Two California friends of the late Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel recently visited the special collections at the Lincoln County Museum of Pioneer History and the Stroud Public Library.
McDaniel (1918 - 2007) was born near Stroud and was raised in Lincoln and Creek counties. Her family migrated to California in 1936, where she became known in the Central Valley as the Okie Poet.
Betty Blanks of Visalia and Lillian Vallee of Modesto knew McDaniel personally. They did some research in the McDaniel archives at the Museum and Library and saw the area where McDaniel was born and raised.
Karen Neurohr, library professor at Oklahoma State University, guided the visitors and showed them the McDaniel archives at the OSU Library as well.
The collection at the Lincoln County Museum is due to the efforts of Sally Ferrell, museum advocate and former co-owner of the Lincoln County News. The collection at the Stroud Public Library is due to efforts of former librarian Miriam Horn and former Stroud American co-owner Alice Faye Brown. Both collections include correspondence, books, and clippings.