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Elizabeth S. Oldaker
1884 - 1975
Inducted in 1989
Used by permission from the Arizona Historical Society
Elizabeth Seargeant was born in Marshall, Missouri on October 7, 1884
and moved to Phoenix as a small child with her mother, Mrs. M. E. Seargeant,
and two brothers in 1893. She attended grade school at the old Central
Avenue School (where the San Carlos now stands) and Phoenix Union High
School. The next few years were filled with art classes at the Throop Institute
in Pasadena, travel and study in Europe and Art School in Los Angeles.
Then in 1913, she married Dr. Emery E. Oldaker, D.V.M., head of the U.S.
Bureau of Animal Husbandry in Arizona.
In 1919, the Maricopa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
appointed Elizabeth Oldaker as chairwoman of a committee to work for the
preservation of Arizona’s historic and prehistoric treasures. This
was to be the beginning of Elizabeth’s passion for the collection
and preservation of Arizona’s past culminating with the establishment
of the Arizona Museum which is now the Phoenix Museum of History.
After the initial meeting of the D.A.R., Elizabeth sought to begin the
process by convincing the Phoenix Public Library to make available space
for exhibits in wall cases. The first exhibits contained loaned items as
the fledgling effort had no collection of its own. Although the goal of
these early exhibits was to stimulate interest in establishing a municipal
museum, the small, but ambitious effort gained only slow public support.
When the library could no longer spare the space, Elizabeth secured permission
to display exhibits in a school administration building.
After borrowing exhibit cases from the Fair Commission and the City of
Phoenix, she had a case built for $300. It was a valiant effort, but the
frustration of inexperience began to set in. By this time the D.A.R. came
to realize that developing a museum was more difficult than they imagined.
For professional advice, Elizabeth began corresponding with officials of
the American Association of Museums. Dr. Madison of the Cleveland Museum
and Dr. Charles F. Lummis, founder of the Southwest Museum were especially
helpful in assisting in the design of a museum strategy for the D.A.R.
The Arizona Museum was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1923.
Elizabeth Oldaker was elected the first President of the Board of Trustees.
According to the plans of the new president, the first order of business
was to find adequate space for both storage and exhibits. To Elizabeth
that meant planning for a building -- specifically for the museum. Under
her gentle prodding, the City of Phoenix provided a site in the southeast
corner of University Park facing Woodlawn Avenue on a long-term lease.
Local architects Fitzhugh and Byron drew plans for an ambitious museum
constructed of adobe with the actual bricks being made on site.
To raise funds, D.A.R. members sold certificates in the shape and color
of adobe bricks for one dollar. Local building trades unions and merchants
also donated materials.
Finally in 1929, under the leadership of the energetic and persuasive
Elizabeth Oldaker, the Arizona Museum opened its doors to the public. The
task of developing a comprehensive museum strategy was to prove invaluable
for Elizabeth.
With the experience of the Arizona Museum's birth to aid her, Elizabeth
launched into many other preservation projects in the area. She founded
the First Families of Arizona, a project aimed at not only preserving the
material culture of our past but the spirit and knowledge of Arizona's
pioneers. Later she led in the restoration of the Duppa-Montgomery Homestead,
and she supported the conservation of the old Cemetery.
In 1945, the American Artists Professional League honored Elizabeth Oldaker
for founding the Arizona Museum and named her "An Accomplished Artist;
One of the Great Women of Arizona". The Arizona Historical Society
honored her with the "Al Merito" award in 1975.
At her death in 1975, Elizabeth Oldaker had spent over 40 years of her
life working to preserve Arizona's past. Her legacy lives on in the projects
she believed in so dearly. Perhaps her greatest memorial is the Phoenix
Museum of History itself.
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