Noble County

Verified

1. Band of Perry / Service Battery C, 158th Field Artillery Band, directly identified in a 1937 Perry armory photograph. (strong evidence)
2. Marching bands in Perry parades, represented by the Perry Parades Photograph Collection. The collection description does not identify every band by name. (strong evidence)

Possible leads

3. Perry High School Band, likely documented in Perry yearbooks and the Perry Daily Journal. (moderate evidence)
4. Noble County school bands in Marland, Morrison, Billings, and Red Rock, requiring separate yearbook and newspaper review. (limited evidence)
5. Perry civic or municipal band, possible but not separately verified from the accessible records. (limited evidence)
6. Postwar Perry community or veterans band, possible continuity from the 1937 military band, but not verified. (limited evidence)

Band of Perry / Service Battery C, 158th Field Artillery

The Gateway record describes a 1937 photograph showing Service Battery C, 158th Field Artillery and the band of Perry holding forth at a new armory funded in part by WPA funds. The record places the photograph in Perry, Noble County, and identifies the image as a primary source. (strong evidence) Gateway photograph record

The photograph does not name the director or members, and the record does not establish whether the band was formally municipal, military, National Guard, or a combined civic-service ensemble. The safest description is the one supplied by the archival caption: the band of Perry associated with Service Battery C, 158th Field Artillery. (strong evidence)

Perry parade bands

The Perry Parades Photograph Collection contains 47 items from the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. Its collection description specifically includes marching bands in Perry parades. (strong evidence) Individual images must be reviewed to identify dates, uniforms, instruments, organizations, and people. Collection

Perry school bands

Perry High School is a major follow-up target. The Perry Daily Journal is available for the late twentieth century, and school yearbooks are cataloged through public yearbook services. (moderate evidence) No specific Perry High band roster or director was extracted in this sources reviewed.

• 1893: Perry was photographed during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet. This is town context, not band evidence. (strong evidence) Perry, Oklahoma Territory photograph
• 1894: The Perry Daily Times was being published. (strong evidence) Perry Daily Times issue
• 1895-1903: The Noble County Sentinel has 402 accessible issues and 2,347 pages. (strong evidence)
• 1900s-1930s: The Perry Parades Photograph Collection documents early twentieth-century Perry parade scenes and includes marching bands. (strong evidence)
• 1910 or later: One Perry Parades photograph is dated approximately 1910 and is connected to the parade collection. (strong evidence) Example parade photograph
• 1937: A photograph directly identifies the “band of Perry” with Service Battery C, 158th Field Artillery at the Perry armory. (strong evidence)
• 1946 onward: The Perry Daily Journal begins its current title run. (strong evidence)
• 1964-1999: The Perry Daily Journal has accessible issues for each year in this period, including 1999. (strong evidence)

No band member was identified by name in the accessible evidence reviewed for this sources reviewed. (strong evidence) The 1937 photograph may support person-level identification if the original image, related armory records, military rosters, or newspaper coverage are located. (moderate evidence)

No pre-2000 director or bandmaster was verified. (strong evidence) The 1937 record names the band context but not its leader. (strong evidence)

Perry High School is the principal school-band target. Additional targets include Marland High School, Morrison High School, Billings High School, Red Rock schools, and rural school districts that may have participated in Perry parades. (moderate evidence)

The Perry Daily Journal's year-by-year holdings from 1964 through 1999 provide a strong route for finding school-band concerts, football performances, contest results, directors, senior rosters, and photographs. (strong evidence) Browse Perry Daily Journal dates

Perry parade photographs establish public marching-band activity, but the available collection description does not identify a separate municipal band organization. (strong evidence) A named Perry civic or community band before 2000 remains unverified. (moderate evidence)

The 1937 photograph is direct evidence of military-associated band activity in Perry. The record links the ensemble to Service Battery C, 158th Field Artillery and the Perry armory. (strong evidence)

No separate veterans, American Legion, VFW, fraternal, police, or fire band was verified. These should be searched in the Perry Daily Journal and Noble County Sentinel. (moderate evidence)

The located Perry parade records include community public-life imagery, but no qualifying African American, Indigenous, or other separately identified community band was verified in the sources reviewed. (strong evidence) The 1910-era parade record should be reviewed carefully for racialized organization names, school groups, and community units, while avoiding assumptions based solely on appearance. (strong evidence)

The Perry parade collection may contain youth, school, and girls' units, but no such ensemble was identified by name in the records reviewed. (moderate evidence) Perry-area yearbooks and late twentieth-century newspapers are the priority sources for extracting this evidence.

Perry's early parade tradition is directly documented through the 47-item Perry Parades Photograph Collection, which includes marching bands. (strong evidence) The 1937 armory photograph documents the band of Perry in a military and civic setting. (strong evidence)

No specific pre-2000 concert program, contest result, parade date involving a named school band, or festival roster was extracted in this sources reviewed. (strong evidence)

The Perry armory is a verified venue associated with the 1937 band photograph. (strong evidence) School auditoriums, football stadiums, downtown parade routes, civic halls, and veterans facilities are likely additional venues, but require direct documentation. (moderate evidence)

The Noble County Sentinel provides early Perry-area newspaper coverage from 1895-1903, with 402 issues and 2,347 pages. (strong evidence)

The Perry Daily Journal provides 14,027 issues and 144,850 pages, with accessible date coverage from 1964 through 2011 and complete annual entries for 1964-1999 in the catalog index. (strong evidence)

The Perry Parades Photograph Collection, Gateway photograph records, and Noble County yearbook catalogs together provide a strong research base for connecting early public-band imagery to school and adult participation. (strong evidence)

• Strong evidence: the 1937 Perry military-band photograph; existence and scope of the Perry Parades Photograph Collection; newspaper coverage and date ranges.
• Moderate evidence: likely school-band and parade continuity beyond the directly identified images.
• Limited evidence: any unverified founding date, director, roster, repertoire, or claim that a band was municipal rather than military or civic.

Noble County is a significant Oklahoma Musicians research county because Perry has direct, visually documented band history. The 1937 photograph of the band of Perry with Service Battery C, 158th Field Artillery establishes a military-associated ensemble, and the Perry Parades Photograph Collection demonstrates a broader early twentieth-century public marching-band environment. (strong evidence)

The county's newspapers provide the best route to connect these images to names, directors, performances, schools, veterans organizations, and later adult amateur participation. The historical record is promising, but a complete chronology will require detailed review of the photographs, newspapers, and Perry-area yearbooks. (strong evidence)

Uncertain or not found: founding date, director, roster, repertoire, postwar continuity, named school bands outside Perry, contest results, and complete identification of the parade photographs.