Oklahoma Journeys

Week of May 3, 2009

Oklahoma Historical Society Formed, 1893

You don’t have to look far into the history of Oklahoma to realize that it occupies a unique spot in the history of our country. Early day citizens recognized this as well and within a short time set up an institution to collect, preserve and share the history of our great state. It’s the anniversary of the Oklahoma Historical Society this week on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

The official beginning of Oklahoma as a territory and then a state starts of course with the first land run into the Indian Territory in April of 1889. With that awe inspiring event, Oklahoma the territory and then the state embarked on a truly unique journey. Despite the fact that Oklahoma is one of the youngest states in the country, few other states can match our heritage and place in the annals of the United States. It didn’t take long for people to recognize the unique characteristics of Oklahoma and take steps to collect the surrounding history. To preserve the history of their region the Territorial Press Association at an 1893 meeting in Kingfisher formed the Territorial Historical Society to be housed in the Kingfisher County Courthouse. Initially the group focused on newspapers making it a top priority to maintain, as much as possible, a complete run of all of Oklahoma and Indian Territory publications. As a result of their early work, the Society today has one of the premiere newspaper collections of any state historical facility in the country. OHS has called a number of places home over the years. From the original location in Kingfisher the society moved to Norman then to the basement of the state capital and then in 1930 it relocated to its own building just south of the capital.

The new building was meant to be the permanent home for the Society and was supposed to provide for its needs for the foreseeable future. Of course, no one could predict that the various collections would grow as they did and less than 75 years after moving into that "permanent home," work began on a new historical society building. Located close to the first building and the capital as well, the Oklahoma History Center provides, for the foreseeable future at least, a permanent home for the for the collection, preservation, and sharing of Oklahoma’s history. With the enormous galleries, the History Center is able to share our history. An example of that was the opening last week of the special exhibit, Another Hot Oklahoma Night, in which our curators showcased the history of rock and roll music, musicians, venues, and radio stations around the state from the 1950s to the present. Of course today, the Society is engaged in much more than the preservation of newspapers. Donations and accessions to the Society range from photographs, diaries, personal papers and memorabilia, to large items like trucks, cars and even houses. The Society manages dozens of historic sites around the state in addition to the central location in Oklahoma City.

Almost all the records and collections are open for use by the public, and the Society encourages people to use this most interesting and valuable resource. The Oklahoma History Center is located on NE 23rd Street, just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. It’s a happy birthday to the Oklahoma Historical Society in this month of 1893. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.