"We are very excited for Tulsa over this arrangement," said Sharon King Davis, president of the Tulsa Historical Society.  "The collection will be viewed, displayed and used for generations to come."

King Davis added that during the city's 100th birthday in 1998, the Rotary Club of Tulsa was the driving force behind the Centennial Park time capsule that included a Plymouth Prowler and thousands of mementos from individual Tulsans.  "The Historical Society now thanks Rotary for making this wonderful gift possible for Oklahoma's 100th birthday," she said.

Officials said that substantial additional funds are needed for the library to allocate staff and resources for the plan.  As part of the arrangement, Rotary – as its official Oklahoma Centennial Project – provided the library $25,000 at Wednesday's news conference and will award another $25,000 in January 2007, the year of Oklahoma's 100th birthday.

Linda Saferite, chief executive officer of the library and a Rotarian, was credited with developing the team-approach idea.

"The Tulsa City-County Library is proud to be part of this exciting community partnership.  It’s so gratifying to be saving these important pieces of Tulsa history for future generations,” she said.  “A project of this size would still be a dream if it weren’t for Rotary, the Historical Society and Library all working together to make it a reality." 

Tulsa Archives, Inc., the Rotary non-profit subsidiary originally established to own and manage the collection, has agreed to raise another $150,000 to allocate for the centennial project.  Rotarian Don Walker, who is co-chair of Tulsa's observance of the Oklahoma Centennial, will lead that drive.

Under the supervision of Rotarian Jerry Cornelius, who is executive director of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, many volunteer Rotarians have contributed time and resources to bring the collection to this point.  Club members helped clean out the Ford warehouse, organized piles of historical photos and documents, transported items and scanned countless photos. 

Tim Colwell, chair of the Rotary Club's Oklahoma Centennial Project Committee, said the new arrangement is an ideal opportunity for the club to observe the state's 100th birthday.

"We evaluated several projects that would have lasting and high-profile value, and all were great projects," he said.  "The beauty in this is that we already own the collection and its historical value is priceless. What better centennial project than to make the collection available to the people of Oklahoma much quicker than we planned?"

75,000-100,000 digitized images to be
available on Tulsa City-County Library's website

(TULSA, Okla.,  Jan. 4, 2006) – The Rotary Club of Tulsa has teamed with the Tulsa Historical Society and Tulsa City-County Library to expedite public access to the renowned Beryl Ford Collection.

Thousands of vintage photographs collected by Tulsa historian Beryl Ford have been scanned since the collection was acquired last year by the Rotary Club of Tulsa.  With this new partnership, the library will use additional resources to digitize and catalog the rest of the collection.  As progress continues, the public can access the archives on the library's website, www.tulsalibrary.org

For its part, the Tulsa Historical Society will manage, preserve and display the collection and will become the new owner of the vast majority of the archives. A few items of unique appeal to organizations like Gilcrease, Philbrook and the Tulsa Air & Space Museum, will be donated to them. 

The archives will be permanently called the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa.  The plan announced today has been designated Rotary's official Oklahoma Centennial Project.

"This is a great example of Rotary stepping forward and bringing together important and influential Tulsa parties to better serve the community," said Matt Davis, president of the Rotary Club of Tulsa. "We were on track in digitizing and cataloging the collection, but this agreement allows the Beryl Ford items to be accessed and enjoyed more quickly by historians, researchers and the general public.  Rotary is pleased to have played a role in preserving this priceless collection of Tulsa's history."

Davis said the development reflects the historical posture of the club to initiate worthwhile projects and then spin them off to organizations that have unique experience and skills to carry on the cause.  Other such projects include Rotary's founding of the Tulsa Boys Home and Children's Medical Center, and helping Up With Trees as it was established.

Last year, when Tulsa historian Beryl Ford considered selling his massive collection, Rotary stepped forward and organized community resources to buy the collection to keep it in Tulsa.  When pledges are all collected, the Lorton Family/Tulsa World will have made a significant contribution, as has QuikTrip founder Chester Cadieux.  Since the original acquisition, the Walton Family Foundation provided a $10,000 grant, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation $5,000.  Individual Rotarians and others have provided nearly $50,000. These combined funds were used to purchase the collection, and buy a sophisticated scanner and museum cataloging software to begin the process.