Pubdate: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 2002 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318 Author: Carrie Coppernoll MUSEUM HELPS VISITORS APPRECIATE MODERN DRUGS GUTHRIE -- Looking through the glass cases at the Oklahoma Frontier Drug Store Museum, the difference between modern medicines and turn-of-the-century tonics is stark. Small brown bottles with peeling labels line the shelves of the Drug Store Museum, along with boxes of hair tonic and baby oils. Patients today aren't likely to find ground cactus or Jamaican ginger root in their pharmacies, but they can find them at 214 W Oklahoma. Museum curator Mark Ekiss has spent a decade collecting the 20,000 artifacts, and he's inventoried and appraised every one of them. About 90 percent are donated from Oklahoma drug stores, he said. Many of the museum artifacts are rare, Ekiss said. Some antiques can't be found in modern pharmacies, including a delicate blue and white urn with gold lettering across the front: "Leeches." "We have a lot of one-of-a-kind artifacts that you won't find any place else," Ekiss said. A box of "Arsenic Complexion Wafers," dated 1900, is the most unusual artifact in the museum, Ekiss said. Women would eat the toxic arsenic wafers to make their cheeks rosy. Cocaine, morphine and laudanum (opium dissolved in alcohol) were sold to pharmacy customers without prescriptions before 1915, Ekiss said. A "Poison Register" documented the men and women who bought these drugs. Patients listed their name, address, "poison" and purpose for buying the drug. One woman listed her reason for buying cocaine as "medical." One man simply wrote "habit." About 7,500 visitors come to the museum each year. Last year, tourists came from all 50 states and 34 foreign countries. Ekiss said he would often have "three-way conversations" -- non-English speaking visitors would speak through an interpreter to ask questions about the museum and the artifacts. Most visitors leave the museum with a new perspective of their prescriptions, Ekiss said. "They can get a better appreciation for modern medicine when they can see how far we've come in 100 years," he said. "It's amazing." The museum is designed to resemble an early 1900s pharmacy. The soda fountain and cases lining the outer walls were typical characteristics of turn-of-the-century pharmacies. Many artifacts are more than 100 years old. Most of the bottles in the collection have cork caps, an important dating tool, Ekiss said. Bottles with cork caps, called "corkers," were used until 1925, when screw-on metal caps became popular. A cracked, black leather saddle bag designed to carry medicine is the oldest item in the museum, dating to 1865. A light brown bottle case on the saddle hugs a couple of glass medicine bottles. A rusting suppository mold, dated to 1867, is another one of the older artifacts, Ekiss said. Prescription slips dated 1904 are some of Ekiss' favorite artifacts. He donated them from the collection he had at Mark's Drug in Guthrie, a pharmacy Ekiss owned before retiring. In addition to the donated bottles and boxes, a Guthrie artist made a one-of-a-kind donation of his own. Fred Olds gave six original paintings to the museum, unpaid and unsolicited. Five of the oil paintings are of prairie scenes and one is of children at a soda fountain. Pam Ekiss, Don's daughter and the only paid museum employee, said Olds approached the museum about donating his work, and the paintings add to the atmosphere of the museum. All the other workers at the museum are volunteers, usually Guthrie residents, pharmacy students or pharmacists, Don Ekiss said. He works about five hours a day, five to six days a week. The museum opened Sept. 13, 1992, and is on the first floor of the two-story Gaffney Building, home of the first Oklahoma pharmacy, Lillie Drug Store. The owner, Foress B. Lillie, came to Oklahoma Territory as part of the land run in 1889. After rushing from the outskirts, Lillie set up a tent and sold medical supplies to pioneers. Before the land run, he had sent boxes of drugs to the depot in Guthrie, so he was ready for business the day after the rush. The spot he chose -- next door to the land office -- proved a profitable location, and Lillie's Drug Store flourished. He later moved in to the Gaffney Building across the street from his make-shift tent pharmacy. Lillie was a founder of the Oklahoma Pharmaceutical Association and the first Oklahoma pharmacist, receiving the No. 1 certificate from the newly formed association. His certificate is on display at the museum. Lillie was also the first secretary of the Oklahoma Board of Pharmacy. He died in 1927. The museum is funded through grants and donations, and museum memberships account for much of the funding. About 300 pharmacists with lifetime memberships pledge $100 a year for 10 years. "It's those pledges and the few grants we've got that have kept our heads above water," Ekiss said. Ekiss is applying for additional grants to buy the parking lot next to the museum to make a tourist area with park benches, fountains and a gazebo. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom