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 papers, 1921-65

Collection 1985-004

This collection is an accumulation of more than fifty years of data gathered as a result of my interest in the subject of bird study in Oklahoma.  I was instructed in the importance of record keeping as a student of Edith R. Force, Science Teacher at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, and later, as high school students, Wallace O. Hughes and I worked with her on a bird study project that resulted in a publication in the 1935 PROCEEDINGS OF THE OKLAHOMA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE.  Since then I have actively accumulated information pertaining to the avifauna of Oklahoma, particularly the Tulsa area.

Edith R. Force (later Mrs. David O. Kassing) was the most active early ornithologist in northeastern Oklahoma.  She did much research on the birds and reptiles of northeastern Oklahoma from 1924 to 1966 and published several good summaries of her work (see my manuscript, "Edith Rhoda Kassing nee Force (1890‑1966), Biography and Bibliography").  Hugh S. Davis, who was Assistant Director and Director of Tulsa's Mohawk Park Zoo during the period 1930 to 1965, photographed birds, banded ducks at Mohawk Park and was active in leading two significant Oklahoma bird conservation projects.

Both Edith Force Kassing and Hugh Davis, knowing of my interest in preserving this historical information, have  contributed records, correspondence and photographs to this collection.  I have thus divided it into three series:

            I.    Edith Force Kassing File (Boxes 1‑9)

            II.   Hugh S. Davis File (Box 10)

            III.  John S. Tomer File (Box 11)

The first file contains the papers, photographs and research data of Edith Force Kassing.   Her papers in this file were acquired from two sources:  1) Her ornithology papers, manuscripts and

bird records (Box 3), were given to me when she moved from Tulsa to Edmond, Oklahoma in 1961, and 2) The material in boxes 1‑2 and 4‑9, contributed by Dr. Harold E. Laughlin except as noted, which includes her herpetological papers and some personal memorabilia. They were given to Laughlin in 1967 by David O. Kassing after Edith died.  Laughlin turned this material over to me in 1983 to include in this collection.

The second file, Box 10, contains correspondence and data accumulated by Hugh S. Davis while he was active in bird projects in the Tulsa area during the 1930's and 40's.  It contains data on the extensive duck banding program at Mohawk Park.  Many of his photographs of birds and correspondence about his two bird

conservation projects, one to have hawks protected in Oklahoma and another to save the Cypress swamps in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, a nesting place for herons and anhingas, are included in this file.

The third file, currently represented only by the materials in Box 11, includes correspondence, research notes, records and photographs accumulated from my first bird project in 1934 to my recent studies in the history of Oklahoma Ornithology.  It contains my field notes of my work in the Tulsa area during 1934‑ 35 and the period 1953‑82.

My notes on the history of the Tulsa Audubon Society and my active participation as Vice‑President in 1956‑57 and as President in 1958 are in the file.  It also has information on my work as leader of the Christmas bird counts and as the Rare Bird Chairman.  It contains an almost complete run of the "Tulsa Scissortail" newsletter of the TAS from 1949‑1985.

In 1954 I became associated with George M. Sutton, Professor of Ornithology, and Curator of birds at the Stovall Museum at the University of Oklahoma.  I contributed much information to him from the Tulsa area for his book  Oklahoma Birds , published in 1967.  I was made a Research Associate at the Stovall Museum in 1970 and worked with Sutton and the Museum staff from then to the present.

The file contains all of my extensive correspondence with George M. Sutton from 1954 until he died in 1982.  It also contains my correspondence about my work with the Stovall Museum as Research Associate in Ornithology.

In 1967 I became interested in the work of a pioneer ornithologist, S.W. Woodhouse who worked in Indian Territory in 1849‑50.  My research was published in the BULLETIN OF THE OKLAHOMA ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY in 1974.  I am presently working with Professor Michael J. Brodhead, Historian at the University of Nevada Reno, editing the Woodhouse Indian Territory journals for publication as a book.

My research about the 1849‑50 work of S.W. Woodhouse in Indian Territory resulted in an accumulation of much data, which is part of this file.  It also contains copies of two of his handwritten 1849‑50 Indian Territory diaries from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and one from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  I have also collected copies of all of his natural history publications of the period.  My extensive research notes on Woodhouse's explorations and specimen collections in Oklahoma, photographs and manuscripts, are part of this section.

From 1955 to the present I have written thirteen other notes on the distribution of birds in Oklahoma that have been published in THE AUK, THE WILSON BULLETIN, THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE OKLAHOMA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, and THE BULLETIN OF THE OKLAHOMA ORNITHOMOGICAL SOCIETY.  Research data pertaining to this work is contained in the file.

The last section of this file contains notes on the biographies of scientists and serious amateurs who have contributed significant information to the subject of Oklahoma ornithology. At this time it contains research notes on the following workers:

• Thomas Nuttall  1819
• Thomas Say  1821
• Samuel W. Woodhouse  1849‑50
• D.H. Tolbot  1882‑89
• James H. Gaut  1904‑05
• Albert J.B. Kirn  1910‑17
• Leonard B. and Margaret M. Nice  1919‑27
• John R. Pemberton  1921‑22
• William H. Koons  1923‑33
• George W. Morse  1923‑29
• Edith Force Kassing  1924‑61
• Hugh S. Davis  1930‑50
• Orrin W. and Ethel S. Letson  1934‑58
• Anna L. Reynolds  1948‑78
• George M. Sutton  1951‑82

Since my retirement in 1979 I have actively pursued my interest in the history of Oklahoma bird study.  I have made a special effort to research and gather biographical data about the ornithologists, both amateur and professional, who have made significant contributions to the study of Oklahoma avifauna. These will hopefully someday be used in a publication on the history of Oklahoma ornithology from Nuttall to the present.

John S. Tomer
25 July 1985

                  John S. Tomer Papers, 1921‑65

Box 1:    EFK materials

          Correspondence, 1926‑1957

          ‑‑‑‑‑‑, 1958‑1963

          "Nature Study Rambles," 2 volumes. Unpublished

               manuscript, 1926.

          "The Wildlife of Tulsa County and Vicinity,"  Volume 1:

               Birds; Volume 2: Amphibians and Reptiles.  [Davis]

          "Busy Outdoors" scrapbook. Weekly column in Tulsa Daily

               World, January 1934 to June 1935.

          "Rambles" 1926 and "Wildlife" 1929. Manuscript pages.

          "Nature Study," Scrapbook of herbarium specimens.

Box 2:    Educational material.

          Educational material and resources (2 folders).

          Science literature.

          Field biology course papers and projects.  Photographs

               of the 1947 students.

          Papers and literature on nature clubs, how to start and

               conduct them.

          Field and Stream Club material developed by EFK.

          Photographs of science classes and 1947 field biology

               class.

          Cartoons drawn by students in science courses and

               clubs.

Box 3:    Correspondence, publications, and newspaper clippings

               pertaining to birds and to the Tulsa Audubon

               Society.

          Card file containing bird records transcribed from

               notes of other observers.  Includes the card

               records of H.D. Chase (1932‑34), A.E. Gilmore

               (1926‑28) and two small books of bird records

               (1925‑28).

          Card records of Gubser (1921‑27) and W. H. Koons (1921‑

               26).

          Card records of EFK (1924‑26).

          Card summary of several observers' records, including

               Kassing, A.E. Gilmore, J.R. Pemberton, O.W. Letson

               and W.O. Hughes.  Mostly 1936‑37 but summarizes

               some earlier records.

          Records of 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

               negatives of herpetological specimens.

          Herpetological papers, instructions for collecting and

               two papers by students on specimen preparation.

          Herpetological literature.

          Herpetological data.  Appears to be initial tabulations

               of herpetological specimens.

          Unbound manuscript and photographs of EFK, 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 a small collection of plants made

               during a 1939 trip to Europe.

Box 6:    Card file of research bibliography of herpetology

               (29 inches of cards).

Box 7:    Color slides.

Box 8:    11 rolls of 36 exposure black‑and‑white 35mm

               film that appear to be snapshots of friends and

               students.  None are dated, nor are the locations

                noted.

          One 35mm color slide file box containing about 200

               color slides of students and classes on field

               trips.  Several good pictures of local

               wildflowers.

Box 9:    Six canisters of 35mm black‑and‑white film that appear

               to be pictures of her friends (one is dated 1945)

               and eighteen Kodak boxes of 35mm color slides of

               her field biology classes, field trips, and

               friends (1945‑1947).

           Eight cannisters of 35mm black‑and‑white negatives that

               appear to be pictures taken during her trip to

               England as an exchange teacher in 1939.

          One Argus A2F 35mm camera.

          One pair of 8x25mm megaphos binoculars.

Box 10:   Hugh S. Davis Correspondence, 1930‑48.

          ‑‑‑‑‑‑, manuscripts and publications.

          Biographical material.

          Papers about work.