The Oklahoma History Center (OHC) is the history museum of the state of

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, 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 Guy-wire, guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower ...

. 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 natural factors (severe drought) and hum ...

; 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 human spaceflight, crew aboard the first American space station. The mission began on November 16, 1973, with the launch of Gerald P. Carr, Edwar ...

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

Fred Haise Fred Wallace Haise Jr. ( ; born November 14, 1933) is an American former NASA astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot with the United States Marine Corps Aviation, U.S. Marine Corps and United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force, and a test pilot. He ...

, John Herrington, 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 mis ...

. 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 ...

s, one from

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

and one from

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, ...

, 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. 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 ( ; , ) 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 bands formed t ...

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 a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

Native American Church The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Syncretism, syncretic Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native Americans in the United States, Native American beliefs and eleme ...

altar cloth File:Standard Oil Tank Truck.jpg,

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

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

Turner Turnpike The Turner Turnpike is a controlled-access 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 twelve ...

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

*
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 Oklahoma Historical Society