Thomas Gilcrease is not just a name. When it comes to the history of the United States, his name will be written in golden letters, as he was the reason one of the most significant institutions dedicated to American history and Western art was created.
Born in 1890, Gilcrease was of Creek heritage. He was just nine years old when a land allotment was made to him in a routine government allocation. But it eventually turned into a multi-million-dollar oil fortune.
At that age, he was formally enrolled in the Creek Nation. As part of the federal government's allotment process, which privatised tribal holdings, Gilcrease received a 160-acre land south of Tulsa.
The land initially seemed unremarkable. But as Gilcrease approached adulthood, the Oklahoma oil boom struck in 1905, and when drillers struck oil in the area, they unveiled what became known as the famous Glenn Pool Oil Reserve. Gilcrease's land was right on top of it.
By the time he turned 27, eighteen years after receiving the land, there were 32 active, producing oil wells on his land. The money started flowing in, and Gilcrease was smart enough to think of it as business, to make sure the profits continued to surge.
He paid off early debts, learned details about the petroleum industry, and launched the Gilcrease Oil Company in 1922. Over time, his operations expanded across Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.
Also read | Crafting Art From Human Hair: All About China's Unique Embroidery Tradition
Passion for preserving history
As his financial success grew, Gilcrease turned his focus toward an enduring passion, which was education and the preservation of history. He was proud of his Indigenous heritage, and spent decades travelling across the US and Europe. He then purchased art, rare historical documents, manuscripts, maps, and Native American artefacts.
Unlike traditional collectors of the era who focused on European classics, Gilcrease concentrated on the culture of the American West and Indigenous peoples.
He acquired works directly from notable artists, including Taos painters Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips, as well as Indigenous artists such as Acee Blue Eagle and Woody Crumbo.
Then in the 1940s, he established a museum in San Antonio, but later moved his entire collection home to Tulsa, opening a public gallery on his estate in 1949.
By the early 1950s, his collection had grown to massive proportions, comprising tens of thousands of artworks, artefacts, and historical texts.
Also read | Three-Year-Olds Take As Many As 30,000 Steps Per Day, New Study Finds
Amid financial pressures, even the citizens of Tulsa stepped in. In 1954, residents voted to approve a municipal bond to clear his debts and keep the collection intact within the community.
When Thomas Gilcrease passed away in 1962, he left behind a lasting cultural footprint.
As per the latest development, Gilcrease will reopen in March 2027 in a new purpose-built facility. This is happening more than 75 years after he founded the Tulsa museum, Journal Record reported.
The 95,673-square-foot building is designed by SmithGroup with exhibition design by G&A. It sits on a 460-acre campus in the Osage Hills.
"Thomas Gilcrease envisioned a space where Indigenous and settler art and culture were in conversation with one another at a time when almost no one else thought that," said Brian Lee Whisenhunt, executive director and CEO of Gilcrease. "Seventy-five years later, we're giving that idea a building big enough to hold it."
According to the report, the collection includes more than 300,000 works and cultural materials spanning 12,000 years of the Americas.
Hence, not just a name, Thomas Gilcrease is an important piece of history.
