Bunky: The 1st 8 Months of Oklahoma City

[Doug Loudenback]

This 1890 book by Bunky is hard to find, but I've now got one. It's an interesting but not particularly well written 110-page account by "Bunky" whose real name was Irving Geffs, and it traces the city from the day before the land run through December 1889 - January 1890.

I've scanned it and made it available in 2 forms: 1 very large (75.3 MB) bookmarked PDF file, and/or a set of HTML pages, each page displaying 1 page in the book at a time. Although the book itself contains no artwork, I've used several photos by That Man Stone as background images in the HTML version.

Enjoy! Here's the link: Doug Dawgz Blog: This One's Just Bunky

[Martin]

found a copy online... is it worth buying? -M

[Doug Loudenback]

found a copy online... is it worth buying? -M

The answer depends on how strongly you want to have a "hard copy" in your library. I'm one of those who covets and must have copies of ANY literature written about early day Okc history. But, that's just me.

As I explained in my blog article, there have been 4 editions of this 110 page booklet ...

1. The original (1890). According to a 1989 Oklahoman article, only 3 copies of the actual original were known to exist when it was republished by the Women's Posse group of the Westerners in 1989.
   
2. A 1939 republication by Trave-Taylor ...
   
   
3. Another 1989 republication by Histree ...
   
   
4. The 4th (and the one I used) is the 1989 republication by the Oklahoma Women's Posse group of the Westerners, done in conjunction with the 1989 centennial of the April 22, 1889, Land Run. Both the Oklahoman and the reprinting itself said it was an exact copy of the original (which includes all of its several spelling errors), so I knew that's what I wanted. Short of having one of the ultra-rare originals, the Women's Posse republication is the closest thing to that -- the real deal. I don't know whether or not that was true in the 1939 reprinting since I've never seen a copy, but it was certainly not true in the 1989 Histree republication which re-paginated the text to 85 (not 110) pages, may or may not have edited out the spelling errors, and also includes an index -- the original did not contain one.

The large PDF file that's in my blog is an exact copy (page by page scans) of the Women's Posse 1989 republication. I've not seen it described anywhere on the web other than in my blog.

Since this 110 (111 including the cover) page booklet is the very 1st known written history of Oklahoma City, to me, it's important to have a paper copy, "just because." But if all you're wanting to do is to read the copy (or to have a PDF file which represents actual scans from the Women's Posse republication of the original), that might be all you'd want, and, of course, that costs you nothing since it's available for free in my blog article.

As to "substantive worth" ... how seriously should what Bunky had to say be regarded ... every reader will have to make his/her own calls about that. Quite clearly Bunky was a "homer" -- a clip from page 26 where he reports about our river and its valley is shown below ...



Of course, such things are a matters of opinion, but I doubt that I've ever thought of Oklahoma City (or the North Canadian/Oklahoma River) as having or being in a valley, but maybe that's just me. He absolutely got it wrong in his last section where he touted the canal being constructed (and he reported on it as though it was a done deal) ... when he wrote his text, he did not know that it utterly failed overnight when the water sunk into the sand ... and Bunky is loaded with biases and prejudices ... having to do with his positioning/alignment with and/or opposition to the Kickapoos and/or Seminole elements present during this period, as well as his racial prejudice against blacks (which is thankfully limited to only one section, "Bessie's Letters"). On the other hand, I have no cause to doubt that what was certainly reported as fact (e.g., who were candidates in local elections, what was the vote, what the fine ladies were clothed in [about which he goes on for 2-3 pages] when a Congressional delegation came to town) should not be taken as fact. Problem is, Bunky is not good about drawing lines between what is fact and what is opinion, but it's still a good read, just the same.

And, when all is said and done, it is the 1st book to be written about Okc history, ever.

So, I can't answer the question for you but perhaps the above will give you the information you need to answer the question for yourself.

[gen70]

I'am wondering what ever happened to old Bunky? Must have been pretty cool to have been there in the "beginning".

[Martin]

so, i can't answer the question for you but perhaps the above will give you the information you need to answer the question for yourself.

dammit, doug... you're not making this easy! all i needed was a little help tricking my conscience into paying $75 for a 1939 version "just because."

-M

/btw, the seller describes the 1939 edition as "a facsimile reprint with new foreword" so i'm guessing it stays rather faithful to the original.

[Doug Loudenback]

dammit, doug... you're not making this easy! all i needed was a little help tricking my conscience into paying $75 for a 1939 version "just because."

-M

/btw, the seller describes the 1939 edition as "a facsimile reprint with new foreword" so i'm guessing it stays rather faithful to the original.

Martin, see your private messages.

[Doug Loudenback]

I'am wondering what ever happened to old Bunky? Must have been pretty cool to have been there in the "beginning".

Me, too. But I couldn't find a damn thing other than what was said about him in Luther B. Hill's 1908 A History of the State of Oklahoma, Vol. I (1908), pages 218-219, which says this about the author of First Eight Months of Oklahoma City:

This unique little book, printed at Oklahoma City in 1890, containing 110 pages in pamphlet form, was written by "Bunky," and aside from this name the historian gave no hint of his own individuality. His real name was Irving Geffs. Some time before the incidents which he describes he had taken too much liquor, and on recovering his senses found that he was a regularly enlisted soldier of the United States army, a position for which he had no special liking, but it was several years before he was able to get out. He was with the infantry that camped at Oklahoma City the day before the opening, and on leaving the army remained in the city for some time. He was a left-handed scribe, a clever writer, and was in the employ of some of the first newspapers of the city, especially with Frank McMaster.

[Doug Loudenback]

By the way, I must correct what I said ... the Women's Posse republication was not published in 1989. It was published in 1988.

[gen70]

God Bless, Bunky..