1. William Thomas Gilcrease was an Muscogee-American oilman, art collector, and philanthropist.
22 Facts About Thomas Gilcrease
1. 2.
Thomas Gilcrease was the founder of Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
3.
Thomas Gilcrease was born in Robeline, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, on February 8,1890.
4.
Thomas Gilcrease was the son of William Lee Gilcrease and Mary "Elizabeth" [nee Vowell] Gilcrease, a Muscogee Creek.
5.
Thomas Gilcrease attended Bacone College, where his most influential teacher was Alexander Posey, who taught his students the arts, sciences, writing, and about their American Indian heritage.
6.
Thomas Gilcrease's land, sitting astride the huge Glenn Pool Oil Reserve, made Gilcrease a multi-millionaire by the time he was twenty.
7.
Thomas Gilcrease founded the Gilcrease Oil Company in 1922, and with early successes, was able to purchase more land.
8.
Thomas Gilcrease established his company headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, in 1937 and maintained an office in Europe.
9.
Thomas Gilcrease fathered two sons with Belle: William Thomas Gilcrease Jr.
10.
Thomas Gilcrease was born on June 12,1929, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
11.
Thomas Gilcrease alleged that the couple had been happily married for two years, until Norma's mother, Mahala Dickerson had moved into the house with them and alienated the affections of both Norma and the couple's daughter.
12.
Thomas Gilcrease began to collect oil paintings and other artifacts of the American West in 1922.
13.
The Thomas Gilcrease collection expanded over the next 20 years, with the majority obtained after 1939.
14.
In 1946, Thomas Gilcrease was honored by the Sioux Nation, made an honorary tribal member and given the name Wicarpi Wakatuya, which means "High Star".
15.
Concerned about the integrity of his collection, Thomas Gilcrease offered it for sale as a unit in 1954.
16.
Thomas Gilcrease died of a heart attack on May 6,1962.
17.
Thomas Gilcrease began to collect oil paintings and artifacts of the American West in 1922.
18.
At a time when few were interested in Native American or Western painting and sculptor, Thomas Gilcrease supported a number of Oklahoma artists, including Woody Crumbo and Acee Blue Eagle and Willard Stone, each of whom created works held in the collection.
19.
In 1943, Thomas Gilcrease moved to San Antonio and opened the Museum of the American Indian, known as the Thomas Gilcrease Museum.
20.
Thomas Gilcrease hired architect Alexandre Hogue to design a museum to be placed on Oklahoma property he had purchased in 1914.
21.
Thomas Gilcrease's funeral was conducted in a manner that honored his Native heritage, with Chief Wolf Robe Hunt of the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico leading the prayer.
22.
Thomas Gilcrease's body was buried in a mausoleum on the grounds of his home and museum.