Petroleum History Institute

Petroleum History Institute
P.O. Box 165
Oil City, PA 16301-0165

The Institute was founded in 2003 as a not-for-profit organization 501(c)(3). It is the successor to the Drake Well Foundation which in its past was a successor in 1951 to an earlier operating committee formed by the American Petroleum Institute at the Drake Well Museum. The Institute is dedicated to furthering public awareness of the history of the oil industry through research, documentation, archival activities, presentations and other outreach activities.

The Institute publishes an annual journal, Oil-Industry History and reprints old and rare books on the industry.

The Institute holds symposiums on oil history, conducts field trips and prepares guide books.

The bronze sculpture in this Ionic niche in Drake's Memorial Tomb in Titusville, Pa., was rendered by Charles Henry Niehaus in 1901 and is on the register of the Commonwealth Conservation Center.  It is discussed in the Drake's Tomb chapter.  The symbolic figure is titled "The Driller".

This Drake Well Foundation (DWF) information booth was set up in the exhibit hall of the April, 2000, Annual Meeting of The American Association of Petroleum Geologists in New Orleans.  Pictured in the booth are (from left to right), Samuel T. Pees (DWF), Donald Haney (DWF), Betty Bellis (Okla. Geol. Survey), Jane Weber (Okla. Geol. Survey) and Larry Woodfork (DWF).