Grant Foreman Bibliography!

Indian, Removal, the Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932. (Also, New Edition, 1953.)

Advancing the Frontier, 1830-1860. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1933.
The Five Civilized Tribes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1934.

Down the Texas Road, Historic Places along Highway 69 through Oklahoma. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1936.

The Adventures of James Collier, First Collector of the Port of San Francisco. Chicago: The Black Cat Press, 1937.

"Missionaries of the Latter-Day Saints Church in Indian Territory," Vol. XIII (1935).

"Red River and the Spanish Boundary in the United States Supreme Court," Vol.11 (1924).

"Reminiscences of Mr. R. P. Vann, East of Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, September 28, 1932. As told to Grant Foreman," Vol. XI (1933).

"A Survey of Tribal Records in the Archives of the United States Government in Oklahoma," Vol. XI (1933).

"The Journal of the Proceedings at our First Treaty with the Wild Indians, 1835," Vol. XIV (1936).

"Survey of a Wagon Road from Fort Smith to the Colorado River," Vol. XII (1934).

"Antoine Leroux, New Mexico Guide," New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. XVI (1941).

"The Constitutional Convention of Oklahoma," Collier's Weekly, Vol. XXXIIX (1907).

"Education Among the Five Civilized Tribes in Early Days," Indians at Work, Vol. IV (1937).

"English Emigrants in Iowa," Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Vol. XLIV (1946).

"English Settlers in Illinois," Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, VoL XXXIV (1941).

"Illinois and Her Indians," Papers in Illinois History and Transactions for the year 1939. (1940).

"John Howard Payne and the Cherokee Indians," American Historical Review, XXXVII(1932).

"The Life of Montfort Stokes in the Indian Territory," North Carolina Review, VoL XVI (1939).

"Notes, and Documents; Journey of a Party of Cherokee Emigrants," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. XVIII (1940).

"Our Indian Ambassadors to Europe," Collections of the Missouri Historical Society, VoL V (1928).

"River Navigation in the Early Southwest," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. XV (1928).

"Settlement of English Potters in Wisconsin," The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. XXI (1938).

"The Texas Comanche Treaty of 1846," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. LI (1948).

"Thrilling Story of First Indian Ambassadors to Europe," The American Indian, Vol. V (1931-32).

Eulogist
General William S. Key, Oklahoma City
President, Oklahoma State Historical Society

Organ Music.............................................................Mrs. W. P. Baswell

Chorale:
"When Thou Art Near"..............................................Bach
"Evensong"..............................................................Schumann
"Largo" (New World Symphony)...............................Dvorak

Chorale:
"My Heart is Filled with Longing"..............................Bach
"I'm a Pilgrim" (Johnson)..........................................Mrs. Francis Thompson

BENEDICTION..........................................................Dr. Walter G. Letham

"Going Home" (Dvorak)............................................Mrs. W. P. Baswell

EUOLOGY DELIVERED IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA ON April 23, 1953.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said in one of his essays that, "Every institution is but the lengthened shadow of an individual." It could well be said that the Oklahoma Historical Society, in its growth and development as a great storehouse of rich and romantic history of our beloved State, is but the lengthened shadow of this fine gentlemen, this great historian, who has been called home by the Supreme Architect of the Universe, the great Recorder of all history.

Dr. Foreman was first elected a director of the Oklahoma Historical Society on February 5, 1924. He entered upon his duties with initiative and enthusiasm. He was regularly reelected and later, as a reward for his splendid service, he was made a director for life. In this brief tribute I will confine my remarks generally to his association with the Historical Society; even so, I can emphasize only the high lights of his great contribution to the recording and preservation of Oklahoma history.

Upon becoming a director of the Society, Dr. Foreman was appointed on the Committee of Publications, charged with publishing the quarterly magazine of the Society, The Chronicles of Oklahoma, then in its infancy, only one volume having been published up to that time. The second and each succeeding volume, except those of the past two years, has contained feature articles on some phase of Oklahoma history by Dr. Foreman. I recall his first article published in April 1924, in which he commemorated the 100th anniversary of Fort Gibson. It is one of my prized possessions and I attribute my growing interest in Oklahoma's history to the reading of his fascinating story of the history of that famous Post. Dr. Foreman's splendid services as Editor and contributing author made the Chronicles of Oklahoma one of the most valuable historical publications of its kind in the Nation.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society on February 1, 1927, Dr. Foreman sponsored a resolution memorializing Congress to authorize the placing of the records of the Five Civilized Tribes in the Historical Society for permanent file and preservation. This action was to become effective when a fireproof building for safeguarding the records could be provided. He followed through diligently on both the resolution and the need of a new building and was largely responsible for the erection in 1930 of the handsome building in which the Society is now housed. Shortly thereafter, Congress enacted a law making the Society the official depository of the old records of the Five Civilized Tribes and all other Indian Tribes in Oklahoma. As a result of Dr. Foreman's efforts our Indian Archives today contain the largest collection of classified Indian records to be found outside of the National Capitol.

Another important contribution of Dr. Foreman was his sponsorship during the depression of several Federal Works projects employing a great number of qualified persons in collecting historical data and preserving historical sites. The most important of these, perhaps, was the program of interviewing old Indians and pioneers and obtaining first hand stories and recollections of their early life before and after the Civil War. This is known as the Foreman Collection and contains one hundred and twelve volumes of valuable historical memoirs. Other projects included the construction of a replica of the old stockade at Fort Gibson which has been visited by hundreds of thousands of interested citizens. Another project was the erection of a stone building to enclose the original log house home of Sequoyah, the famous author of the Cherokee alphabet, near Sallisaw; still another, was the construction of a stone wall around the family cemetery of the noted Choctaw leader, Robert M. Jones, near the site of his palatial antebellum home near Hugo. Jones was perhaps the wealthiest Indian in Indian Territory and represented the Choctaw Nation in the Confederate Congress at Richmond during the Civil War.

It was Grant Foreman who first struck the spark of interest in the fascinating history of the first permanent citizens of Oklahoma, our Indian ancestors of the Five Civilized Tribes. To him above any other writer is due credit for developing, through intensive study and research, the engrossing story of these tribes in their progress from primitive life to orderly self government and conventional society.

Dr. Foreman's interest and efforts in obtaining and preserving history was not confined to the Indian race. However, since the history of Oklahoma is so closely interwoven with the history of the Indian, naturally his work developed heretofore unpublished facts about their achievement in wresting this beautiful country from a wild state of nature before the coming of the white man.

It was largely through Dr. Foreman's tireless research in the musty and forgotten records and reports of human, and sometimes inhuman, activities and adventure of representatives of the various nations that colonized America, before and after our War of Independence, that we have learned the real history of America and Oklahoma's original citizens.

Dr. Foreman recognized that the documentary history of our State has been in progress of recording for many years and that the source material was scattered far and wide. He spent much time and money in patient and laborious study and research in libraries scattered over the United States and Europe, and in doing so he assembled a priceless collection of historical information. To him there was no vocation so interesting and so fascinating as historical research. We Oklahomans owe him a great debt of gratitude for his contribution to the history of our great State.

His historical books are too numerous to mention individually but his absorbing stories of the Five Civilized Tribes, Indian Removal, and Advancing the Frontier, belong in the front rank of historical research and reporting. Dr. Foreman was a good man and a good citizen, proud of his adopted State and loyal to his Nation; his life was an inspiration to his many friends and admirers in all walks of life; and to his associates in the Oklahoma Historical Society he was the Dean of Historians. His gentle spirit will linger long with us:

"Fading away like stars of the morning,
Losing their light in the glorious sun,
So do we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done."

Many Oklahomans have given years of devoted service to their profession. Many men and women have devoted their professional careers to the betterment of the state. And unnumbered citizens have served their local communities zealously and ably and created better places in which to live. But seldom has a man appeared on the Oklahoma scene with the time and inclination to devote, unselfishly and unstintedly, more than a quarter of a century of service to a state institution.

Grant Foreman was born in Detroit, Illinois, June 3, 1869. After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in June, 1891, he began practice in Chicago, later joining the firm headed by United States Senator William E. Mason. Foreman came to Muskogee in 1899 as a field worker for the Dawes Commission, which was engaged in allotting lands and winding up tribal affairs for the Five Civilized Tribes. Muskogee remained his home until his death, April 21, 1953.

Foreman worked with the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes four years. This experience engendered an interest in the Indians and the territory he never lost. In 1903 Foreman resigned his position with the Commission to practice law with John R. Thomas, who came to Indian Territory as a federal judge in 1896. This partnership at Muskogee continued until Judge Thomas' untimely death in 1914. With sufficient income from oil and farm holdings, Foreman gave up active practice in the early 1920's. Thereafter he devoted his time to the intensive research and writings that brought national recognition.

These earlier years, however, nurtured many of Foreman's finer qualities later expressed in his meticulous research and writing. John D. Benedict in his history of Muskogee and Northeastern Oklahoma, published in 1922, wrote of Foreman: "He is a strong advocate with the jury and concise in his appeal to the court. Much of the success which has attended him in his professional career is undoubtedly due to the fact that in no instance will he permit himself to go into the court with a case unless he is absolute in his confidence in the justice of his client's case."

He was a member of the Muskogee City Council, 1907-1911, a period when many public improvements were underway. Streets were paved, the water system expanded and bonds voted to provide for an adequate public school building program. His interest in better municipal government led to his introduction of a resolution to adopt a charter and install the commission form of government. These recommendations were adopted September 13, 1910 in a citywide election. In January, 1908 he was named to a committee to secure a Carnegie Library. He was a member of the Muskogee Library Board from its inception.

Local interest in navigation on the Arkansas led Foreman to make an exhaustive study of inland waterways. His interest in river improvement and navigation was heightened by on-site investigations of waterways of Western Europe in 1907. He attended a national waterways convention in Washington in December, 1908, where he was considered one of the best informed delegates on the subject of river shipping.

Movements toward statehood excited Foreman's interest and, although not an active participant, his keen analysis of the Constitutional Convention was accepted for publication by Collier's Magazine. Years later the editor stated that four manuscripts were received on the subject; the Foreman article was accepted because of its lucidity and penetrating analysis.

Articles by Foreman on Oklahoma appeared in other leading periodicals; all expressed faith in the possibilities of the new state. During these years his work in legal matters necessitated many trips to Washington where he examined War and Interior Department records relating to Indian Territory. He began adding to his personal library collections of copied manuscripts, photostats, pictures and government documents relating to the Five Civilized Tribes. This accumulation of archival material was to give him the most extensive functional private library in the country on this subject.

Foreman was in Muskogee April 21, 1904 when Creek Freedmen were permitted to sell their surplus lands. In many instances swindlers took advantage of their incompetence. He witnessed a similar orgy of speculation August 8, 1907 when restrictions were removed from the mixed bloods of the Creek Nation. The ease with speculators and grafters dispossessed guileless freedmen and mixed bloods of their holdings made a deep impression upon him. He became an active member of the Indian Rights Association, spoke at annual meetings and appeared before congressional committees to protest against hasty and unwise removal of restrictions imposed upon Indian allottees.

These developments increased Foreman's keen interest in local history. Years later he related how he and Mrs. Foreman accompanied a drayman to Sawokla, home of Miss Alice Robertson, and carted away valuable donations to furnish the history museum set up in the Muskogee Public Library. A few days later devastating fire completely destroyed the home. Interest in local history prompted the formation of the Muskogee County Historical Society, chartered as a subsidiary of the State Historical Society in 1920.

When Governor Robert L. Williams' term as chief executive ended in January, 1919 and he received appointment as federal judge over the Eastern District of Oklahoma, his official residence became Muskogee. Here he was thrown into closer contact with Foreman, learned to respect his interest in history and became dependent on him for guidance in historical matters pertaining to the State. As soon as opportunity afforded, Judge Williams proposed his nomination to the Board of Directors of the Historical Society.

Perhaps the finest act performed in the long and useful record of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society occurred February 5, 1924. On that date Foreman was elected a director. His energy, ability and time thenceforward were devoted to making the Society a pre-eminent institution. With associate members of the Board he conceived the idea of a great building to house museum items and records of historic import on the evolution of his adopted State. As a member of that small corps of distinguished citizenry who brought the idea to fruition, he wrote letters, made speeches, contacted legislators and the governor in order to create a strong public opinion for the building of an edifice worthy of a great state.

This was not easy. Oklahoma in the late 1920's was not deeply interested in its cultural heritage. Too many transient Oklahomans came into the state, tapped its rich resources for personal aggrandizement, and moved on to share their newly found wealth in other places. Others were busy with everyday affairs. Look about you. Few cities and towns of Oklahoma or its institutions can point to benefactions or endowments antedating that period.

Foreman forged a weapon used with telling effect by Judge Thomas A. Doyle, Judge Robert L. Williams, General William S. Key and other Board members in direct contact with state legislative leaders and Governor William J. Holloway. From his knowledge of the great historical value of records accumulated by the Indian agencies, he knew how important it would be for future generations to have these records permanently housed. Foreman visited Washington. Honorable W. W. Hastings, member of Congress from our second congressional district, heard his plea. Hastings and Foreman called on Department of Interior officials. These officials agreed to release the records when Oklahoma showed its good faith by providing adequate facilities to assure their safe-keeping. With this promise of cooperation from the nation's capitol, it was not too difficult to win state legislative approval for an appropriation to construct the present Oklahoma Historical Society building. Here the building stands, a monument to all Oklahoma pioneers, particularly to that small group who made it possible.

While construction of the building was underway, Judge Thomas A. Doyle, President of the Society, Judge Robert L. Williams and Grant Foreman renewed the plea of the Board of Directors for federal legislation to make the transfer of the Indian records possible. Foreman prepared a rough draft for congressional legislation embodying their provisions. Hastings interested other members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation in the legislation and personally assumed responsibility for its final passage. Public Law 133, 73 Congress (HR 5631) was approved by President Roosevelt March 27, 1934.

As early as 1929 Foreman felt that this legislation probably would be enacted, and in September of that year Mrs. Rella Watts began calendaring records in possession of the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes. The inventory was completed in October, 1934 and the records transferred to the Historical Society. Thus was established through Dr. Foreman's influence the Indian Archives Division of the Society, nationally recognized by scholars and research students for its source materials.

Foreman knew that the collections of Indian records and newspapers in the Historical Society would involve any serious student in unnecessarily tedious research unless they were properly indexed. Proper cataloguing and indexing would set up guideposts to assist the student seeking historical accuracy. With these objectives in mind, he introduced a resolution at the Board meeting April 25, 1935 in which attention was called to services which could be performed in cooperation with the federal government's work program. Later he consulted with J. J. Hill, Assistant Librarian, University of Oklahoma, in regard to proper methods of cataloguing and indexing the records. When General Key became WPA Administrator, the Historical Society in 1936 sponsored and Dr. Foreman, at his own expense, assumed supervision over projects to catalog the records, mend and bind newspaper volumes and to prepare a selected index. This work continued after ill health caused him to withdraw from direct supervision, but every student who has reason to sample any of the more than one million index cards and use the catalogued documents can appreciate the foresight of Foreman in having these records made more accessible.

Foreman's record of unselfish devotion to his adopted State and its native people is emphasized by an examination of other research facilities of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Into the vault of the new building, onto the empty stacks and into barren museum showcases came an ever-increasing flow of research items and materials of historic importance gathered by him or contributed by donors through his influence. Included in the archival materials are original records, and more than ten thousand typed copies and photostatic copies of historic documents. Heirs of Lieut. A. W. Whipple, who presented the Whipple Collection to the Society October 28, 1950 were persuaded to make the presentation largely through the influence of Dr. Foreman with the timely co-operation of the Honorable Patrick J. Hurley and Governor Roy J. Turner.

A sampling of three of his earliest articles in the Chronicles portrays his style, methods of research and presentation. His first article, which appeared in 1924, concerned the Three Forks country - the Grand, Verdigris and Arkansas River valleys. This was the region he knew and loved so well; much of his research in the libraries of the world centered on this area. Article followed article on the forts, trading posts, salt works, Indian conferences and government, social and economic changes, missionaries, schools and institutions, surveys, trails and military roads among the Osage, Cherokee and Creek settlements, the great drainage area of the Arkansas, which included most of Indian Territory. Though research was tedious, his scholarship was unquestioned; and fact after fact was brought to light on the early beginnings and settlement of Oklahoma.

"To follow a clue to the lair of an elusive historical event; to capture the fact and make it my own brings a glow of satisfaction I would not yield to any big game hunter. Or if the metaphorical hunter may become a gold seeker, whether toilfully digging in low grade pay dirt or in the mother lode of rich old historical records the treasure I extract there not only dims the glitter of the yellow metal for pure joy of discovery and possession, but it has the greater value of being mine forever to share with others, without fear of theft or loss".

In 1924, in addition to other articles by him in the Chronicles, there appeared an account of the "Red River and the Spanish Boundary in the Supreme Court." Here he explored the incunabula of source origins, the great mass of testimony, oral and documented, that led to the final decree. His legal training and background fully equipped him to mine court records for items of historic import; more than any other serious student of Oklahoma and the Southwest, he turned to court records for source materials. Other writers in the field of Oklahoma history have profited from his example.

In 1926 there was published in the Chronicles "Captain Nathan Boone's Survey of the Creek-Cherokee Boundary Line." Here Foreman disclosed another facet of his versatility in research that has added immeasurably to our knowledge of past events; namely, to take an original document, carefully annotate it in relation to locale and time, then make it available to the general reader. Through the years he searched out records of missionaries, travelers and visitors to Indian Territory that had been published in church journals and early-day newspapers, uncovered private letters and journals, faded diaries and governmental reports and with proper foreword, editorial comment or footnotes published them in the Chronicles.

These, then, mark his great contributions to the Chronicles: articles of lasting merit based upon the marshalling of facts from hitherto unused sources, the examination of court decisions and documents bearing upon the history of the state, and the annotation of source documents that add a wealth of knowledge on our early beginnings. During the time Dr. Foreman was an active member of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society, until he resigned October 28, 1943 and was unanimously elected Director Emeritus for life, seldom did a quarterly issue of the Chronicle' appear without a contribution by him.

This period, 1924-43, comprised his years of greatest productiveness in historical research.

From 1924 to 1943 he wrote and had published twelve of the fifteen volumes produced in his lifetime.

During the period he edited and had published four volumes, original manuscripts, rich in the history of this region.

In 1932 the University of Tulsa conferred upon him the degree of Doctorate of Literature.

In 1943, the faculty of the University wrote a testimonial proclaiming its "deep appreciation of Grant Foreman and his wife and co-worker, Carolyn Thomas Foreman, for their research and writing in Oklahoma and southwestern history over a period of more than 35 years". The resolution declared their works "have placed citizens of their time and of time to come under a lasting debt of gratitude".

No honor accorded him however, pleased him more than the esteem in which he was held by the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes. He dedicated funds raised from the sale of a monograph on the Five Tribes to education of Indian youth. The Council designated this the Foreman Fund to which additional contributions have been and will he made.

Three months after his election to the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Foreman was placed on a committee to mark historic spots in Oklahoma. He felt that markers and monuments for this purpose should stem from groups or associations within the locale or region where history had been made. Judge John B. Meserve and James II. Gardner, Tulsa, and other Board members gave timely assistance. In this cause Foreman enlisted the aid of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in Oklahoma, the Indian Territory chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, U. S. Daughters of 1812, Daughters of the Confederacy, the Old Fort Club of Fort Gibson, the Oklahoma Library Association, faculty and students of Northeastern State College, communities and public-spirited citizens.

By the mid-thirties huge blocks of granite or marble, suitably engraved, were placed and dedicated at Three Forks, Union Mission, and Park Hill; a monument to Montford Stokes at Fort Gibson, one to General Mathew Arbuckle and the Seventh U. S. Cavalry, Fort Gibson, and one to Milly Francis at Bacone College were dedicated; the restoration of the monument over the grave of Rev. Epaphras Chapman at Union Mission was completed, and a rock-walled curb was constructed around the old garrison well at Fort Gibson. At each of the dedicatory ceremonies Dr. Foreman made the principal address in reference to the commemoration. In most instances he had compiled the legends that appear on the markers. He also prepared the inscription that appears on the new City Hall, Muskogee and those at the Sequoyah Memorial.

A few examples will show this influence. Dr. Foreman found in War Department archives blueprints of the garrison grounds and buildings for Fort Gibson. These he showed to Judge Williams. Later he accompanied Williams to the town of Fort Gibson and they visited the site of the well used by the garrison, the grounds near Grand River. Sometime later, as Foreman hoped, Williams had the idea the Stockade, as it originally existed in 1824, should be reconstructed. Through Judge Williams' influence and that of General William S. Key, the state legislature created the Fort Gibson Stockade Commission.

At another time, Judge Williams accompanied Foreman to the old barracks building erected in 1845 on high ground above the original site of Fort Gibson. Foreman showed Williams the dilapidated condition of the building and he stressed its historical importance as a landmark in the settlement of Indian Territory. Later on, Foreman introduced a resolution adopted by the Board of Directors of the Historical Society which advocated the preservation of the building. Later he learned the property could be purchased from the owner for $400.00, the amount of the investment. When Judge Williams was unwilling to spend state money for this purpose, the late Judge John B. Meserve, member of the Board from Tulsa and Dr. Foreman interested John G. Catlett, Tulsa, and Mrs. J. Garfield Buell of The Homestead, Muskogee, in donating $200.00 each to purchase the property, which was turned over to the state.

Intensive research among the records of the Cherokees caused Dr. Foreman to become interested in the life and times of Sequoyah. This interest, besides resulting in a book and monographs on the great Cherokee, motivated Foreman to spearhead a movement to preserve the log cabin home built by Sequoyah. First came articles in newspapers and pictures by Foreman; later he accompanied Judge Williams and other Board members to the site, and to visit in the nearby home of Mrs. Pearl Mathison to examine relics and articles which had been the property of Sequoyah. Later was introduced a resolution passed by the Board which advocated the preservation of the property, and finally Judge Williams, through the good offices of General Key and WPA assistance, brought to fruition the dream of Foreman: the Sequoyah Shrine, cabin and museum, are enclosed in a rock-walled house, a permanent fixture of the State Park system. Foreman, Judge Williams and W. W. Hastings comprised the Sequoyah Memorial Committee which made this possible.

One other example will suffice to show how Judge Williams and this quiet dignified scholar teamed up to enhance the stature of the Historical Society. Judge Willams kept housed in the basement of the Federal Building, Muskogee, all his correspondence from the time he came to Oklahoma Territory after the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in 1893. When Williams was promoted to the Circuit Court in 1937, he began to wonder what he would do with the letter file cases and letter presses. Foreman, on various trips to the basement with the Judge, suggested there was much of historical value in the correspondence. Thus it was that Judge Williams had the material shipped to the historical Society. Here it is now housed, the greatest repository of public and private information ever gathered and preserved by a distinguished citizen of Oklahoma.

Foreman's interest in things historical was not confined to archival pursuits. In October of 1934, he introduced a resolution at the Board meeting which called attention to the destruction and multilation of pre-historic mounds in eastern Oklahoma. Vandals, curio seekers and commercial agents were plundering sites long known as archaeological depositories. His resolution was adopted. The next year he and fellow Board members, Judge Thomas A. Edwards, Judge Harry Campbell, General William S. Key and Judge Robert L. Williams were appointed members of a committee which leased these sites. Under the supervision of Dr. Forrest Clements, a WPA project co-sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and the Historical Society and later by the University of Tulsa, undertook expert, systematic excavations for the removal of artifacts and other relics of pre-Columbian culture. They are now preserved in the museums of the sponsoring agencies largely because of the foresight of a small body of men prompted to action by Foreman's interest.

He had a more intimate knowledge of pioneers and places of historical importance in the Three Forks region than any other historian. As early as 1931, Dr. T. L. Ballenger, History Department, Northeastern State College, Tahlequah, set up student tours via bus to surrounding points of interest, under the guidance of Dr. Foreman. Later Foreman established the precedent of annual tours for Society members when meetings were held away from Oklahoma City. These pilgrimages have done much to center attention on activities of the Society.

Any trip with Dr. Foreman into the land he loved so well was a memorable experience. Places and people buried in legend and almost lost from memory came alive under his discussion at on-site visitations to historic spots. Whether tramping through tall ragweeds along the east bank below the falls of the Verdigris, picking up broken pieces of crockery and visiting a rock-walled well, signs of earliest settlement; whether walking through Johnson grass to read the legend on the gravestone of Alligator, early-day Seminole leader; or listening to Dr. Foreman at the tomb of Walter Adair explain how this Cherokee leader introduced the first prohibition law in 1836; or standing at the Carlile place below Gore and have him point out traces of the old Texas Road that passed nearby, the site of the ferry of Bullet Foreman and the stage stand, of Jim Jolly 's home where Houston stayed; or interviewing old settlers about the Military Road laid out by Pierce Butler in 1925 from Ft. Smith to Ft. Gibson, and walking through pastures along the well-defined trace; or visiting the site of Going Snake Courthouse, of salt works, of North Fork Town, or listening to tales of the Greasy Bend country, of Tom Starr, of how Ned Christy was routed from the hills with the aid of a cannon brought from Ft. Smith; or stopping by for a brief greeting to Boback Christie, hand-carver of walnut furniture; or onto a side road to the home of some old Indian who had been a delegate to Washington or held some minor position in tribal affairs--these and unnumbered similar experiences come to mind when thinking of his intense interest in and knowledge of the region.

Out of this interest grew the Indian-Pioneer History project of 1937-38 in which WPA workers under Dr. Foreman's supervision interviewed pioneers, chartered trails and roads, copied inscriptions from forgotten cemeteries, uncovered diaries and manuscripts and recorded reminiscences of early day settlers throughout the state. The University and the Historical Society were co-sponsors of this project and typewritten copies of these records were placed in each institution (WPA Projects-149). Those deposited in the Society were bound in 112 volumes, properly indexed, and by unanimous resolution the Board designated them the Foreman Collection. This comprises an invaluable collection of folklore, legend, household arts, foods, living conditions, social and economic history of the period from the Civil War to statehood. Any discriminating student finds the records a rich source of information on the life and times of that territorial period.

No appraisal of Dr. Foreman's contributions to Oklahoma would be complete without paying proper deference to Mrs. Foreman. Grant Foreman married Carolyn Thomas, daughter of Judge and Mrs. John B. Thomas, July 27, 1905. This gracious and cultured lady established a home that reflected the refinements and interests of a gentle educated couple. Their lawn, shaded with native trees, was made more attractive by plants and shrubs transplanted from various parts of the globe. Their simple and modest home, dominated by their library collections, and containing unusual mementos of their world travels, was made richer and finer by their gracious hospitality.

Whether visiting in some far off corner of the globe, or browsing through rare collections of famous booksellers, or conducting research in leading libraries of the world, or compiling an index for a new volume, or devoting long hours to Red Cross work in World War I, or enjoying the hospitality of gracious and humble homes in the Three Forks region, or making bird-walks into its forested hills and along its streams, or entertaining famous. guests and younger people in their home--they were constant companions. And as national recognition came to Dr. Foreman, so likewise, have honors been accorded Carolyn Thomas Foreman for her historical research and writings.

Those who knew this modest, kindly gentleman recall how freely he gave himself in friendship, in those noble gestures that mark a man a gentleman. His habit of turning at the front gate, when on the smallest errand downtown, to wave goodbye to Mrs. Foreman at the porch, and on his return, the secret delight he took in bringing her a "surprise", a flower or some knick-knack; the christening cups or baby gifts or presents to the children of friends; the open door to all Indian youth who showed an interest in the arts and education; his encouragement to young research students; his compassion for all those WPA workers so often summarily dismissed from projects by the inexplicably cruel expedient of "reduction in force"--these and similar kindnesses are recalled and by recalling mark that his worthiness, his greatness lay not so much in the writings that brought fame but in his character.

When ill health kept him from attending annual meetings of the Board of Directors of the historical Society, he took an alert and active interest in the deliberations. In October, 1949, he called to the attention of Dr. Emma Estill Harbour, then President of the Society, that more than 1800 bound volumes of records had been obtained from the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes, Muskogee and urged that the Board contact other Indian agencies within the state for additional records accumulated since original accessions were made in the mid-thirties. In December of that year, although bedridden, he dictated a letter to Dr. Harbour in which he urged the Board to contact Andy Payne, Clerk of the Supreme Court, to see if records of law cases reviewed by the Supreme Court could be deposited with the Society. At the annual meeting of the Board, Tahlequah, May 7, 1951, Dr. Angie Debo read a final communication from him in which he again stressed the importance of gathering and preserving records of historical importance pertaining to Oklahoma.

No Director was more courteous to the staff of the Historical Society. Visiting the building, he invariably made a tour of the rooms and offices for greetings with the personnel. Staff members recall too that, invariably, he peered out front to see if his annual bird-friend, a red-headed woodpecker, was nesting in the oil derrick immediately fronting the Capitol.

On the afternoon of April 23, 1953, Board members, the staff of the Historical Society and other friends both Indian and white, gathered in beautiful Greenhill Cemetery overlooking his beloved Three Forks country in memory of this great and good man. In that quiet and heartfelt hour from directly above from a great white oak tree there came strong, clear notes of lyrical beauty, and it appeared as though the mocking bird perched there loosed on the eternal sound waves of time a message of joy, a message that God had permitted those present to walk in His presence with this humble man.