20 Facts About Susie Peters

Susie Peters was an American preservationist and matron at the Anadarko Agency, who worked to promote Kiowa artists.

Susie Peters was honored by the National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians and both adopted by the tribe and given a Kiowa name in 1954.

Susie Peters was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in its inaugural year, 1982.

Susie Peters married US Deputy Marshal John Swain, on April 15,1891, in Alex, Indian Territory.

Susie Peters was accidentally shot by the Ardmore, Indian Territory police chief, Buck Garrett, on March 15,1906, while the two men were at an informal gathering.

Susie Peters died the following day and was buried in his hometown of Newton, Kansas.

When she was widowed a third time, Susie Peters went to live as among the Kiowa in Caddo County and was hired as a field matron by the US Indian Service for the Anadarko Agency.

Susie Peters identified several students at St Patrick's Mission School with artistic talent and encouraged them to draw images representing their culture.

Susie Peters bought painting supplies and held informal art classes in her home from around 1918.

Susie Peters contacted Ponca City philanthropist and millionaire Lew Wentz to help secure an education for the students.

Susie Peters was instrumental in mentoring Woody Crumbo, Potawatomi artist, whom she met during his youth while he was attending the Chilocco Indian School.

In 1932, Susie Peters arranged the sale of 22 of Crumbo's painting to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, setting his career in motion.

Susie Peters continued to encourage Kiowa youth to preserve their heritage annually accompanying Kiowa dancers to programs, such as the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial, from the 1930s into the 1960s.

Susie Peters worked with Laura Pedrick, niece of Chief Lone Wolf and Satank, to collect folklore and memorabilia of the Kiowa Tribe.

Susie Peters served as matron of the tribe until her death on October 14,1965, in Anadarko.

Susie Peters was buried in the Purcell Cemetery beside her first husband.

That same year, she was honored by the National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians, when the Susan Susie Peters Gallery was established in Anadarko.

Susie Peters was honored by the Anadarko Philomathic Club, which created an annual art scholarship award in her name in 1963.

The archive which she and Pedrick created, known as the Susie Peters Collection, is housed at the Oklahoma Historical Society and played an important role as source material for the four-volume, two-book work, Kiowa Voices by Maurice Boyd.

Susie Peters was one of the women inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in their inaugural year, 1982 and was one of the subjects of a play, "Jacobson and the Kiowa Five", written by Russ Tall Chief as part of the Native American New Play Festival for the Oklahoma City Theater Company.