Please join us at the Chisholm Trail Museum on Saturday, May 15, for the Museum’s Tea and Talk at Horizon Hill. The program will be 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Guests will be treated to a variety of traditional teas and snacks on the lawn at Horizon Hill, Territorial Governor A. J. Seay’s home. During the event, Dr. Alyce Webb will speak on the topic of Women and Wild West Shows.  Registration is $15 per person and space is limited.…

Will Rogers Memorial Museum is launching a return of the Thursday Night Lecture Series! Lectures are scheduled for May 20, June 17, July 15, and September 16 in the museum theater. Programs will begin at 7 p.m. and will include time for questions and answers with speakers. John Wooley, who co-hosts RSU-TV’s Film Noir Theatre with Ana Berry, will open Lecture Series on May 20. Wooley will share stories about this season’s Film Noir Theatre, which began in February and…

Will Rogers Memorial Museum is launching a return of the Thursday Night Lecture Series! Lectures are scheduled for May 20, June 17, July 15, and September 16 in the museum theater. Programs will begin at 7 p.m. and will include time for questions and answers with speakers. Mike Martin from Magnolia, Texas, will present “Dust Bowl George’s Boutique Wineshop” on June 17. Martin will share the story of a young man who left Oklahoma for California during the Dust Bowl…

This event has been canceled. Visit the Sod House Museum on Saturday, June 19, at 10 a.m., for a program focusing on its builder, Marshal McCully. Professor Jana Brown of Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) will present McCully’s family history, tracing his genealogy back to the pre–Revolutionary War era. Brown has worked with the Sod House Museum for several years as a volunteer. In the summer of 2019, she began researching the family history of Marshal McCully. The migration of…

Visit the Sod House Museum on Saturday, June 19, at 10 a.m., for the program "Resilience and Transformation: Germans from Russia in Northwestern Oklahoma (1889-1940)" presented by guest speaker Professor Eric Schmaltz of Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU). Professor Schmaltz will provide information on the general migrations and settlements of ethnic Germans from the Russian Empire in the western parts of Oklahoma at the turn of the last century. He will explore the factors that led this group to settle…

Start your summer with a trip to Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center for a special guided tour on the summer solstice, Sunday, June 20. There will be three walks led by archaeologist Dennis Peterson, who has served as archaeologist and site manager at Spiro Mounds for 35 years, will lead guided tours starting at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m. Each walk will include one mile of easy walking and last about two hours. Using his expertise and references to…

Will Rogers Memorial Museum is launching a return of the Thursday Night Lecture Series! Lectures are scheduled for May 20, June 17, July 15, and September 16 in the museum theater. Programs will begin at 7 p.m. and will include time for questions and answers with speakers. The program on July 15 will take a look at the man who returned Will Rogers to Broadway. Our speaker will be Tom Lindley, author and former newsman, who published To the Max:…

Honey Springs Battlefield will host a special presentation about the contributions of the First Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. The program will be held at the Honey Springs Battlefield Visitor Center on Friday, July 23, at 7 p.m. Retired professor and award-winning author Art T. Burton will speak about the soldiers of the First Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment who fought bravely at the Battle of Honey Springs on July 17, 1863. The First Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment…

Will Rogers Memorial Museum is launching a return of the Thursday Night Lecture Series! Lectures are scheduled for May 20, June 17, July 15, and September 16 in the museum theater. Programs will begin at 7 p.m. and will include time for questions and answers with speakers. Jim Bridenstine, whose career in politics paved the way for an appointment as NASA director, will speak on September 16. Bridenstine was a navy aviator and private pilot, and one-time executive director of…

Join the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) and Oklahoma Humanities (OH) on Wednesday, September 22, at 6 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center for a live podcast crossover event. OHS Executive Director Trait Thompson and Dr. Bob Blackburn of the OHS’s A Very OK Podcast and Dr. Sunu Kodumthara of OH’s BrainBox will lead a conversation about growing up in Oklahoma from multiple cultural perspectives, featuring guests Kelli Brooke Haney and Javier Hernandez. This crossover episode will be recorded in front of a live audience.

Prior to the program, DJ Tangerine will perform and a bar will be available with complimentary beer and wine, sponsored by Coop Ale Works. Registration is $10 for OHS members and $15 for nonmembers. A charcuterie box can be purchased for an additional $7. The panelists will be available before the recording, as will related OHS resources. Registration is required, and attendees must be 21 years old or older. Please visit www.okhistory.org/crossover to register.

On Thursday, January 13, from 1 to 3 p.m., the John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick Research Center at the Oklahoma History Center will host a special program presented by Oklahoma Historical Society Executive Director Trait Thompson. Before becoming executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Thompson was the project manager of the Oklahoma Capitol Restoration Project. He will discuss the history of the Oklahoma State Capitol and how this monumental restoration project was achieved. OHS librarians and archivists will also offer…

On Saturday, January 29, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., author and historian Jonita Mullins will present an author’s review of her book The Jefferson Highway in Oklahoma: The Historic Osage Trace (American Heritage, 2016) at the Honey Springs Battlefield Visitor Center. In her book, Mullins recalls some of Oklahoma’s most important history, celebrates some of its most fascinating characters, and presents the story of the old road that was the location of the Battle of Honey Springs near Checotah. She will…

Will Rogers Memorial Museum will have a Thursday Night Lecture Series in the museum theater on Thursday, February 17. The program will begin at 7 p.m. Architect Ted Reeds will give a presentation on the development and design of Art Deco architecture in the city of Tulsa and John Duncan Forsyth (1887–1963) who was the architect of the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. Forsyth was a Scottish-American architect who came to prominence working in the Tulsa area. For more information, please…

Honey Springs Battlefield’s special presentation, “The First Indian Home Guard,” which was originally scheduled to take place at the battlefield’s Visitor Center on Saturday, February 26, at 1 p.m. has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 12, at 1 p.m. to take place at the same location. Dr. Jane Johansson, professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Rogers State University and editor of the book Albert C. Ellithorpe, the First Indian Home Guards, and the Civil War on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier, will speak about the regiment’s unique history in relation to the Civil War in Indian Territory and the Battle of Honey Springs.

“Recruited in Kansas refugee camps in the spring of 1862, the First Indian Home Guard was a unique Civil War regiment,” said Johansson. “Comprised of whites, refugee Muscogee Creeks and Seminoles, and African Creeks, the regiment served in a variety of military operations from 1862–1865. Notable actions that the unit engaged in included Locust Grove, Fort Wayne, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, Honey Springs, and many smaller encounters. This presentation will explore the regiment’s background, its composition, notable personalities, military actions, relations with the federal government, and the postwar era,” Johansson continued.

On Thursday, March 24, the Will Rogers Memorial Museum will have a special panel of guests who were the planners of the Will Rogers Day Parade of 1979. That year, on November 4th, Claremore celebrated the 100th birthday of Will Rogers with a more than 2-hour parade. Guests Dave Burrows, Jerry Webster, Bill Crutcher, who were young Claremore businessmen in the seventies will talk about the 12-month process of planning the parade, which was one of the largest gatherings in…

On Friday, March 25, from 6 to 8 p.m., Preservation Oklahoma will hold a History and Hops event. For this special evening event, June Lester Chubbuck will be making a presentation about the historic Edwards Store and the Butterfield Overland Trail in southeast Oklahoma. The presentation will take place in the Carriage House of the Henry and Anna Overholser Mansion, located at 405 NW 15th St., Oklahoma City. The History and Hops series is a fun way to learn about…

Honey Springs Visitor Center will host Ms. Debra Goodrich on Thursday, April 7, at 7 p.m. for a special presentation about life and career of former Union Army Officer of the Second Indian Home Guard, who fought at the Battle of Honey Springs, John Ritchie. Ms. Debra Goodrich will detail Ritchie’s history beginning with his involvement as an abolitionist in Kansas during the Bleeding Kansas years leading to the Civil War, his involvement as a delegate in two Kansas Constitutional…

The Oklahoma Historical Society will present “Perspectives in History,” the 2022 Oklahoma History Symposium, on Saturday, April 9, at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. This one-day symposium offers scholars, historians, authors, and museum professionals a forum to share their work with history enthusiasts through presentations centered on topics in Oklahoma’s history. Three professional development sessions also will be offered for museum professionals, volunteers, and students. The symposium will feature a book signing and keynote speech by Connie Cronley,…

On Thursday, April 21, Matthew Kerns, author of Texas Jack: America’s First Cowboy (2021), will make a presentation at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum about Texas Jack, one of the first well-known cowboys in America.

On Saturday, July 2, at 10 a.m., the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum will hold a special dedication ceremony on the front lawn of the site to return one of the cannons used in the original Pawnee Bill Wild West Shows to the home of the former Wild West Show entertainer. After more than 70 years in Oklahoma City, the cannon will be unveiled on the front lawn at the historic site in Pawnee. Opening remarks will be delivered by…