Muskogee's railroad development. Collectors of railroad models will be showing their "O" Gauge layouts. One railroad enthusiast will have almost 100 small engines and box cars on hand.

This year the exhibits for visitors are expanded to include the additional themes of "planes" and "automobiles." New acquisitions of aviation memorabilia include leather flying helmets from the early days. There is a new exhibit on Hatbox Field's history.

In addition to exhibits, a presentation by Carl Gregory will be given. Carl co-authored "The Oklahoma Aviation Story" in 2004. His talk begins at 10:30. He will focus on the flying history of northeastern Oklahoma. Two of stories he tells will be about the arrival in Muskogee of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, famous pilots of the 20th Century.

Going places slows down when you are driving a Ford Model T. Members of the Tulsa Model T Club will have real cars on hand for visitors to examine and admire. The special features of each car will be described by the owners.

Admission to the Three Rivers Museum for this special event will cost $6.00 for adults and half that amount for students. Lunch, sold separately, will be provided by Smokehouse Bob.

The Expanded Railroad Day is the sixth annual event on this theme. All have been different. Don't miss this one!