UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA NEWS-JOURNAL
VOLUME VI
NORMAN OKLAHOMA JANUARY 26 1914
NUMBER 13
This Bulletin is published weekly for the purpose of supplying up-to-date information about the University Newspapers are invited to clip freely from it
LOCAL SOCIETIES AT WORK ON
STATE HISTORICAL MATERIAL
NORMAN Okla Jan — (Special)
—The collection of local historical ma-
terial in Oklahoma a project undertaken
by Mr J B Thoburn instructor in history
in the University of Oklahoma is meet-
ing with unusual success according to
recent reports from various parts of the
state
Several months ago letters were ad-
dressed to principals and teachers of his-
tory in the high schools of Oklahsma by
Mr Thoburn asking their co-operation in
the collection of data and material con-
cerning the local history of each commun-
ity and suggesting the organization of a
local history club to be composed of
pupils of the high school in each instance
A number of these university historical
clubs have been formed in different parts
of the state and have reported progress
with the work which they have severally
undertaken
The local history club of the Hastings
High School was the first to make a com-
pleted report This has been printed in
the form of a neat eight-page folder en-
titled "Something of the Early History of
Hastings and Vicinity" The town of
Hastings which is located in the western
part of Jefferson County is only about
twelve years old so its history is not
nearly so extensive as tnat of many other
Oklahoma communities Still the pupils
who undertook to collect the material and
compile this sketch must have gone at it
with a commendable degree of zeal for
they have made very creditable showing
One very interesting feature of their re-
port is the statements wh'ch they have
secured concerning the origin and signifi-
cance of the names of several of the near-
by streams They also succeeded in locat-
ing definitEly the site of one of the camps
of the Marcy Expedition and the fords
where the expedition crossed two creeks
sixty-two years ago
A letter recently received from F A
Balyeat of the Anadarko High School
concerning a similar line of work being
done by the pupils of that school says:
"For two months my senior class has
been working on the early history of Ana-
darko according to your suggestion Last
Tuesday I had Judge Ross Hume talk to
the class I am afraid that our present
plans include more than you intend
There is so much Indian and early trader
history connected with this town and it
is so interesting that we are making our
work cover much of that Also we are
planning to illustrate our little typewritten
booklet with- pictures tipped in so far as
we are able to get them It will be some
little time before we can get this finish-
ed" Anadarko has the material for one of
the most interesting local histories in the
state and it is a source of gratification to
the university historians to know of the
thoroughness with which the high school
seniors have taken up the effort to collect
and compile such a history It is expect-
ed that many other high school principals
and teachers will undertake work along
the same line Nothing can develop
mental aptitude on the part of the pupil
more thoroughly than such a line of orig-
inal research Furthermore the teachers
and pupils who are engaged in working
out such a line of investigation are al-
most sure to secure and save from obliv-
ion much valuable local historical data
which otherwise might never be found
and recorded
CIRCULATING LIBRARIES
SENT OUT BY UNIVERSITY
NORMAN Okla Jan — (Special)
—Circulating libraries each consisting of
twelve volumes on such subjects as edu-
cation woman suffrage country life and
interests government and politics and
co-operation and social interests are
being sent out by the University of Ok-
lahoma to organizations and individuals
in the state At present there are 25 sets
of books in all 300 volumes which are
placed at the disposal of literary societies
and debating clubs the only expense to
the users being the express charges from
the University Already there has been
a steady demand for the kind of infor-
mation which these books present
PROPOSES NOVEL METHOD
OF CONSERVING MOISTURE
NORMAN Okla Jan — (Special)
—"If the farmers of Oklahom instead of
allowing the annual rainfall to flow away
unchecked would build dams in the ra-
vines creek and river bottoms conserving
the water supply for evaporation during
the months of late spring and summer
the hot winds of the state would lose
their destructive power" declared G V
Buchanan superintendent of the schools
of Oklahoma City in an address at the
University of Oklahoma last week
"This may appear to be a radical and
even visionary scheme" explained Super-
intendent Buchanan "but I believe that
in time the people of Oklahoma will turn
to this plan as the only practical means
of combatting the effects of the- drought
which has played havoc with crops in
the past few years" He urged upon his
hearers particularly the students the
necessity of agitation for better farming
methods and especially the conservaiion
of moisture
OKLAHOMA TO HAVE HEAVY
FOOTBALL SCHEDUDE IN 1914
NORMAN Okla Jan — (Special)
—If the Oklahoma football schedule for
1914 is arranged according to the plan
of Coach Bennie Owen and Assistant
Coach Fred Capshaw it will be one of the
hardest ever played in the history of the
institution since it will include four state
universities — Missouri Texas Kansas
and Arkansas and the agricultural and
mechanical college of Texas and Oklaho-
ma The season will be opened with three
practice games with CentralState Normal
Kingfisher College and another normal
school either Southeastern of Durant or
East Centrà1 of Ada In the following
four weeks games will be played with
Missouri Texas and Kansas state uni-
versities and Oklahoma Agricultural and
Mechanical College
The dates of the two weeks preceding
Thanksgiving Day have not been definite-
ly decided upon In all probability Texas
Agricultural and Mechanical College will
be played on November 13 however it is
possible that Kansas Agricultrial College
will be played on this date On Friday
November 20 a game with the University
of Arkansas is planned On Thanksgiv-
ing day the Haskell Indians will probably
be played at Kansas City
The tentative schedule for the season
with the probable dates and places for
the games is as follows:
September 23—Central State Normal
(Edmond) at Oklahoma City
October 2—Kingfisher College at Norman
October 9—Southeastern (Durant) or
East Central (Ada) State Normal at Norman
October I6—University of Missouri at
Norman
October 4—LIniversity of Texas at
Dallas
October 30—University of Knnsas at
6—Oklahoma A and M at
Norman
November 13—Texas A and M at Hous-
ton November 20—University of Arkansas
at Oklahoms City
November 26—Haskell Indians at Kan-
sas City