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Back in Mounds (Aug. 2007)
Dale and Jo Newman are back home…but still in the antique business. Mounds is familiar territory to the couple. Jo’s parents grew up in the small town south of Tulsa. Dale was raised there too yet met Jo through — no surprise here when it comes to Oklahoma — the oil business.
“My dad and her dad worked together in the business on a pulling unit…for oil,” said Dale.
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| Dale Newman, co-owner of the Mounds Antique Mall, looks over some old postcards with L.O. McNabb, president of the Mounds Historical Society. (photos by Bruce Rodgers) |
Even with the deep roots movin’ around seemed to come natural to Dale and Jo. The inclination seemed to fit nicely with antiquing but it took a while.
“We been junkin’ for 34 years,” said Dale. “Had a lot of fun buying and selling.”
Both Jo and Dale credit a relative, Sam Barrett, with getting them into the business. Though Jo said she liked to travel except, that is, with Sam.
“When we go on a trip with him,” said Dale, “every time he saw a flea market or antique shop, he’d stop.”
At first, Dale and Jo wouldn’t even get out to the car. “We hated it,” said Jo.
Finally, said Dale, they got out of the car, and “we got hooked.”
Jo started collecting cookie jars; Dale seemed partial to advertising. The couple began dealing at a Tulsa area antique mall under the name School Mouse Antiques while spending years restoring an old home in Mounds. Then, they sold the home and traveled. But family drew them back.
“We have six grandkids,” said Dale. “I couldn’t keep grandma away from them.”
In May 2006, they opened Mounds Antique Mall. Six dealers offer customers a high quality line of general antiques, particularly advertising, cowboy memorabilia — especially Roy Rogers and Gene Autry — and smalls. Dale also has boxes of old postcards addressed to “Indian Territory” — prior to Oklahoma’s statehood.
As the mall passes its one-year anniversary, drawing customers from the Tulsa area, Dale and Jo continue to delve into Mounds’ past as the town finds itself edging toward being drawn into Tulsa’s suburban sphere.
Together with L.O. McNabb, president of the Mounds Historical Society, the Newmans are promoting and raising funds for a Mounds Museum. It will be housed in the town’s first rock building. Grand opening is slated for November 2007.
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| Quality advertising is a prominent antique offering at Mounds Antique Mall. |
McNabb’s family came to Mounds from Cushing in 1926. His family owned a diary. At one time, there were 11 diaries in the Mounds area. McNabb said the last one failed sometime in the 1980s.
The museum is important to McNabb and the Newmans. It should be; it’s history and the memories of people that came before. Right now, most of the items collected are photographs. But McNabb said the collection also includes two jail cells and an old barber’s chair.
“I really think that when we’re open, we are going to get a lot of stuff we don’t know exists,” said McNabb.
McNabb is seeking donations to help get the museum going. If you’re interested, send what you can to Mounds Historical Society, PO Box 274, Mounds, OK 74047.
If you come in person, Mounds Antique Mall is at 1218 Commercial Ave. (the main drag); hours are Thu.-Sat., 9 am-5 pm; call 918-827-6555 for more information.
Disappearing frogs
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| Dr. Janalee Caldwell, from the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, is doing research on the reasons why frogs are disappearing. |
Herpetology curator Dr. Janalee P. Caldwell at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, a research division of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, has been studying Oklahoma frog populations since 1990. Frogs continue to disappear, notes Caldwell.
Blanchard’s Cricket Frog, one of the most common frogs in Oklahoma, has a call that sounds like “rubbing two marbles together.” Once widespread throughout the eastern part of the United States, this frog has now disappeared throughout most of the northern states.
Causes for the decline range from a fungus that attacks a frog’s porous skin, to chemical pollution, habitat loss and global warming. Whatever the cause, most scientists agree the frog’s disappearance in Oklahoma and elsewhere is a reason of major concern. Frogs produce specialized chemicals that could be beneficial to humans. For more information, visit www.nwf.org/frogwatchUSA.
Designer for the masses
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Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) has been called the “father of industrial design.” His creations span a wide variety of items, from the Lucky Strike and Postal Service logos, to furniture and homewares to Coca Cola coolers and later models of the Studebaker automobile, including the Avanti.
Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture, a display of 125 works of design by Loewy, opens Jan. 12 at the Price Tower Arts Center in
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Bartlesville. The 19-story Center is the only skyscraper designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and was completed in 1956.
Loewy was considered the most prominent industrial designer during the 20th century. He began his career as a fashion illustrator but quickly made his mark when he was asked to redesign a mimeograph machine by a British manufacturer.
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At the height of his career — one that didn’t seem to fade — Loewy was a consultant for more than 200 companies. He spent five decades designing streamlining and modernizing hundreds of products, and creating many logos and designs recognizable by millions worldwide.
Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture exhibit is scheduled through March 4. For more information, call 918-336-4949 or visit www.pricetower.org or www.raymondloewy.com.
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