Here in what becomes the United States. As a lifelong collector of the arts archives, an tlo pa logical items gilcrease was continually adding to the collection and by the early 1950s his collecting was on an upward trajectory. Unfortunately for him the price of oil was sinking, singing down to the point that eventually he was a little bit upside down. That he owed money and there was the real threat that he would have to sell part of his collection to cover the debts to pay off the debts. And in 1954 some forwardthinking tulsans understanding the collection put together a city wide bond issue to help pay the private debts through public funds. The only time im aware of where a Community Came together the help pay off private debt to save an institution they held very dear in the community. The bond issue wu put to a vote of the public. It was passed by over two thirds of tul sans wanting to help save this precious asset institution. And as a result over time, Thomas Gilcrease will give the collection, the building the grounds to the city of tulsa. This is a cityowned facility and as of 2008 the museum is now managed by the university of tulsa. Its a wonderful partnership, cityowned museum being operated by tulsas very own university of tulsa. And that partnership will help perpetuate the survival the existence of the museum far into the future. Tulsa late 1800s was a much sleepier town than it is today or that it was during the oil boom of the 1920s. And with the discovery of oil right around the early 1900s in bartersville just north of here 45 minutes and later the glen pool just to our west, tulsa overnight was transformed from this sleepy indian outpost with a spring link of settlers into overnight what i refer to as little arabia. Many of them came from the edges or within large American Cities philadelphia, chicago, new york, pittsburgh and so they were around the culture at the turn of the century that was of those cities urban. And tulsa unlike some of the other oil towns is really influenced by the east and by the midwest. And particularly the urban east and the urban midwest because of the culture that the oil men brought. Most of them were indeed self bought. They dont come here with a mill dollar bank roll. Some of them did. They brought with them their culture of music teeter and opera and architecture. Early prominent ones were sinclair oil Harry Sinclair his building directly behind us, his building built in 1916. And the character of Harry Sinclair is as we know part of the teapot dome scandal of 1922 when Warren Harding was president. Harry later after five years of prosecution served six months in the washington, d. C. Jail for corruption. But unusually from his jail cell he still conducted business in tulsa. Earlier ones were the rubber band millionaire, he made and lost two 50 million fortunes between 1910 and 1929. Others included John Paul Getty of getty oil fame. Once the richest man in the world. While he was not born here, his dad had some Oil Properties here and when he was a teen anyoner he came to work the fields in tulsa and stayed through the 20s and made his first millions here. Later buying william g. Skelly oil, another prominent tulsa family. Ultimately john paul bought his company. Others include wade phillips. Wade phillips is to me and many native tul sans the father of modern tulsa. He and his brother started in the oil fields of bartersville. They split up their properties in 1917. Frank stayed in bartersville and started phillips 66. Wade moved to tulsa and began his own oil career here independent of his brother. He ear standing across the street from the philcade. It was built as a commercial endeavor in 1928. Wade had already constructed his masterpiece, the philtower directly across from the philcade. And he wanted to protect his investments, hence he built the philcade. The Ground Forward is an arcade. It had 14 stores and shops. And again prior to air conditioning, remember this. So when we go inside of it which we will soon youll see thats set up for natural ventilation. Above where largely for independent oilmen. And he had a few of his own offices in there as overflow space from the philtower. Were in the interior of the philcade building. To me, the most splendid exam. Of art deck colobby that we have in our fair city. It was built at the very beginning of the deco vef lugs. At the same time the Chrysler Building in new york was being constructed and the Union Carbide building in chicago was being constructed. I offer this Fair Assessment of a navy tulsan that this lobby rivals either one of those and surpassingses both of them. Its an art deco in a unique style in that it has all of the vertical lines the play on shadow using simple materials, the lighting, the chandeliers shown in here are extremely deco manufactured by Empire Chandelier Company in sand springs, oklahoma. And most importantly is the gold leaf in the freeze as in what i refer to as one of the quintessential deco symbols, that of a cornucopia. A cornucopia holding the fruits and vegetables of life typically a very feminine symbol but used along with the lightning bolt as a masculine symbol in zigzag style. The two really combine here in a very passionate manner. And again if you look even further up at the ceiling and at all of the wonderful gold leaf that we have in this space, its east meets west. The influence of native american art in our native tribes in and around tulsa were influenced by french and by art modern. In 1925 was the paris exposition on art modern, and from that sprung american art deco. Were standing in front of what was originally known as the gillette tirel building. Mr. Gillette was an oil man in tulsa. Tirel equally. Started in 1928. And finished in late 1929. Originally the building was to be a hotel and commercial building combination. The last 11 stories were never built due to what happened on october 29th 1929. As we all know the Great Depression stopped a lot of peoples lives as well as construction. The beauty of this building is that it was preserved for lack of use, if you will. The floors have never been worn down. The doors still operate. The shine on the elevators is still there. Because it was never used to its full utilization as a hotel. Above me is a taxi awning built if youll look at it much like a street light, or the old street lights that we used to have, red, green, and yellow. Red means no need for cab to show up. Yellow meant get in line. And green meant get here quickly, ive got a customer standing ready to go. All history starts with people. Unless its geological history, which in tulsas case we have both. We happen to be in a place where a lot of dinosaurs kicked the bucket and created a hell of a lot of oil below us. But we also had people come in to dig up that oil who brought their cultures with them. And when you built something you built it right. And the jul and the genius of tulsa is that through happen stance and through the desire to make a buck we had quality people show up around the same who created this incredible place on their prairie. Thursday former Texas Governor and president ial candidate rick perry lays out his economic plan. The threeterm governor is the featured speaker at the National Press club, live at 1 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. President obama travels to wisconsin thursday to speak about the economy. Well be live with the president from the university of wisconsin la crosse at 2 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Thursday, American History tv in prirmt continues with a look at the declaration of independence. Panelists will explore the text and the National Archives work to preserve the original document. The National Archives and the institute of advanced study hosted a forum with archivists, historians and rare document collectors. The declaration of independence thursday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cnnspan3s American History tv. The cspan cities tour partnering with our cable affiliates traveling across the United States, join us and Cox Communications this weekend as we learn about the history and literary life of omaha nebraska, where one of americas first Advocacy Group fighting for racial equality. They had a reputation in omaha and in the United States as a city that if you came in and were black, you needed to keep your
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