The Oklahoma History Center (OHC) is the

history museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

of the state of

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. Located on an plot across the street from the Governor's mansion at 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

, the current museum opened in 2005 and is operated by the

Oklahoma Historical Society The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. ...

(OHS). It focuses on the history of Oklahoma.

Galleries and exhibits

The museum contains several galleries. The Inasmuch Foundation Gallery focuses on culture and the arts; cultural diversity; images of Oklahoma; sports; voice; radio and television; vacuum tubes; and Wild West shows. The ONEOK Gallery contains exhibits and presentations aimed at representing all 39 American Indian tribes currently associated with Oklahoma, describing the modern-day Indian experience as a bridge between the past and the present. The exhibits include artifacts, tribal music, photographic images, Indian art, and oral histories from the Indian tribes of Oklahoma. The Kerr-McGee Gallery includes items from an 1830s riverboat recently excavated from the Red River, examples of Oklahoma's entrepreneurial history, and a 3-D reconstruction of an oil

derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...

. It also includes exhibits and sections on the African American experience; business; military matters; natural resources; the oil and gas industry; people and pathways; and transportation. The Noble Foundation Gallery sections include education; farming and ranching; fashions; government and politics; kitchens; the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) a ...

; land runs; law and order; urban frontiers; and weather. The Gaylord Special Exhibit Gallery contains the

Skylab 4 Skylab 4 (also SL-4 and SLM-3) was the third crewed Skylab mission and placed the third and final crew aboard the first American space station. The mission began on November 16, 1973, with the launch of Gerald P. Carr, Edward Gibson, and Wil ...

command module and various artifacts related to Oklahomans in space, including personal items and flight suits worn by

Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human spa ...

Fred Haise Fred Wallace Haise Jr. ( ; born November 14, 1933) is an American former NASA astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, and a test pilot. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, having f ...

John Herrington John Bennett Herrington (born September 14, 1958, in Chickasaw Nation) is a retired United States Naval Aviator, engineer and former NASA astronaut. In 2002, Herrington became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in spac ...

, Shannon Lucid, and

Stuart Roosa Stuart Allen Roosa (August 16, 1933 – December 12, 1994) was an American aeronautical engineer, smokejumper, United States Air Force pilot, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, who was the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 mission. The missi ...

. Two

moon rock Moon rock or lunar rock is rock originating from Earth's Moon. This includes lunar material collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon, and rock that has been ejected naturally from the Moon's surface and landed on Earth a ...

s, one from

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

and one from

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walke ...

, are also displayed.

Special events

Each year, the Oklahoma History Center hosts the Oklahoma State Level History Day Competition, the second part of a three-stage (district, state, and national) competition called

National History Day National History Day is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland that operates an annual project-based contest for students in grades 6-12. It has affiliates in all fifty states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, American Sam ...

. Middle- and high school students can enter documentaries, historical papers, websites, exhibit boards, or performances on a topic that the students choose that relate to each year's theme. Students' projects are judged and advance to the national competition if they place first or second in their category.

Gallery

File:Arapaho leggings moccasins 1910 OHS.jpg,

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...

leggings and moccasins, ca. 1910 File:Otoe mo moccasins 1880 OHS.jpg, Otoe-Missouria beaded moccasins, ca. 1880 File:Shawnee NAC altar cloth OHS.jpg,

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Native American Church The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. Th ...

altar cloth File:Standard Oil Tank Truck.jpg,

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

tank truck File:Turner Turnpike display, OK History Center.jpg,

Turner Turnpike The Turner Turnpike is a toll road in central Oklahoma, connecting its two largest cities, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Authorized by the Oklahoma Legislature in 1947 and opened in May 1953, it is the oldest of the state's eleven turnpikes.Everet ...

display File:Color TV Camera, WKY-TV.jpg, Early color TV camera, WKY-TV File:Fountain, Oklahoma History Center.jpg, Fountain on OHS ground using native stones

References

External links

Official website

Oklahoma Historical Society

TravelOK.com: Oklahoma History Center - info, photos, and video
— ''official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma''. {{authority control History museums in Oklahoma Museums in Oklahoma City Native American museums in Oklahoma Native Americans in Oklahoma City History centers Museums established in 2005 History of Oklahoma Oklahoma Historical Society