University of Wyoming
"©" 2006 University of Wyoming
A pioneer in the crude oil purchasing phase of the petroleum industry, Ralph Otto Dietler was born December 31, 1890 in Denver, Colorado, to Alioyese and Mary Ellen (Needham) Dietler. He was educated in Denver public schools. He married Christabel E. Scoville November 27, 1920, and had one son, Cortlandt S. Dietler. One of his first jobs was as a salesman of railway supplies for the A.T. Herr Supply Company of Denver, where he worked from 1907 to 1912. In 1912, he became a traveling secretary to the vice president of the Colorado and Southern Railway and, in 1916, was offered a similar position in Chicago for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, working there until 1918. Drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in the First World War, he served as sergeant 1st class in the Corps of Railroad Engineers from 1918 to 1919, then mustered out following the armistice and moved back to Denver.
Dietler began his oil industry career in 1919 with the Midwest Refining Company of Denver as a stenographer and private secretary to the director, Henry M. Blackmer. He was promoted to the position of assistant to the president in 1928. When Midwest Refining Company was dissolved, following its purchase by Standard Oil Company of Indiana, Dietler transferred to Tulsa to become vice president of Stanolind Crude Oil Purchasing Company, Indiana Standard’s crude buying affiliate. He served Stanolind as vice president from 1931 to 1940, president from 1940 to 1948, and chairman of the board from 1948 to 1955.
Dietler retired from Stanolind in 1955 to work as a private consultant and independent oil producer. He served on the executive committee of the Kansas-Oklahoma division of the Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association from 1955 to 1956, and he was director of the International Petroleum Exposition held in Tulsa in May, 1959. Hailed as one of the foremost leaders in civic matters in Tulsa, he served on the board of Trustees of Tulsa University for several years and on various committees of the Chamber of Commerce. He was elected to the board of directors and as vice chairman of the Tulsa County chapter of the American Red Cross in 1951 and served as chairman from 1953 to 1956. Ralph O. Dietler died in Tulsa September 19, 1973, at the age of 80.
The Ralph O. Dietler papers document Mr. Dietler’s career and affiliations in the early stages of the crude oil purchasing industry.
Series I, Papers, contains a small amount of biographical information, photographs of him and his wife Christabel at various events along with the discovery well at Lake Basin field in Montana and Standard Oil Company’s Ford Tri-Motor airplane, and memoriam and resolutions granted after his death by various entities in the oil industry. There is also a certificate honoring the memory of Dietler by Richard Nixon, President of the United States, in “recognition of devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country in the Armed Forces of the United States.”
Of special note in this series is the transcript of an interview of Mr. Dietler, conducted by Paul H. Giddens in 1970. The interview gives Dietler’s accounts of his employment by Henry M. Blackmer, a Denver oil magnate who was embroiled in the Teapot Dome scandal. Blackmer, the first president of Midwest Refining Company, chose self-imposed exile in France in 1924 rather than testify in the senate investigations and federal court trials of Albert Fall and Harry Sinclair. He was especially involved in the notorious Continental Trading Company deal. Blackmer paid $60,000 in fines and was purged of the charges of contempt, but was barred re-entry to the U.S. as a citizen. He returned to the States in 1949 to face charges on tax evasion. Because Dietler was Blackmer’s personal secretary, he had first-hand knowledge of Blackmer’s involvement, as well as that of Col. Stewart.
Series II, Oversized Materials, contains large paper items as well as artifacts. There is a scrapbook documenting Dietler’s career, which also contains clippings about Mr. Blackmer, and one about a 1953 Kentucky Derby party the Dietlers attended. There are also medals and service pins, including a WWI Victory Medal given to Dietler in 1920. One unusual item is a white calfskin, signed by Dietler’s co-workers, and given to him in 1955 by the U.S. Crude Oil Men.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are no other known archival collections created by Ralph O. Dietler at the date of processing. For information on Dietler's son, Cortlandt S. Dietler, at the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, see:
The Ralph O. Dietler papers were given to the American Heritage Center in three shipments by his son,
The collection was processed by Ronda Frazier in July 2002.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Ralph O. Dietler papers, 1917-1974, Collection Number 06374, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title. Contains military papers, newspaper clippings, periodicals, photographs, transcripts of papers presented at meetings, and memoriams received by Mrs. Dietler after her husband’s death.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title. Contains large certificates and awards, photographs, scrapbooks, and service pins and medals.