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Edward Everett Dale (February 8, 1879 – May 28, 1972) was an American historian and longtime faculty member of the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
. He was a proponent of
Frederick Jackson Turner Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861 – March 14, 1932) was an American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin until 1910, and then Harvard University. He was known primarily for his frontier thes ...
's " frontier thesis" and is known as a major influence on the historian
Angie Debo Angie Elbertha Debo (January 30, 1890 – February 21, 1988),
.


Biography

Dale was born on February 8, 1879, in a rural area called "Cross Timbers" near Keller, Tarrant County, Texas. Later his father had a farm in
Greer County, Texas Greer County, a county created by the Texas legislature on February 8, 1860 (and was named for John Alexander Greer, Lieutenant Governor of Texas), was land claimed by both Texas and the United States. The region of Greer County is now in present- ...
, where Dale lived in his youth. His mother died when he was five which left his father and an older brother to raise him. In 1892 the family relocated to Greer County, Texas. In 1896 Greer County became part of the
Indian Territories The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign i ...
(to become later,
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
) when the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
resolved a
land dispute A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources s ...
between Texas and Oklahoma over their common boundary. (Greer County's transfer from Texas to Oklahoma dramatically changed the course of Dale's life as later his first choice where to get a college education was now Oklahoma schools instead of those in Texas. ) Dale's early schooling was irregular. After his last attendance in grade school he was urged to sit for an examination that would award him a common school diploma. Attendance at a summer Normal Institute sponsored by Washita County gave him a certificate to teach school with the goal of earning money to buy calves for the ranch he and brother were trying to establish. After serving as schoolmaster at Cloud Chief and other small towns in the region he found that teaching agreed with him so he attended the Central Normal School at Edmond to strengthen his teaching credentials. A combination of summer sessions at the University of Oklahoma and later as full-time student gave him enough credits to graduate from the University of Oklahoma in 1911. Following a position as Superintendent of Schools in Blair, 1911–13, he decided a career at that level was not what he wanted. However, in order to teach at the college level he would need to go to graduate school; thus at age 33 he applied for a scholarship to Harvard. A year at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
earned him a master's degree in 1914 which was followed in 1922 by a doctorate from Harvard where Frederick Jackson Turner served as his
thesis advisor A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director, dissertation advisor; or doctoral supervisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well ...
. He started as an assistant professor of history at the University of Oklahoma in 1914 and remained there (except for two stints at Harvard, 1916−17 and 1919−20, working on his dissertation) until his retirement in 1952 as emeritus research professor.


Historical theories

Dale's thesis of Oklahoma history was that the succession of migrants (traders, military, ranchers, then pioneer farmers) moving westward over time had created a new, uniquely American society that had moved away from European influence. Oklahoma, where settlers incorporated the remnants of both the indigenous Native American tribes and the so-called "
Five civilized tribes The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by European Americans in the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek ...
" that had been forcibly resettled from the
Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
, developed a particularly unique unwritten law he called "Cow Custom", that later became embedded in the state's legal code and institutions.


Mentorship of Angie Debo

Angie Debo enrolled in a class Dale taught at the University of Oklahoma on American history and government in 1916, and again in January 1917. Debo described him as having a "cowboy walk" and "soft voice". Dale taught her formal methods of recording and writing about history that she would use throughout her life. He considered her his "outstanding student" and considered himself her "academic godfather". Debo became disillusioned with Dale in 1937 when he ignored her request to be considered as a replacement for historian Morris Wardell, who was leaving the university for a position at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. The University later hired male faculty members who were less qualified or accomplished than Debo, and refused to publish Debo's seminal first book about Indian relations in Oklahoma, '' And Still the Waters Run'', later published by the
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
. Dale was not especially
misogynist Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
for his era, and both his reluctance to hire her as a colleague and the University's decision to reject the book arose not only from the pervasive discrimination against women academics at the time but also her "blunt" confrontational academic approach and the "explosive" nature of her research. Despite remaining cordial, Debo carried a resentment over these incidents until her death in 1989.


Works

Of the eighteen books Dale wrote, Murrah considers five of them to be outstanding. They are:''Range Cattle Industry''(1930), ''Cow Country'' (1942), ''Frontier Ways'' (1959),''Cross Timbers'' (1966), and ''Indians of the Southwest'' (1949). A short list of Dale's work relating to the Southwest is given by W. Eugene Hollon. Several of his articles have been collected in ''Frontier Ways'' and ''Frontier History''. In addition to his historical writing, Dale wrote two reminiscences, ''Cross Timbers, Memories of a North Texas Boyood'' and ''West Wind Blows''. A full bibliography detailing books, edited books and over sixty articles and essays written by Dale was done by Hicks. In 1957, after Dale's retirement, the University of Oklahoma named a new office and classroom building in honor of Dale. The History Department at the University of Oklahoma is still housed there.


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dale, Edward Everett 1879 births 1972 deaths University of Oklahoma alumni University of Oklahoma faculty Harvard University alumni People from Greer County, Oklahoma Historians of the American West People from Keller, Texas Historians from Texas