New Deal Art – Oklahoma – Oklahoma's New Deal

Murals of Oklahoma

George Biddle a old classmate of President Roosevelt wrote a letter to him dated May 9, 1933 that noted the achievements of Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera and suggested that young American artist should be able to express American ideas of history and culture on public buildings and walls of America. Although not a new conscept to the president it did however strike a cord with him and the president then convince the New Deal officials to accept a program that would put the artist back to work as well as “bring art back to the common man” [6]

In 2003-2004 a Thematic survey was conducted by the Department of Geography, Oklahoma State University. Because of this survey it was found that there was 37 art projects from the New Deal Area. The following table shows those 37 art projects and others that were significant to the New Deal.

	City	Building	Address	Art Work
1	Tahlequah	Cherokee Female Seminary		1. Kiowa Buffalo Hunt. 2. Kiowa War Dance.
2	Enid	Garfield County Courthouse	114 W. Broadway Street, Enid	Mural Cycle: Trail Blazers of the Cherokee Strip; The Hunting Trail; The Exporer’s Trail; The Cattle Trails; The Commerce Trail; The Homemaker’s Trail; The Rancher’s Trail.
3	Chickasha	Health and Physical Education Building	1700 Blocks of S. 17th Street, Chickasha	Mural Cycle: Buffalo Dancers; Moving Camp – Room 201. Indian Spear Dancer;Dancer with Headdress – Room 202. Drummer (Destroyed); Thunderbird.
4	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma Supreme Court House	2100 N. Lincoln Blvd, Oklahoma City	1. Choctaw 1843 – Spencer Asah. (1937) 2. Secotan 1650 – Spencer Asah. (1937) 3. Kiowa 1920 – Monroe Tsatoke. (1937) 4. Cheyenne 1832 – Monroe Tsatoke. (1937) 5. Kiowa 1832 – Monroe Tsatoke. (1937) 6. Osage 1839 – Monroe Tsatoke. (1937) 7. Kiowa 1900– Monroe Tsatoke. (1937) 8,9. Sheild Designs – Monroe Tsatoke. (1937) 10. Comanche 1880 – Monroe Tsatoke. (1937)
5	Anadarko	US Post Office	120 S. First Street, Anadarko	Mural Cycle by Stephen Mopope (1937)
6	Cordell	US Post Office	121 E. First Street, Cordell	The Scene Changes by Ila McAfee Turner (1938)
7	Sayre	US Post Office	201 N. Fourth Street	The Opening of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Country by Vance Kirkland (1940)
8	Vinita	US Post Office/Courthouse	120 E. Illinois Ave.	Cherokee History by Randall Davey (1941)
9	Nowata	US Post Office	109 N. Pine Street	The Rainbow Trail by Woody Crumbo (1943)
10.	Okemah	US Post Office	418 W. Broadway Street	Grand Council of 1842 by Walter Richard West (1941)
11	Watonga	US Post Office	121 N. Noble Ave	Roman Nose Canyon by Edith Mahier (1941)
12	Weatherford	US Post Office	107 E. Franklin Ave	Terminus of the Railroad by Oscar E. Berninghaus (1939)
13	Norman	Jacobson Hall, OU	550 Parrinton Oval	Thirty Carved Oak Panels Illustrating Life and Art Styles from the Cave Man through the Steel Worker by Derald Swineford, Anita Furray, Margaret Giles, and Paul McBride (1934-45)
14	Oklahoma City	Wilson Elementary School	2215 N. Walker Ave	Nursery Rhyme Characters by Audre Yates (1934). The Circus by Audre Yates (1934). Dancer attributed to Herbert White Buffalo (1940). Woman Making Baskets by Acee Blue Eagle (n.d.). Knife Dancer by Acee Blue Eagle (n.d.). Ready for the Hunt by Acee Blue Eagle (n.d.).
15	Norman	Adams Hall, OU	307 W. Brooks Street	8 Panels originally produced.
16	Seminole	US Post Office	120 E. Oak Ave	Seminole Indian Village Scene by Acee Blue Eagle (1939)
17	Coalgate	US Post Office	38 N. Main Street	Women Making Pishafa by Acee Blue Eagle (1942)
18	Marietta	US Post Office	118 W. Main Street	Chickasaw Family Making Pah Sho Fah by Soloman McCombs (1942)
19	Drumright	US Post Office	118 N. Ohio Ave	Oklahoma Land Rush by Frank Weathers Long (1941)
20	Madill	US Post Office	223 W. Lillie Blvd	Prairie Fire by Ethel Magafan (1940)
21	Stilwell	US Post Office	16 S. Second Street	Cherokee Indian Faming and Animal Husbandry by Olga Mohr (1942)
22	Sulphur	US Post Office	1100 W. Second Street	The Romance of the Mail / The Mail in the Old Cattle Country by Albert Turner Reid (1939)
23	Pawhuska	US Post Office	137 E. Sixth Street	Osages (Treaties – Osage Indians) by Olive Rush (1938)
24	Waurika	US Post Office	121 W. Broadway Ave	Canadian Honkers by Theodore Van Soelen (1939)
25	Hollis	US Post Office	120 N. Second Street	Mapping the trail by Lloyd Lozes Goff (1941)
26	Marlow	US Post Office	320 W. Main Street	Cattle Days by Lew E. Davis (1942)
27	Wewoka	US Post Office	115 W. Second Street	Historical Background of Wewoka by Marjorie Rowland Clarke (1941)
28	Purcell	US Post Office	228 W. Main Street	The Round-up by Frederick E. Conway (1940)
29	Poteau	US Post Office	115 N. Witte Street	Cotton by Joan Cunningham (1940)
30	Muskogee	McCombs Hall, Bacone College	2299 Old Bacone Road	Buffalo Hunt by Stephen Mopope (1934). War Dance by Stephen Mopope (1934). Were moved from original location)
31	Muskogee	Palmer Center, Bacone College		Indian Pictorial Writing by Acee Blue Eagle (1937). Sequoyah Teaching His Alphabet by Acee Blue Eagle (1937). No evidence exists that these are New Deal Art and the Current are reproductions.
32	Tulsa	Berryhill Elementary School	3128 S. 63rd Street	Ichabod Crane by Mary McCray (1934). Uncle Remus by Mary McCray (1934).
33	Clinton	City Hall	415 Gary Blvd	Race for Land by Loren N. Mozley (1938). (moved from original location of Us Post Office).
34	Hugo	Administrative Offices, Hugo Public Schools	208 N. Second Street	The Red Man Of Oklahoma Sees the First Stage Coach by Joseph A. Fleck (1937). Move from original location of post office.
35	Perry	Cherokee Strip Museum	2617 W. Fir Street	Range Branding Down by the Big Tank by Thomas M. Stell, jr. (1941). moved from original location of post office.
36	Edmond	City Hall	100 E. First Street	Pre-Settlement Days by Ila McAfee Turner (1939) moved from it’s original location of post office
37	Idabel	Post Office	201 E. Central Ave	The Last Home of the Choctaw Nation by H. Louis Freund (1940) moved to new post office (not confirmed)
38	Tahlequah	US Post Office	1101 S. Muskogee Ave	Choctaw Ball-Play by Manuel Bromberg (1939)
39	Goodwell	No Man’s Land Historical Museum	207 W. Sewell Street	Harvest by Jay Risling (1939)
40	Yukon	US Post Office	900 Garth Brooks Blvd	The Run, April 22, 1889 by Dahlov Ipcar (1941)
41	Stillwater	US Post Office	720 South Husband Street	Early Days in Payne County by Grace L. Hamilton (1963). Although not directly New Deal art, it may represent an enduring legacy of it [2].
42	Weatherford	Al Harris Library	809 N. Custer Street	Kiowa Indian Dancers by Stephen Mopope (1931). Although not commisioned by New Deal art project it represents Stephen Mopope’s earlier work.
43	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma Museum of History (storage)		Indian Friendship by James Auchiah (1934). Moved from original location of Information Room of the Office of the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes Agency Federal Building, Muskogee.
44	Claremore	Post Office (New)		Will Rogers by Randall Davey in 1939.