Nov. 16 – Oklahoma’s oldest women’s organization now has a home in the Claremore Museum of History.
The history museum opened “The Pocahontas Club: Ladies, Leaders and Legacies” on Nov. 3. The exhibit features garments, photographs, personal memorabilia and more that tell the story of the Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club.
Steve Robinson, chairman of the museum’s board of directors, said the exhibit marks the club’s first foray into the museum. Robinson said he had been talking to club members for more than a year about putting on an exhibit, but he waited until now because the club just celebrated its 125th anniversary.
He said the exhibit fills a gap in the museum’s collection.
“You have Lynn Riggs, you have Patti Page, you have Andy Payne, you have Will Rogers – actually most of the people in our museum that we have featured are Cherokee citizens, but we don’t have a lot of female Cherokee representation at all,” said Robinson. “…The fact that it is the oldest organized female institution in the state, those are things that any community would be proud to represent in their museum.”
Club member Debra West collected many of the artifacts in the exhibit. She said she and other club members found some items in their archives and purchased others from area families.
West said the club was founded in 1899 when young women attending the Cherokee Female Seminary in Tahlequah wanted to get together during their summer vacation. The club initially allowed men – Will Rogers was once a member – but limited membership to women only in 1937.
West said the women decided to call it the Pocahontas Club because of the influence of their professors, many of whom had been trained at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in Massachusetts and had picked up the story of Pocahontas there.
“They learned about the little romantic story of the Indian girl that John Smith saved,” West said. “These girls… were like, ‘Okay, we’re Indian girls. We call ourselves the Pocahontas Club.'”
She said the exhibit portrays the club’s members as wealthy women who owned and wore beautiful things. Part of the display case is taken up by items such as a gavel wrapped in rainbow beads, owned by former President Joanna Hause Geppelt, and an elegant sterling silver brush and mirror set.
To the right of these items is a composition of the club’s outfit: a white blouse with ruffles, a straw hat, brown high-heeled boots and the club’s red ribbon, tied to the chest with a carnation. “They were the fashionistas of their time because they could travel to Kansas City and buy their clothes, hats and everything,” West said.
The exhibition also showcases the club’s tradition of recording and preserving history. There are three books on display with the family history of the club members, compiled on the occasion of the club’s 50th, 75th and 100th anniversary.
Below the books is a fan with five segments, each of which West said represents a piece of the club’s story.
“I’m telling you, it’s a small fragment,” West said. “You can’t get everything they do in one small segment of that fan because this club is active all the time.”
West said the exhibit is beautiful and she is glad the museum put it together so well.
After obtaining the artifacts from the Pocahontas Club, Robinson wrote descriptions to accompany them. He said the title “Ladies, Leaders and Legacies” came from conversations with West and club leaders Ollie Starr and Monta Ewing.
Robinson said the museum leaned on its usual contractors to physically build and design the display.
He said the designer had the idea to write “The Pocahontas Club” in a font inspired by the Cherokee syllabary developed by Cherokee leader Sequoyah. The designer also incorporated the club’s Phoenix logo and a map of the Cooweescoowee District, the name for the Claremore area before statehood, into the red background of the display.
“It gives it a very 3D perspective because you have the storylines in the front, but there’s also a whole storyline in the back,” Robinson said.
Next to the display case is a bronze bust of Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation. The Pocahontas Club commissioned Cherokee artist Gary Henson to sculpt the bust of Mankiller, an honorary club member.
Henson said the commission was a great honor, and Mankiller’s daughter praised him for his work.
“She said I noticed her mother’s personality and positivity, and that was my intention,” Henson said. “That was a great satisfaction for me.”
Robinson said the display is permanent, but the artifacts are not; The display consists of six acrylic plates, which Robinson says allows the museum to swap items in and out. He said this keeps the exhibit fresh and encourages people to visit multiple times.
At the entrance to the museum hangs a portrait of Sequoyah that once hung in the Sequoyah Hotel. Below the painting is a display case with more Pocahontas Club ribbons and photos; Robinson said these items are temporary and will leave the museum at the end of November to make way for a Christmas exhibit.
“We encourage people to come by and view and take in the exhibit,” Robinson said. “…It was special for us to be able to do that [the Pocahontas Club].”
