Oklahoma History Center

The Smithsonian-affiliated Oklahoma History Center displays an astounding diversity of fascinating exhibits covering all facets of Oklahoma history. It also serves as a repository for research and archival materials. The exhibits include everything, from pioneer life and Native American history to cowboys and the Crossroads of Commerce to Oklahomans and Space. The collection also features excellent traveling exhibitions, as well as interactive features that keep children busy.

From its galleries, the center offers stunning views of Capitol Building. You can also explore the Red River Journey, which is a quarter-mile long walking tour that showcases the varied terrain of Oklahoma’s Red River Valley.

Oklahoma History Center (OHC), is the history museum for Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) operates the museum, which is located on an 18-acre plot (7.3 ha). It is across the street from Governor’s Mansion at 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive. It is dedicated to Oklahoma’s history, from the ancient Native American tribes to the present. [citation needed] In 1893, members of the Territorial Press Association[1] founded the OHC in Guthrie (Oklahoma Territory), which was then the capital of Oklahoma Territory. After statehood in November 1907, the OHC moved to Oklahoma City. Inasmuch Gallery

The Inasmuch Gallery is located at the south end on the first floor.

The Inasmuch Foundation Gallery has sections on culture and the arts, cultural diversity; Oklahoma images; sports; voice; radio or television; vacuum tubes; Wild West shows. The gallery also houses rotating exhibits about cultural diversity and the art.

ONEOK Gallery

The ONEOK Gallery can be found on the first floor’s north end. The exhibits, which represent all 39 American Indian tribes that are currently associated with Oklahoma and describe the modern Indian experience as a bridge between past and present, feature the following: These exhibits feature artifacts as well as tribal music, photographs of Indian art, oral histories, and oral histories from Oklahoma’s Indian tribes.

The ONEOK Gallery topics are dwellings, Indian lives, languages, living ways, origins and sovereignty as well as spirituality and tribes.

Kerr-McGee Gallery

The Kerr-McGee Gallery can be found on the third floor’s south end. This gallery features items from an 1830s riverboat excavated from Red River, Oklahoma’s entrepreneurial history and a 3-D reconstruction an oil derrick.

Kerr-McGee Gallery sections cover the African American experience, business; military issues; natural resources; oil and gas industry; people; and transport.

Noble Foundation Gallery

On the third floor, the Noble Foundation Gallery can be found at the north end. The state’s development and settlement has been greatly influenced by land runs and lotteries.

The Noble Foundation Gallery sections cover education, farming and ranching, fashions and government and politics; food and cooking; the Dust Bowl; land runs and law and order; urban frontiers and weather.

Exhibits of special significance

Rock & Roll Exhibit – In 2009, Oklahoma History Center hosted “Another hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Exhibit”, a title derived from the lyrics to a song written by Michael Been, an Oklahoma-born musician. [2] The exhibit featured Oklahoma’s rock and roll musicians, radio stations, personalities and venues as well as the fans who have made Oklahoma their home. The exhibit demonstrated how Oklahoma’s influence on music was beyond the facts. They were presented in an innovative way to encourage participation and give visitors a fresh perspective on Oklahoma’s history of rock and rolling. The exhibit was located on the second floor’s extreme north end in the E. L. & Thelma Gaylord gallery. Additional exhibit components could be found in the Noble Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation and Kerr-McGee Galleries. The exhibit was closed in 2011.

Tierra De Mi Familia was opened by the Oklahoma History Center on November 22, 2008. It focuses on the experiences of Oklahoma’s Latino community. This interactive exhibit featured interviews, artifacts and documents as well as photographs, films, music, and film to show the effects of Oklahoma’s state on the lives and livelihoods of Latinos. Two stories were combined in the exhibit: the history of Oklahoma’s Latino immigrants, from territorial days to the present, and the cultural folkways Oklahoma’s Latino residents brought from Central America, Mexico and South America.

The exhibit was closed in 2012.

Oklahoma’s Apollo 11 Moon Rock (and Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock)- Rose Niang–Casey was a graduate student at Phoenix and participated in the “Moon Rock Project”. She was given the task of finding the Oklahoma Apollo 11 Moon Rock and Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock. These were two moon rocks that the Nixon Administration gave to Oklahoma. She found that both of these moon rocks were on display at Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. This is an exception, she said, because most of the unique gifts given to nations and states over the years have been mishandled. [3]

Address: 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma