Lilah Denton Lindsey archive, 1866-1944

Collection

Identifier: 1976-016

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers are organized into 9 series: Series 1: Autobiographical: consists of handwritten brief accounts of Lilah Lindsey's life and a carbon copy typescript of Lilah Lindsey's interview with Effie S. Jackson.

Series 2: Correspondence: consists primarily of letters and postcards to Lilah Lindsey from friends, family, and civic group associates, as well as city, state, and federal government departments and offices. Notable among the correspondents are Anna Eliza Worcester Robertson and Will Rogers.

Series 3: Clubs and Organizational Activities: pertains to the activities of groups in which Lilah Lindsey was involved as member and/or officer; the groups include the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Woman's Relief Corps, and the Tulsa Women's Club. This series is arranged alphabetically by club or organization name, and includes club constitutions and by-laws, talks and addresses, minutes of meetings, yearbooks and bulletins, convention ribbons, buttons and pins, and souvenir postcards from convention sites (arranged by state) Also included in this series are diaries and notebooks whose contents are predominately club related.

Series 4: Writings: consists primarily of handwritten addresses and talks probably composed for special events and/or club meetings (which are identified whenever possible)

Series 5: Photographs: collects photos (group and individual) of Lilah Lindsey's fellow club members, of her family (including her husband, Lee W. Lindsey, and members of the McKellop family), and unidentified photos. Also included are photos of the interior and exterior of the Lilah Lindsey's Tulsa home.

Series 6: Press cuttings: contains articles about Lilah Lindsey and others of a general nature.

Series 7: Personal Papers: consists of legal documents, ephemera, and artifacts. The legal documents relate to the Lindsey estate, land plats and deeds, and various honorary certificates. The ephemera include papers relating to Lilah Lindsey's teaching, a church register for the Methodist-Episcopal Church, South, bank books and cancelled checks, a pocket weather diary, and notebooks containing notes from music lessons and botany notes. The artifacts include a grease lamp, a school bell, a block of wood from the U.S. Constitution Civil War ship, a tercentennial commemorative coin of the founding of Jamestown (1607-1907), a memento of Oklahoma Statehood, arrow heads, a crazy-quilt block sewn by Lilah Lindsey, her beaded purse, necklace, and appliqué, a silk cummerbund, a writing box complete with ink bottle and pen nibs, and souvenir buttons and pins.

Series 8: Miscellaneous: consists of material such as transcriptions of recipes, a mimeograph copy of an Old Timer's Association collection of addresses, mimeograph copy of "Origin of Oklahoma Day", religious and political pamphlets, programs, advertisements, and unidentified autograph notes and note fragments.

Series 9: Oversize: consists of unidentified photos, photos of the Kansas City Fish Market in early Tulsa, photos of Oklahoma delegates to the World Tuberculosis Congress, engraved portraits of Lilah Lindsey, and Lilah Lindsey and Lee W. Lindsey's marriage certificate.

Dates

Creation: 1866 - 1944

Language

These materials are in English.

Access

This material is open for research use by any registered reader.

Use and Copyright

This material is owned by the University of Tulsa, McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections. Unpublished manuscripts are under copyright. Therefore, permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from both the repository and the copyright holder.

Biographical / Historical

Lilah Denton Lindsey was born on October 21, 1860 in Indian Territory. She was the youngest of six children. She was of Scottish and creek ancestry. She was educated at Tullahassee Mission School. She later attended the Highland Institute in Ohio and graduated in 1883. She became a teacher. She met and married Lee Lindsey. She taught at Tullahassee Mission School, Coweta Mission School. Her and her husband moved to Tulsa where she taught at the Tulsa Mission School. She organized several women’s civic organizations and was a vital at supporting education in the Tulsa area. She died in 1943.