The Frank Phillips Home Announces Holiday Events

             The Christmas season is a special time to visit the Frank Phillips Home. The Home will open in full holiday splendor on Saturday, November 26 and will delight adults and children alike.  Beautiful poinsettia arrangements grace the front foyer. The grand stairway is trimmed with garland.   The first floor decorations include festive floral arrangements and Christmas trees in the music room, library, and sunroom.

On the dining room table, the visitor will see the traditional centerpiece used by Jane Phillips when entertaining guests and family during the holiday season. The centerpiece, approximately four feet long, is a snow scene with Santa Claus and his sleigh. Along the sides of the sleigh are small wrapped gifts attached to ribbons that run across the table to each guest’s place setting. According to director Jim Goss, when “Aunt Jane” gave permission, each dinner guest would pull the string in front of them and the gift attached to it would be theirs.”

On the second floor, visitors are greeted by wreaths, beautiful trees and floral arrangements of the season. Of particular interest are handmade jeweled cone shaped trees in Mrs. Phillips’ bedroom.  Santa Claus waits to greet visitors in Frank’s bedroom, along with other fun Christmas items.

Upon reaching the third floor, the visitor is greeted by a nine-foot tree decorated in lights, small birds, and hundreds of candy canes.

                On December 11th, from 2 to 4:00 pm, the Frank Phillips Home and the Jane Phillips Society invite parents and children to “Santa’s Cottage”, located just to the south of the mansion.  Re-enactors Brandon and Rachael Reid from the Peter Conser Home will portray Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus and will visit with children of all ages.  “Uncle Frank” will also be there, fulfilling his Christmas tradition of giving the children candy and small gifts.  Be sure to bring a camera!  There is no charge for this event.   At 3 pm that afternoon Tuba Christmas will perform on the front porch of the mansion.  It's not every day you'll see this:   A group of tuba and euphonium players performing holiday classics in a free outdoor concert, and anyone with the right instruments can join in by calling Alex Claussen , band director at the Bartlesville High School.  The tradition started at New York's Rockefeller Center in 1974, and has played out at 200 cities around the world.   The public is invited to bring a lawn chair and enjoy this beautiful concert.  In case of inclement weather, the event will be held at the Bartlesville High School.

Also on December 11^th from 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. the mansion will be open for families to casually walk through the rooms to see the home sparkling with its beautiful Christmas trees, lights, and decorations.  Instrumentalist and vocalist, Charles Lee, will be playing Christmas carols and vintage popular music on the 1910 Weber baby grand piano.  The Frank Phillips Home  invites families to begin a new holiday tradition by visiting the home during the Christmas season. 

Aunt Jane's Pastime Puzzles

posted by Kim

         Jane Phillips loved jigsaw puzzles.  More than likely, if you walked into the library at her home on Cherokee Avenue, you would find a jigsaw puzzle being assembled on a bridge table close to a comfortable chair.  “I would drop by to see Granny almost every day after school” said Marcus Low Jr., the Phillips’ grandson.  “It seemed like she always had a puzzle she was working on”.  This fall the Home will be placing Jane’s puzzle collection on exhibit for only the second time.

        “The puzzles are not only beautiful, but also record the events and attitudes of their time” notes Jim Goss, Director/Curator of the Home.  Jigsaw puzzles for adults were first seen in the early 1900s and were quite a challenge.   Puzzles were cut along color lines and were not interlocking.  There was no picture on the box, and the title of the puzzle was very nonspecific.  At the time the Phillips home was built (1908-1909), Parker Brothers introduced their Pastime Puzzles, which featured figural pieces in recognizable shapes.  These were so popular that Parker Brothers stopped making games and devoted its entire factory to puzzle production in 1909. Following this craze, puzzles continued as a regular adult diversion for the next two decades.

        It is not known when “Aunt Jane” became interested in jigsaw puzzles or how many she had.  She was known to give puzzles away to friends and employees.  Most of the 26 puzzles she kept were of the Pastime Puzzle brand and their themes reflect her interests and the current events of the time.  The Frank Phillips Home Docents began the project of putting the puzzles together more than four years ago.  When completed, monies were raised to frame the puzzles according to proper museum standards.  The last puzzle to be framed is a two-layer puzzle given to Jane as a Christmas present.  The exhibit designer was Karen Smith Woods.  The exhibit framer was Pat Kerbs.

       Watch for this upcoming exhibit in September and October 2011!

Uncle Frank and the Church at Creston

Posted by Kim

One advantage of working or volunteering at either Woolaroc or the Frank Phillips Home is that there are literally HUNDREDS of good stories to tell about the Phillips family.  Some, of course, are just folklore, but occasionally we will come across a credible story that we have not heard before.  This week, I would like to share one with you from the memoirs of Mr. F. E. Selim.

Before moving to Bartlesville, the Phillips attended the First Methodist Church of Creston, IA.  Unfortunately, this church burned to the ground about 1928 and the congregation immediately gathered together as much money as they could and started rebuilding.  About the time they had the "shell" of the building in place, the Great Depression hit Creston with full force and work on the church came to a halt. 

On one of their visits to Creston, Frank and Jane noticed that no progress was being made and Frank inquired as to the reason.  When told that the church was out of money, Frank said, "Tell somebody to come down and see me".  The church took him at his word and sent Mr. Jensen, the president of the Creston First National Bank, to Bartlesville to visit with Frank.  When introduced, Frank said, "How much do you want?".  Mr. Jensen explained that the church board and the contractor had met and figured how much money they would need to get the church in just "useable" condition and gave Frank the amount.  Frank just looked at him and replied, "I didn't ask how much money you HAD to HAVE, I asked how much money did you want?"  Mr. Jensen, taken aback, had to confess that he did not know, and Frank told him, "In that case, go on back to Creston and find out how much you want and then come back and let me know".  Mr. Jensen did as Frank asked, and the outcome was impressive -- enough money to build a beautiful building and furnish it with fine furniture, stained glass windows and an impressive pipe organ.

Jim and I have toured the church and it is, indeed, quite beautiful.

A visit to Monticello

Posted by Kim

We recently had the pleasure of visiting three presidential historic homes – Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, James and Dolly Madison’s Montpelier, and James Monroe’s Ash Lawn.  Although they are located quite close together, each site is distinctly different and each is definitely worth the time to visit.  Today’s blog is focused on Monticello.

Jefferson’s beautiful home is a World Heritage Site and one of the most visited historic homes in the United States, so Jim and I were quite interested to see how it operated both from a tourist’s point of view as well as a professional view.  Monticello is owned and operated by the Monticello Foundation.  As you arrive at the visitor’s center complex you have several choices:  a huge gift shop, café, theater, gallery, and information center.   A shuttle will take you from the visitor’s center to the house.

As for tours, they offer a virtual smorgasbord.  There is a guided tour of the first floor, or you can pay more and get a tour of the 2^nd and 3^rd floor.  There is also a tour of the grounds or a guided walking tour of the extensive gardens.  You can pick and choose which tours you want to take.  We chose the first floor tour which lasts 30 minutes.  It was immediately apparent that our tour guide expected us to have a good working knowledge of Jefferson’s personal history and I realized I should have taken the time to see the film offered in the theater at the visitor’s center before embarking on the tour.  Her reason for omitting a lot of Jefferson’s personal history was obvious – she only had 30 minutes to get her group through the house!  Each time we left a room, another tour group entered on our heels.  This site must accommodate a lot of guests!  I was disappointed that our tour only lasted ½ hour and felt it was a bit rushed, but I understood the reason for it and their variety of choices in tours to accommodate more guests made sense.  I would have liked to see the house tour guides wearing white gloves as a museum etiquette reminder to guests “not to touch”.  I appreciated the guides asking guests to silence their cell phones during the tour.

At Monticello, the kitchens, storage rooms, stables and servant work areas were all located under the main house and these were my favorite areas.  There was no guide or interpreter though, and I think the education staff is missing a wonderful opportunity here!  If two or three interpreters or reenactors could be assigned to work these areas daily, a lot of education about the life of slaves could be offered to guests.  I hope that they will be able to do this in the future.

We visited the gardens on our own and were not disappointed – they were impressive and well kept.   The Museum Gift Shop was delightful, full of interesting things, and we spent quite a bit of money there.  Every staff person that we encountered was hospitable and helpful.  All operations seemed to flow smoothly and efficiently. 

This is a home well worth visiting and I applaud the foundation and staff for the good job they are doing in preserving and presenting this site.  Next week . . . I’ll talk about James Madison’s beautiful Montpelier.

A Loyal Companion

Posted by Kim

There were two Japanese men who worked in the Frank Phillips Home  that had key roles in the smooth operation of daily activities for the Phillips family - Dan Mitani and Henry Einaga.  Today, I would like to talk about Dan Mitani.

Dan Mitani was Frank’s personal valet.  At the present time, we do not know when Dan began working for Frank, but we do know that he was with Frank at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs during the summer and fall of 1922.  Also, in November of 1922, Dan supervised the moving of the family into a segment of rooms on the twelfth floor of the Ambassador Hotel in New York City.  Dan accompanied Frank on all of his out of town trips and tended to all of his needs both at the Cherokee House and also at Woolaroc.  Dan had a small bedroom at Woolaroc, located right next to Frank’s room.  In 1925, Dan married Lee Savage, a maid who worked next door at the L. E. Phillips home.  L. E.’s wife, Node, was concerned with Dan working at Frank’s home and Lee working at L. E.’s home, personal information about both families might go back and forth between houses.  Lee felt quite insulted by this insinuation, and resigned.  But before 3 days had passed, Lee received a job offer from Jane to work at the mansion.  She accepted and worked for Frank and Jane for more than 20 years as the upstairs maid.  For most of their time with the Phillips family, the Mitanis owned their own home in town. 

When Frank’s memory began to fail, it was Dan that kept Frank on a schedule and comfortable.  Dan retired from service after Frank died. 



More Work on our Collections

Posted by Kim:

If you have never experienced working in a museum setting, you may not know that the total of the artifacts in a museum are grouped into "collections".  You might also not be aware that caring for "the collections" is a fulltime job!  In a small museum with limited staff, it can actually take decades of dedicated time and effort to properly house, record, and store your artifacts.  And, since technology and science are always changing, just when you think it is finally all done -- it's time to update!  Just to give you a small glimpse into what we take care of at the Frank Phillips Home -- in our collection we have about 3,000 books.  Each one must be recorded, examined for wear and tear, photographed from different angles, and entered into our database system.  We have been working on this for some time.  Add to that all of the home's furnishings, art, decorative items, household items, attached fixtures, photographs, record albums, documents, toys, clothing . . . do you begin to see the challenge?

Fortunately for us, we have two very dedicated and talented volunteer archivists that have helped us tremendously with our efforts.  Gary Nealis has many years of experience as a photo archivist and is also an expert in Bartlesville history.  His most recent project at the home has been working with the Phillips' phonograph record collection to digitalize it.  Our second volunteer archivist is Kathy Triebel.  Kathy is a certified archivist and was the corporate archivist for Phillips Petroleum for many years.  Kathy's most recent project has been to make protective archival coverings for all of our oversized objects.  She has worked aggressively for several months to properly house many of the artifacts in the collection. 

Aren't we lucky they want to work here?

Tangible History Series Coming Up Soon!

Posted by Kim

Have you ever looked at an old item and wondered about its history?  Over the next few months the Frank Phillips Home and the Nellie Johnstone Questers welcome the general public  and other Questers to attend their presentations of “Tangible History”.  These programs will focus on the history of household, clothing, toys,  or decorative items and how they were created or used. 

Questers embody the excitement of searching for that perfect treasure, the love of learning about antiques, the interest in history, the joy of working on preservation and restoration projects, and take special pride in aiding in the education of Preservationists and Conservators who will professionally care for our history, artifacts, and sites.  The Purposes of this Organization are to educate by research and study of antiques and to donate funds to the preservation and restoration of artifacts, existing memorials, historic buildings, landmarks, and educational purposes.

The first “Tangible History” presentation is scheduled for Friday, April 22, 2011 from 12:10 to 1:00 p.m. and will focus on antique pincushions and buttons.  Mrs. Barbara Williams is the presenter.  Subsequent presentations include:

June 24, 2011 - Aunt Helen's Pressed Glass          Presenter:  Mary Alice Sigmon 

July 22, 2011 - Antique Dolls                                      Presenter:  Martha Ray 

August 26, 2011 - Courting Objects and Customs of the 1800s     Presenter:  Martha Ray 

October 21, 2011 - "In Mourning"  Customs and Objects mid 1800s     Presenter:  Martha Ray

Our Volunteer of the Week

Today I want to give a "pat on the back" to our Volunteer of the Week, Dee Wiens.  Dee has been a volunteer at the Home for several years and has shared her many talents generously with us.  She is a great cook, an excellent hostess and handles large crowds with ease.  As a tour guide, she is very knowledgable about Phillips history and makes guests feel special.  From time to time, she works on a contract basis for us when we need extra help and fills in nicely when a staff person is ill or on vacation. 

One of my favorite things that she does each year is the decorating of the huge Christmas tree in the Library.  It takes her about two full days to completely cover the tree with vintage and time-appropriate ornaments.  When completed, the tree looks very similar to how the Phillips' Christmas tree looked in the late
1930s-1940s.  Bobby Phillips, Frank's and Jane's grandson, was delighted with her work on the Christmas tree, noting that it looked "just like Granny's". 

Like Jane Phillips, Dee loves jigsaw puzzles, and we try to keep her happy by finding very challenging ones.  She was one of the volunteers who helped put together Jane's collection of jigsaw puzzles so we could show them to the public.  On occasion, Dee will reenact Jane Phillips, and dressed in her early 1940's clothing, looks remarkably like her! 

Dee enjoys doing mission work in Mexico and goes once or twice a year.  Thanks Dee for all you do for the Home!

In a tight spot

Posted by Kim

Those of you who have an old home (75 yrs or older) will know what I mean when I say that after awhile, you know all the creaks, groans, knocks and squeaks of your home and what they are.  This is especially true if you have a boiler!  You also learn that if you hear a new groan, knock or squeak, you'd better investigate!

So I knew that something strange was going on the other day when I heard a major whistling sound coming from the two radiators in the servant's dining room.   It also seemed to be getting very humid in the kitchen area.  Our director, Jim Goss, went into "detective mode" to see if he could discover the problem. 

He uncovered part of the wall in the basement upon which hung a tool pegboard.  Behind the pegboard was a small access door approximately 16 x 24 inches.  Upon opening this door, a rush of steam escaped and he could see that there was a hole in the steam pipe.

Before repairs to the steam pipe could take place, it was necessary to remove all asbestos from the area, which was done by a certified environmental company, contracted through the Oklahoma Historical Society.  Then Brown Plumbing was called in to do the repairs.  I have to say that I felt sorry for whoever had to crawl through that small opening and make the repair.  For Randy Brown, it was "just all in a day's work".

You can see in the photo the very small amount of space in which he had to work!  Repairs completed, and we are back to the "normal" boiler sounds again.

Cleaning the chandelier

Posted by Kim:

One of the tasks that I wanted to get done while the Home was closed in January was the cleaning of the 1908 Waterford crystal chandelier in the dining room.  It takes two full workdays to disassemble, clean, and reassemble all of the prisms.  This makes the third time I have done this job and so, at least, I understand the process.

This is not like cleaning your chandelier at home --- #1 it is an artifact, and #2 it belonged to Frank and Jane and was an original fixture in the home.  When working with an artifact, a whole set of museum guidelines apply which includes assessing the risk of taking the fixture apart to begin with, minimizing the risk of any breakage, and proper cleaning techniques. 

It is somewhat of an overwhelming feeling to know that if I damage an artifact, it cannot be replaced, so I proceed with the cleaning of the fixture with all the meticulousness of a bomb crew disarming a bomb!  The payoff is seeing it rehung sparkling and undamaged, (not to mention that I get to keep my job)!

Corporate Archivist, Kathy Triebel shows Valerie Short the proper way to clean upholstery on an artifact. The Home is undergoing a thorough cleaning since it is open only on Saturdays during January.

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To see what is happening at the Frank Phillips Home, we hope you will check in often!