Fifty Years of Fire Protection Training at Oklahoma State University

Few people besides those in the fire service or in related fields are aware that Oklahoma State University is the home of one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of fire protection in the United States. In the 1930's Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (as it was then known) began to offer firemanship training through extension program for both paid and unpaid firefighters while its Department of Firemanship Training offered a two-year program leading to an associate degree. Equally important was the publication of fire service training manuals, the now legendary "Oklahoma Redbook" series, begun at the same time. Through leadership in these three areas, the fire protection training program at Oklahoma State University has earned the nickname, "the West Point of the Fire Service." Historically, Oklahoma State University has been a pioneer in the education of firefighters. It was the first college to offer academic credit for fire protection courses and still is one of the few publishers of training materials in the United States. Graduates of the program have established similar schools at other universities and provide leadership in related fields. With the changing times and increasing demands, the program widened its scope to provide fire protection and safety engineering experts first to insurance firms and industry and most recently to the energy field. That so much has been achieved at Oklahoma State University may be laid to several factors: a growing demand for training in fire protection, a favorable academic environment, and a unique cooperation between the city of Stillwater and the university. But the most important factor as this thesis will demonstrate, was the leadership of the program's founders. When that leadership was removed abruptly in the 1960's the program faltered and nearly died. But with some rearrangement a.nd redirection, the program endured and overcame its difficulties so that now, fifty years after its beginning, the fire protection training program at Oklahoma State University deserves and enjoys an international reputation.Histor

George Washington Grayson and the Creek Nation, 1843-1920

George Washington Grayson is a rare historical figure in that he was a well-educated, articulate, and sophisticated Indian. He left us a wealth of documents through which to see his world as he saw it. He participated in almost every event affecting the Creek Nation during critical periods of its existence: the aftermath of the traumatic Removal, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the economic development of the Indian Territory, the dissolution of the Five Civilized Tribes, and the early statehood period of Oklahoma. As a perpetual member of the Creek national government and its representative to the Federal Government, he understood the unequal relationship between the two. He did all he could through both his private and public life to defend Creek selfgovernment and the Creek landbase. Grayson was one of many mixed-blood Creeks, several as welleducated and as politically astute as he. Like them, he bridged the two cultures. Living very much in the white style as a businessman and newspaper publisher, he still saw himself and them as Creek. The study of his life provides insight into the place of the mixed-blood in creek society. It offers in this special case an answer to the difficult question, "Who is an Indian?" Because Grayson's life was inseparably intertwined with that of the Creek people for nearly eight decades, a study of it necessitates taking a fresh look at Creek history. Grayson was a product not only of his times but also of the Creek past. Because Grayson's political career extended several years beyond the formal dissolution of the nation on March 4, 1906, this study covers ground not previously explored in the major works on the Creeks and the Five Civilized Tribes. The last major tribal history of the Creeks was Angie Debo's The Road to Disappearance, published in 1941. Grayson probably considered his life in many ways a failure, because most of his battles, public and private, ended eventually in defeat. Except for a few old-timers, local historians, and descendants, he has been forgotten in Eufaula, Oklahoma, and at the office of the Indian Journal, the town and the newspaper he helped found. But Grayson lived a very full public and private life; his name is omnipresent in the Creek National Records and in Federal records relating to Creeks. He was a prolific writer as well. So much documentation related to, let alone by, an Indian is rare. Even more rare are the forty-four volumes of daily journals Grayson left; they cover the critical period in Creek affairs from 1898 to 1917. I had the opportunity to study them briefly and found them extraordinary in their content and perspective. Unfortunately, even though portions of them have been published previously, Grayson's heirs are currently reluctant to have outsiders read them. In accordance with their wishes, I have refrained from using any except previously quoted excerpts. When working with this type of topic, the historian encounters certain difficulties. One is the lack of newspapers in the pre-Civil War Indian Territory from which to infer public opinion. While a number of Indian-owned and published newspapers existed in the three decades after the war, by the end of the century this indicator of Indian public opinion had nearly vanished. Only the white point of view on many current events is available. Census data is also rare and sketchy for the period up until the Dawes rolls were compiled near the end of the nineteenth century. The Creeks kept voluminous government records, butthey did not record debates and votes on bills in their Council. Party platforms are unusual, and existing election returns are incomplete. Most Creek records up to March 4, 1906 were given into the safekeeping of the Oklahoma Historical Society and are available to the researcher. But Creek records dealing with the vestigial government kept in place after March 4, 1906 are unavailable. Other problems include terminology and spelling. I have chosen to use "Indian" rather than the current "Native American" because it is the term Grayson used when he spoke of himself and those of his race. He referred to himself as both a "Muskogee" and a "Creek"; I have used these interchangeably. I have generally called Grayson's second language "Muskogee" as he did, although he sometimes spoke of it as "Creek" or "the Indian." The original name of his Scots ancestor was Grierson. By the period of the Removal, the name had been modified to Grayson, and I have so called family members as they made that transition to the Indian Territory. The Muskogee language is complex and strange to ears accustomed to English. At the same time, Creeks had difficulty with English names, so that Kennard might also be spelled Canard and Kennaird. Where necessary I have placed an alternate spelling or shortened form of the name in parentheses. Writers have not adopted one system for spelling Muskogee words, so that a noun such as tustunuggee may be spelled a variety of ways. For people and place names I have used the most familiar spellings, following the example of Angie Debe or of recent maps. The study of Grayson's life has been a rewarding experience. It suggests that there is much more to be said about mixed-blood Indians, particularly those of the Five Civilized Tribes. The point that comes most clearly across from Grayson's experiences is that his degree of acculturation had less to do with his sense of personal identity than the society in which he lived, his own perceptions, and the way other Creeks perceived him.Histor

Alternative Perspectives on the Battle of Wolf Creek of 1938

The Battle of Wolf Creek in northwestern Oklahoma in 1838 was highly significant to the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache tribes, but little known beyond their mutual frontier. Their oral accounts of the battle allow us to examine these Plains Indians' view of their history and compare it to the non-Indian's ways of memorializing events

Chronicles of Oklahoma

Article describes the life of Oklahoma firefighter Ray Pence, the man whose effort and ideas led to the creation of the OSU School of Firefighting, now the OSU Department of Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology

Duration of androgen deprivation therapy with postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a comparison of long-course versus short-course androgen deprivation therapy in the RADICALS-HD randomised trial

Background Previous evidence supports androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with primary radiotherapy as initial treatment for intermediate-risk and high-risk localised prostate cancer. However, the use and optimal duration of ADT with postoperative radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy remains uncertain. Methods RADICALS-HD was a randomised controlled trial of ADT duration within the RADICALS protocol. Here, we report on the comparison of short-course versus long-course ADT. Key eligibility criteria were indication for radiotherapy after previous radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen less than 5 ng/mL, absence of metastatic disease, and written consent. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to add 6 months of ADT (short-course ADT) or 24 months of ADT (long-course ADT) to radiotherapy, using subcutaneous gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue (monthly in the short-course ADT group and 3-monthly in the long-course ADT group), daily oral bicalutamide monotherapy 150 mg, or monthly subcutaneous degarelix. Randomisation was done centrally through minimisation with a random element, stratified by Gleason score, positive margins, radiotherapy timing, planned radiotherapy schedule, and planned type of ADT, in a computerised system. The allocated treatment was not masked. The primary outcome measure was metastasis-free survival, defined as metastasis arising from prostate cancer or death from any cause. The comparison had more than 80% power with two-sided α of 5% to detect an absolute increase in 10-year metastasis-free survival from 75% to 81% (hazard ratio [HR] 0·72). Standard time-to-event analyses were used. Analyses followed intention-to-treat principle. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN40814031, and ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT00541047 . Findings Between Jan 30, 2008, and July 7, 2015, 1523 patients (median age 65 years, IQR 60–69) were randomly assigned to receive short-course ADT (n=761) or long-course ADT (n=762) in addition to postoperative radiotherapy at 138 centres in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. With a median follow-up of 8·9 years (7·0–10·0), 313 metastasis-free survival events were reported overall (174 in the short-course ADT group and 139 in the long-course ADT group; HR 0·773 [95% CI 0·612–0·975]; p=0·029). 10-year metastasis-free survival was 71·9% (95% CI 67·6–75·7) in the short-course ADT group and 78·1% (74·2–81·5) in the long-course ADT group. Toxicity of grade 3 or higher was reported for 105 (14%) of 753 participants in the short-course ADT group and 142 (19%) of 757 participants in the long-course ADT group (p=0·025), with no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation Compared with adding 6 months of ADT, adding 24 months of ADT improved metastasis-free survival in people receiving postoperative radiotherapy. For individuals who can accept the additional duration of adverse effects, long-course ADT should be offered with postoperative radiotherapy. Funding Cancer Research UK, UK Research and Innovation (formerly Medical Research Council), and Canadian Cancer Society

Adding 6 months of androgen deprivation therapy to postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a comparison of short-course versus no androgen deprivation therapy in the RADICALS-HD randomised controlled trial

Background Previous evidence indicates that adjuvant, short-course androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) improves metastasis-free survival when given with primary radiotherapy for intermediate-risk and high-risk localised prostate cancer. However, the value of ADT with postoperative radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy is unclear. Methods RADICALS-HD was an international randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of ADT used in combination with postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Key eligibility criteria were indication for radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen less than 5 ng/mL, absence of metastatic disease, and written consent. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to radiotherapy alone (no ADT) or radiotherapy with 6 months of ADT (short-course ADT), using monthly subcutaneous gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue injections, daily oral bicalutamide monotherapy 150 mg, or monthly subcutaneous degarelix. Randomisation was done centrally through minimisation with a random element, stratified by Gleason score, positive margins, radiotherapy timing, planned radiotherapy schedule, and planned type of ADT, in a computerised system. The allocated treatment was not masked. The primary outcome measure was metastasis-free survival, defined as distant metastasis arising from prostate cancer or death from any cause. Standard survival analysis methods were used, accounting for randomisation stratification factors. The trial had 80% power with two-sided α of 5% to detect an absolute increase in 10-year metastasis-free survival from 80% to 86% (hazard ratio [HR] 0·67). Analyses followed the intention-to-treat principle. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN40814031, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00541047. Findings Between Nov 22, 2007, and June 29, 2015, 1480 patients (median age 66 years [IQR 61–69]) were randomly assigned to receive no ADT (n=737) or short-course ADT (n=743) in addition to postoperative radiotherapy at 121 centres in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. With a median follow-up of 9·0 years (IQR 7·1–10·1), metastasis-free survival events were reported for 268 participants (142 in the no ADT group and 126 in the short-course ADT group; HR 0·886 [95% CI 0·688–1·140], p=0·35). 10-year metastasis-free survival was 79·2% (95% CI 75·4–82·5) in the no ADT group and 80·4% (76·6–83·6) in the short-course ADT group. Toxicity of grade 3 or higher was reported for 121 (17%) of 737 participants in the no ADT group and 100 (14%) of 743 in the short-course ADT group (p=0·15), with no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation Metastatic disease is uncommon following postoperative bed radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy. Adding 6 months of ADT to this radiotherapy did not improve metastasis-free survival compared with no ADT. These findings do not support the use of short-course ADT with postoperative radiotherapy in this patient population

Review of \u3ci\u3eListening to Our Grandmothers\u27 Stories: The Bloomfield Academy for Chickasaw Females, 1852-1949\u3c/i\u3e By Amanda J. Cobb

Conventional wisdom among scholars of Indian history holds that the boarding school experience for most Indian children was grim, a forced isolation from family and community in a misguided attempt to eradicate Native cultures and identity with the aim of assimilating Indian peoples. The researcher who has spent time interviewing boarding school alumni in Oklahoma, however, often hears a positive perspective composed of life-long relationships, fond memories, and gratitude to the institution. That positive perspective toward Bloomfield Academy is the starting point of Amanda J. Cobb\u27s history of the Chickasaw institution, whose students were proud to be Bloomfield Blossoms from the Bryn Mawr of the West. Bloomfield Academy according to Cobb, was different because throughout its ninety-seven year history it reflected the values and goals of the Chickasaw people. Cobb divides the history of the institution into three periods based on changes of control. Bloomfield was founded in 1852 by missionaries who emphasized religion and Chickasaw acculturation. But Chickasaws provided strong support for the school in the belief that literacy was a valuable new weapon in the defense of their nation against aggressive outsiders. They demonstrated this by funding the school, enthusiastically enrolling their daughters, and placing importance on commencement activities. While in control from 1865 to 1898, Chickasaws, according to Cobb, sought to make their daughters not Anglo-American girls but their equals, able to negotiate the white world and support their Chickasaw husbands in economic and social interactions across cultural boundaries. Emphasis on refinement as well as academics won the institution its reputation as a finishing school. Federal control, which began with the process of dissolving the Chickasaw national government and lasted until 1949, transformed Bloomfield into a government boarding school renamed Carter Seminary. Even then, Cobb asserts, Bloomfield served Chickasaw purposes. By then Chickasaws believed so strongly in literacy, it had become a part of their culture. Isolating the students at Bloomfield while stressing that value reinforced and redefined the Indian identity government boarding schools aimed to erase. This book is a work of the heart for Cobb, a Chickasaw descendant of Bloomfield students. Some scholars may object to its personal style and lack of real comparison with contemporary Indian schools. But Cobb is to be commended on her use and analysis of sixteen interviews collected from Bloomfield/ Carter students. This book contributes an often overlooked facet of the Indian school experience so important to Great Plains people and cultures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Mary Jane Warde Collection

Photograph of items for the Ponca Indian Time Capsule Dedication, Ponca National Complex, White Eagle, OK, August 26, 2006. Photo by Mary Jane Warde

Mary Jane Warde Collection

Photograph of the exterior of the High Spring Indian Baptist Church on Highway 27 south of Okemah, OK. Photo by Mary Jane Warde, March 23, 1999

Mary Jane Warde Collection

Photograph of the Ponca Indian Time Capsule being sealed, Ponca National Complex, White Eagle, OK, August 26, 2006. Photo by Mary Jane Warde