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Department of Special Collections and University Archives
McFarlin Library. University of Tulsa.  2933 E. 6th St.  Tulsa, OK.  74104-3123 (OKT - OkTU)

John S. Tomer collection of Edith Force Kassing papers

Collection 1983-001

  

Dates:  1923-1966.

Extent:  (9 boxes).

Level of Description:  Folder level.

Name of creator(s): John S. Tomer.

Date of creation:  Undetermined.

Scope and Content:   

Administrative/Biographical History:  Edith Rhoda Force (later Mrs. David O. Kassing), science teacher at Tulsa's Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, Tulsa, was the most active early ornithologist and herpetologist in northeastern Oklahoma.  Her work covered the period from 1923-1966.  She studied the bird life and reptiles of the Tulsa area and published the first local lists of these animals in 1925 and 1929.  As a teacher and educator, she made outstanding contributions in establishing student scientific organizations in the state.  In April 1935, she helped found the Tulsa Audubon Society, the oldest bird study group in Oklahoma.  (See: "Edith Force Kassing: Scientist with a gift for teaching" by John S. Tomer, in The Chronicles of Oklahoma 63 (1986), pp 396-411).

Access and Copyright:

Language and Scripts:  English.

Finding aid/Inventory:  Finding aid is available online.

Provenance/Source of Acquisition:  Kassing's papers on ornithology were given to John S. Tomer in 1961 when she and her husband moved from Tulsa to a retirement home in Edmond, Oklahoma.  David O. Kassing gave the personal objects and Kassing's herpetology papers to Dr. Harold E. Laughlin after his wife's death in 1966.  Laughlin turned this material over to John S. Tomer in 1983.

Date(s) of description:   John S. Tomer, Jul 1985.

Access Points:

Subject Headings 

 
Personal names 


Corporate names

Places
 

Inventory
Box 1 Correspondence.  1926-1957.    
  Correspondence.  1958-1963.    
  "Nature Study Rambles."  Two volumes, unpublished manuscript, 1926.    
  "The Wildlife of Tulsa County and Vicinity."  Vols. 1-2 (Birds; Amphibians and Reptiles).    
  "Busy Outdoors."  Scrapbook containing clippings of her weekly column in Tulsa Daily World. Jan 1934-Jun 1935.    
  "Rambles."  Manuscript, 1926.    
  "Wildlife."  Manuscript, 1929.    
  "Nature Study."  Scrapbook of herbarium specimens.    
       
Box 2 Educational material and resources.    
  Science literature.    
  Field biology course papers and projects; photographs of students and science classes, 1947.    
  Papers and literature on nature clubs, how to start them, how to conduct them.    
  Field and Stream Club material developed by Edith Force Kassing.    
  Cartoons drawn by students in science courses and clubs.    
       
Box 3 Correspondence, publications, newspaper clippings pertaining to birds and to the Tulsa Audubon Society.    
  Card file containing bird records transcribed from the notes of other observers. Includes card records of H. D. Chase (1932-1934), A. E. Gilmore (1926-1928), and two small books of bird records (1925-1928).    
  Card records of Gubser, 1921-1927.    
  Card records of W. H. Koons, 1921-1926.    
  Card records of Edith Force Kassing, 1924-1926.    
  Card summary of several observer's records, including Edith Force Kassing, A. E. Gilmore, J. R. Pemberton, O. W. Letson, and W. O. Hughes. circa 1936-1937.    
  Records of the Tulsa bird observations tabulated on cards by Walter Ross, 1953.    
       
Box 4 Catalogs of herpetological collections and data tabulated from the specimens.    
  Approximately 55 photographs and an envelope of photo-negatives of herpetological specimens.    
  Herpetological papers, instructions for collecting and two papers by students on specimen preparation.    
  Herpetological literature.    
  Herpetological data. Appears to be the initial tabulations of herpetological specimens.    
  Unbound manuscript and photographs of Edith Force Kassing, Fantillo study.    
  "Fish of Okmulgee County, Oklahoma." Manuscript.    
       
Box 5 Early ecology and topography maps of Oklahoma.    
  18 natural history publications.    
  Oklahoma Academy of Science and Texas Academy of Science papers.    
  Personal memorabilia, religion, Camp Fire Girl publications, and small collection of plants made during a 1939 trip to Europe.    
       
Box 6 Card file of research bibliography of herpetology.    
       
Box 7 Color slides.    
       
Box 8  11 rolls of 36 exposure black/white 35mm film that appear to be snapshots of friends and students.    
  Unidentified.    
       
Box 9 Six canisters of 35mm black/white film that appears to be pictures of her friends.  Unidentified.    
  18 Kodak boxes of 35mm color slides of her field biology classes, field trips, and friends. 1945-1947.    
  8 canisters of 35mm black/white negatives that appear to be pictures taken during her trip to England as an exchange teacher in 1939.    
  Argus A2F 35mm camera.    
  8 x 25mm megaphos binoculars.    
 
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Revised: 03/03/09.

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