Preserving Oklahoma’s Storied Past with the State Archives

One retired librarian has discovered a historical figure's final resting place with help from ODL's Archives and Records team, ensuring that the site will be preserved and its significance documented. Susan Chase is a former librarian from Grove who occasionally fills in at her library when staff is short-handed. Although retired, Susan still finds ways to tell and preserve Oklahoma’s stories. She spends time recording forgotten gravesites and documenting people's final resting places.

Her ongoing dedication to safeguarding the past prompted her to research the burial place of Peter Hildebrand, the first conductor to lead displaced Cherokees along the Trail of Tears' northern route towards Oklahoma. Susan says she took on the project after hearing stories from volunteers who tend one of Grove’s historic cemetery grounds.

Looking for resources to guide her search, she reached out to Alyssa Vaughn, Archivist at ODL. Alyssa scanned grave permits, a map, and letters on file that pertained to the cemetery; she also supplied Peter's grave permit, proving that his remains had been relocated to make way for Grand Lake's construction.

"So much history gets lost," Susan observes. "It was important to help find proof of where Peter is buried."

Community members like Susan and the volunteers she spoke with at the Hildebrand graveyard are preserving Oklahoma landmarks and unearthing history. She discovered what she believes to be Peter Hildebrand’s family burial ground and submitted her findings to the Trail of Tears Association, a nonprofit which preserves the stories of indigenous people who were forcibly removed under the Indian Removal Act in 1830.

She says Alyssa at the Oklahoma State Archives provided the resources that made her discovery possible. In celebration of Archives Month, ODL recognizes the crucial role played by research librarians and archivists in the preservation and validation of Oklahoma's stories. State-provided tools like Digital Prairie enable Oklahomans to connect with their history. To learn more about a century's worth of documents, publications, and archives available on Digital Prairie's online database, visit digitalprairieok.net.