The Graying of Petroleum Historians
Jeff Spencer (jspencer@blackpoolenergy.com)
In 2009, the petroleum industry will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Colonel Drakes’s oil discovery near Titusville, Pennsylvania — the event traditionally regarded as the start of the industry in the United States. People interested in the history of the oil age are organizing a number of events commemorating this sesquicentennial anniversary. One of these events was the International Oil Symposium held May 7–10th, 2008 in Sarnia and Petrolia, Ontario, Canada.
The Petroleum History Institute and the Petroleum History Society sponsored the meeting, which was hosted by the Ontario Petroleum Institute. “Oil Springs, Ontario 150 Years — Back to the Future” was the theme of the symposium, which included two days of oral and poster presentations, followed by an oil heritage tour throughout Lambton County, Ontario. One of the many highlights of the tour was visiting the oil producing properties of Fairbank Oil, a fourth generation family operation which is currently run by Charles Fairbank lll (Charlie). Here Charlie “pumped oil in the same place using the same technology” as his great-grandfather.
Symposium attendees represented museums, historical groups, and several authors, who are trying to preserve our oil heritage and document its history. The attendees were not a large group, and not a young group, but it was certainly a passionate group! It was also a concerned group. Discussions included not only the “graying” of petroleum historians, but also the lack of interest in our oil heritage, not just by the general public, but also by much of our own industry. Local historians are clearly doing much of the historical research with little financial support from the industry or co-operation in making industry archives available for research.
The 2009 annual International Oil Symposium will take place in Titusville, Pennsylvania from May 14-16. The following month, June 7-10, the AAPG’s Annual Convention will meet in Denver. Several members of the AAPG’s history committee are also members of the Petroleum History Institute. These members plan to worktogether to include oil history/heritage as part of the 2009 AAPG Convention.
“Celebrating the Story — Progress from Petroleum” is the theme of Oil 150, a group from the oil region of Pennsylvania (www.oil150.com). Despite a negative public image, this group hopes to enhance the American public’s perception of the U.S. petroleum industry by focusing on the historical achievements of early oil pioneers and the men and women who followed in later decades. Representatives from Oil 150 attended the 2008 Symposium and will be very much involved in the 2009 Symposium.
Several excellent websites contain information about North America’s petroleum heritage.
These include:
www.albertasource.ca/petroleum,
www.petroleumhistory.org
www.petroleumhistory.ca
www.aoghs.org