Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Appalachian Oil: Into the Twentieth Century
Session Abstract or Summary
The American petroleum industry originated in Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek valley in 1859. Over time it expanded north, south, then west. Forty two years later, Texas’ Spindletop took the nation’s attention, followed by places in Kansas, Oklahoma, and California. Oil production in the Appalachian basin (western Pennsylvania and New York, eastern and southern Ohio and West Virginia) declined, both in absolute terms, as well as a proportion of U.S. production. By the eve of World War I, Appalachian oil was almost an afterthought amid a flood of newly discovered crude oil. The conflict brought the Appalachian basin back to the center of discussion. Although outproduced by the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast regions, Appalachian crude (also called Pennsylvania Grade oil) had less sulfur and more wax than western crudes. These features helped make better lubricants. Wartime demand for these lubricants, as well as for fuel oil and gasoline renewed the Appalachian industry. Susan Beates focuses on the war as well as the work of public historians who explain events of a century ago. Ihor Bemko looks at the post-war story: how producers and refiners came together after the war to fight for a place in an industry dominated by giant firms (successor companies of the old Standard monopoly, Gulf and Texaco, and even foreign competion from Shell). In 1923, the Appalachian oil community founded the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Association to market the ultimate motor oils.
Presentation #1 Title
Marketing the Ultimate Motor Oils: The Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Association
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
During World War I, Appalachian oil producers worked with the U. S. government’s Petroleum Committee of the Council of National Defense and then the Petroleum War Services Committee (PWSC). Both were chaired by A. C. Bedford, head of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). In 1919, the PWSC reorganized itself into the American Petroleum Institute (API). Dominating the Institute were the successor companies of the old Standard monopoly and other giants, such as Gulf and Texaco. In order to keep the giants at bay, oil producers in the Appalachian basin founded the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Association in 1923. This marketing organization expanded into research, working with Penn State College to try to keep pace with the API’s oil giants. The battle continued through the New Deal, but by World War II, peace returned to the oil business and the API emerged even more powerful. This study utilizes minute books and other materials in the PGCOA collection at the archive of the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, the two major industry journals, National Petroleum News and Oil and Gas Journal, newspapers, and material that has been deposited in smaller oil industry museums in the Appalachian basin.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Ihor J. Bemko is an Associate Professor of History at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph. D. in American history from Texas A&M University, specializing in tewntieth century southern politics. He earned a Master of Public Administration and B.A. degrees at Texas Tech University. He is a Fulbright Scholar and has taught in Ukraine and Poland. He is currently working on a history of the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Association.
Presentation #2 Title
Oil and World War I: Sharing the Story
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Producers of Appalachian crude oil went to extreme measures to increase production from old oil wells and drilled new wells to feed the demand for lubricants and wax to meet Britain’s war time needs. They developed new technologies to capture natural gas and turn it into casing head gasoline to fuel the war. Refiners cranked up production. United Refining Company in Warren, PA and their subsidiary, Elk Refining Company (Charleston, WV) profited from selling vast quantities of wax and lubricants to Britain but saw their profit shrink once the US declared war. So how can a museum explain complex technology and economics to the general public? Drake Well Museum, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, Titusville, PA, has large documentary and artifact collections covering the birth of the industry into the twentieth century. Using these resources, the staff is devoting the next issue of the Oilfield Journal to World War 1 and oil. A temporary exhibit will focus on the issues of propaganda, war time oil production and oil products used to support the fighting and the troops. Through a variety of programming, audiences will be challenged to think about the implications of industrial profit resulting from devastating wars. What were the long term environmental effects of this early twentieth century technological push to increase oil production? Does any of this historical story matter today?
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Susan J. Beates received her B. A. in History and Folk-Arts and her M.A. in Public History from West Virginia University with an emphasis on the History of Technology. She worked for the West Virginia & Regional History Collection on the NEH funded West Virginia Newspaper Project then moved to Pennsylvania. She has been the Curator at Drake Well Museum, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, Titusville, PA, for seventeen years.
Marketing the Ultimate Motor Oils: The Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Association
During World War I, Appalachian oil producers worked with the U. S. government’s Petroleum Committee of the Council of National Defense and then the Petroleum War Services Committee (PWSC). Both were chaired by A. C. Bedford, head of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). In 1919, the PWSC reorganized itself into the American Petroleum Institute (API). Dominating the Institute were the successor companies of the old Standard monopoly and other giants, such as Gulf and Texaco. In order to keep the giants at bay, oil producers in the Appalachian basin founded the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Association in 1923. This marketing organization expanded into research, working with Penn State College to try to keep pace with the API’s oil giants. The battle continued through the New Deal, but by World War II, peace returned to the oil business and the API emerged even more powerful. This study utilizes minute books and other materials in the PGCOA collection at the archive of the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, the two major industry journals, National Petroleum News and Oil and Gas Journal, newspapers, and material that has been deposited in smaller oil industry museums in the Appalachian basin.
