The Pinkerton family’s influence on Tulsa spans more than a century. In fact, if it weren’t for James C. Pinkerton’s grandfather and two other men, Tulsa might never have become “The Oil Capital of the World.”
In the early 1900s, wildcatters discovered a huge oilfield in Red Fork, southwest of Tulsa, and the news created a frenzy. At the time, Tulsa was a cattle town with an infrastructure to match, but suddenly the oil boom demanded better transportation across the river than the slow ferry. In 1902, Tulsans rejected a bond issue that would have paid for a bridge, but that didn’t stop three visionary businessmen. They decided to do the job themselves and raised funds to create the first wagon bridge, which opened January 4, 1904. One of those farsighted builders was J.D. Hagler, James Pinkerton’s grandfather. It was an astute move. In November 1905, more oil from the Glenn Pool gushed and set Tulsa on its course for the next century.
With a family history that is entwined with the very roots of the city, it is no surprise that James and Nieta Pinkerton have devoted themselves to Tulsa and its causes. Mr. Pinkerton, who received his undergraduate degree in English from Princeton University and his law degree from the University of Oklahoma, chose to make his life in his hometown, where he had graduated from the venerable Central High School. He joined his father in the firm of Pinkerton & Pinkerton; he also served as a bar examiner, was certified before the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 1979 was chairman of the Board of Bar Examiners. (Additionally, he was an underwriter at Lloyd’s of London.) He and his first wife reared two children in Tulsa: John Pinkerton and Beth Pinkerton Sewell.
Throughout his life, Mr. Pinkerton maintained a strong interest in literature and investments, which for many years included active involvement in TU’s Friends of Finance organization. In fact, James and Nieta Pinkerton were dedicated supporters of The University of Tulsa, and they gave generously to fortify initiatives and programs at both TU and Gilcrease Museum.
TU lost a dear friend when Mr. Pinkerton passed away in 2009, but Nieta has sustained her husband’s interest in the University by establishing the James C. and Nieta M. Pinkerton Endowments for Finance and English. Mrs. Pinkerton asked that the funds not be used for fall or spring tuition, but rather for a wide array of other educational purposes, such as books, supplies, professional development activities, internship expenses, summer tuition and housing, conference registration fees and travel expenses. These funds might, for example, enable students to participate in an academic competition or visit the financial markets in New York City.
In 2013, Nieta Pinkerton fortified her support of TU’s Department of English by making a major gift to fund research in the department. The James and Nieta Pinkerton Research Gift for the Department of English provided funding for research in the area of eighteenth-century literature.
In the following year, Mrs. Pinkerton funded the James and Nieta Pinkerton Conference Gift for the Department of English, which helped cover expenses related to the Society of Early Americanists Biennial Conference, which was organized by TU’s Associate Professor of English, Dr. Laura Stevens.
In 2016, Nieta Pinkerton stepped forward once again to support TU’s Department of English by funding the Pinkerton Graduate Fellowship for International Research, which supports the expenses of graduate students wishing to conduct research and study abroad. In 2017, Mrs. Pinkerton created an endowment fund to provide perpetual support for this fellowship program, naming it The Nieta M. Pinkerton Endowed Graduate Fellowship for International Research in the Department of English.
The University of Tulsa is grateful for the philanthropy of Nieta and James Pinkerton and honored that the Pinkerton name will be associated with academic enrichment activities in the English and finance programs for generations to come.
