Charles Elijah Decker Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: WHC-M-154

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

FULL FINDING AID (PDF)

University of Oklahoma professor. General correspondence (1911-1957); papers (1923-1950) of the University of Oklahoma chapter of the geology fraternity, Sigma Gamma Epsilon; correspondence (1925-1942), membership lists, and expense records (1934-1935) from the Oklahoma Academy of Science; manuscripts, reprints and research correspondence (1932-1934, n.d.) from Decker's research on Oklahoma geology and on graptolites; correspondence (1925-1946) and notebooks (n.d.) concerning the Methodist Episcopal Church in Norman, Oklahoma; correspondence and printed material (1931-1952) concerning the University of Oklahoma; and correspondence and printed material (1913-1955) from various universities and geological associations. Charles Elijah Decker Photograph Collection also in repository.

Dates

Creation: 1861-1957

Creator

Decker, Charles Elijah, 1868-1958 (Person)

Restrictions on Access

On June 26, 2023, the Western History Collections began a preservation project that has made many of its collections unavailable for a period of time. This collection is among the materials temporarily unavailable. Please contact Western History Collections if you wish to be added to a contact list to be notified when this collection becomes available.

Available for public access.

Biographical / Historical

Born Dixon, Ill., 1868; A.B. Northwestern, 1906; A.M. Chicago, 1908; ten years on farm because of illness of parents; Ph.D., 1917; Hon. Sc.D., Oklahoma City University, 1935. Institute of Geology, Northwestern, 1908-09; Asst. Chicago, 1908, 1912, 1917; summers Ill., 1912-13; Colo. State Col., 1923; Cornell, 1924-26; inst. geol., Oklahoma 1916; head of Dept. of Paleontology 1930; 1931 placed in charge of general correspondence and distribution of publications of Oklahoma Geological Survey, closed that year because of lack of appropriations, and maintained this work until reopening of dept. July, 1935. Professor Emeritus of Paleontology, (retired 1951) after 34 years service. Fellow Geological Society; fellow Paleontological Society; member Association. Petroleum Geologists (Secretary.-treasurer, 1919-26); Society Econ. Paleontology and Mineralogy (pres. 1930); Oklahoma Academy (pres. 34). Internationally recognized authority on graptolites. Grand President of Sigma Gamma Epsilon from 1924-32. A prolific writer. His field: graptolites; minor faults and folds in Great Lakes region; transverse structures in Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma; Arbuckle and Viola lime-stone; Henryhouse and Sylvan Shales; petroleum and natural gas of U.S.

See also Oklahoma Daily, June 18, 1953 for "Research Professor Emeritus Awarded Plaque by Sigma Tau Epsilon, Honorary Earth Fraternity at Banquet of this Group."