Traveling Trunks

Learn about traveling trunks or request a trunk.

Living History

View living history photos or book a program.

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Resources by Period/Topic

Colonial History

Activity
Colonial Day Guide: How to Plan a Colonial Day at Your School

Living History
Colonial-era living histories include a colonial dance instructor, a Revolutionary War soldier, and a Revolutionary War camp follower.

Colonial Agriculture trunk
Learn about life at George Washington’s Mount Vernon home. Topics and hands-on items cover agriculture as well as slavery. This trunk was sponsored by George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
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Colonial Life trunk
This trunk includes hands-on items commonly used during the colonial era along with an in-classroom archaeology kit. General in nature, this trunk is appropriate for hosting your own colonial day in your classroom. This trunk was made possible by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
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Colonial Games and Music trunk
Students can play with the same toys and games with which colonial children played, as well as learn about colonial-era music, instruments, and dance with the items in this trunk. This trunk was made possible by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
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Continental Soldier trunk
Bring the American Revolution to life with a continental soldier’s uniform and materials the soldier may have carried with him. This trunk is sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
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Early Oklahoma

Living History
Early Oklahoma living histories include a 1830s beadwork artist and a buffalo hunter.

Archaeology trunk
Learn about archaeologists and Oklahoma sites through the hands-on tools and activities included in this trunk.
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Okietales Archaeology trunk
This is a smaller version of the Archaeology trunk and includes hands-on tools and activities.
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E-Exhibit
Archaeology in Oklahoma

Crossroads online publication
“Spiro Mounds: A Story of Prehistoric Oklahoma”

Oklahoma Explorers trunk
Learn about early explorers of Oklahoma with flags, trade items, and clothing.
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14 Flags Over Oklahoma trunk
Discover the different nations that claimed present-day Oklahoma as their land. Fourteen different flags and curriculum material are included in this trunk.
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Fur Trade in Oklahoma trunk
Fur samples and trade items included in this trunk help students learn about the importance of the fur trade to Europeans and American Indians.
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Nineteenth-Century Oklahoma

Living History
Nineteenth-century living history programs include a Union soldier, a Confederate soldier, a Civil War laundress, a pioneer woman, a cowboy pioneer, and a deputy US marshal.

Civil War in Indian Territory trunk
A Civil War soldier’s uniform and items he might have carried help bring the Civil War to life for students.
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E-Exhibit
Cows and Cowhands

Cowboy trunk
Discover what life was like on the long drive for cowboys through a cowboy’s outfit and items he might have carried.
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Okietales Cowboy trunk
This trunk is a smaller version of the cowboy trunk with trade books appropriate for younger students.
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Crossroads online publication
“‘Anything You Can Do’: American Cowgirl Lucille Mulhall”
“True West: Cowboy Culture and ‘Pistol Pete’ Frank Eaton”

One-Room Schoolhouse trunk
Learn about going to school in a one-room schoolhouse during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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E-Exhibit
Oklahoma Education

Activity
Plan a Pioneer Day at Your School

Pioneer Life trunk
Learn about Oklahoma land runs and imagine what life was like for families who created new homes on their claims.
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Okietales Pioneer Life trunk
This trunk is a smaller version of the Pioneer Life trunk with trade books about the Oklahoma land runs.
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E-Exhibit
The Opening of Oklahoma

E-Exhibit
Steamboat Heroine

Twentieth-Century Oklahoma

Living History
Twentieth-century living history programs include a Dust Bowl housewife, Harvey Girl, a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), and a World War II nurse.

Dust Bowl and Great Depression trunk
A variety of hands-on items in this trunk help students understand the hard times experienced by those who survived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. This trunk was sponsored by Cox Communications.
View the trunk contents description.

Traveling exhibit
Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry

E-Exhibit
The Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the New Deal in Oklahoma

Crossroads online publication
“Woody Guthrie: The Dust Bowl Balladeer”

Traveling exhibit
Child Labor in Oklahoma: The Photographs of Lewis Hine, 1916–1917

E-Exhibit
Child Labor in Oklahoma: The Photographs of Lewis Hine, 1916–1917

Radio trunk
While learning about radio in the early- to mid-twentieth century, students can record their own radio program using the items in this trunk. This trunk was sponsored by the Kirkpatrick Foundation.
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Oil and Gas trunk
This trunk will help students learn the history and important role of oil and natural gas in Oklahoma’s economy and our daily lives.
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Sherwood Forest film
The 2022 documentary Sherwood Forest follows the story of Samuel Lloyd Noble and the American roughnecks who carried out a lengthy top-secret mission to solve the problem of oil shortages in World War II. From March 1943 to March 1944, Noble and his crews drilled 106 wells in a small oil field in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham, England. Their herculean efforts yielded 3,520,553 barrels of oil, which helped fuel the Normandy Invasion and turn the tide on Hitler’s campaign.

Teachers may request access to screen the film in their classroom. Request access.

E-Exhibits
The 45th Infantry Division
The Oklahoma Century Chest
Oklahomans and the Vietnam War
The USS Oklahoma
World War I and The Art of War: Posters from the Collection of Oscar Jacobson

More Oklahoma Topics

Oklahoma Bingo Activity
Read instructions and download cards.

E-Exhibits
Banking and the Federal Reserve
Government
Oklahomans and Space
The Story of the Capitol
Tenant Farming in Oklahoma

Oklahoma Agriculture trunk
Bring the farm into the classroom with seed and plant samples, farming tools, and agricultural products produced in Oklahoma.
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Oklahomans and Space trunk
Learn about Oklahoma astronauts, the history of the US space program, and outer space with an astronaut suit, model rockets, and other items in this trunk. This trunk was sponsored by internationally-known Oklahoma singer and entertainer Darla Z.
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OkNHD 101 trunk
Learn about bringing Oklahoma National History Day to the classroom.
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Oklahoma Symbols trunk
Through hands-on items and flashcards, students can learn about Oklahoma state symbols.
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Teacher Resources:
Oklahoma state symbols
Printable coloring sheets and activities

Traveling exhibits
Mickey Mantle: Baseball Hero in Black and White
Oklahoma Sports
50 Years of Photojournalism at The Oklahoman
Fundamentals for Preservation of Oklahoma’s Archeological and Historic Properties

People of Oklahoma

African Americans in Oklahoma trunk and pop-up panels
Through hands-on items students can explore the stories of prominent African Americans living in Oklahoma from the Trail of Tears to the present. View trunk contents description.

Traveling exhibits
The Oklahoma History Center offers additional traveling exhibits about African Americans in Oklahoma history.
All-Black Towns of Oklahoma
Thirteen All-Black Towns of Oklahoma
Early Oklahoma: Black Hope/Black Dreams

ArcGIS StoryMaps
All-Black Towns of Oklahoma

E-Exhibits
The African American Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma
African Americans in Oklahoma Before 1954
A Fluid Frontier: Minority and Ethnic Groups and Opportunity in Oklahoma
The Tulsa Race Massacre

Crossroads online publication
“The Good Fight: Oklahoma City Sit-Ins”

Lesson plans
The Curious Case of All-Black Towns
Senate Bill One
Black Wall Street
Riot Versus Massacre
The Tulsa Race Massacre

Coloring Book
We Remember...Before and Beyond: An African American History Coloring Book

American Indian Nations of Oklahoma in the Modern Era trunk
This hands-on trunk includes flags, artwork, and books from twenty-three different tribes, as well as information on all thirty-eight federally recognized tribes of Oklahoma.
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Teacher resource
Tribal Sovereignty Overview

Traveling exhibits
Cherokee Nation: A Portrait of a People
Family Album: Photographs by Pierre Tartoue
Of Influence: Portraits of Cherokee People

Latino History in Oklahoma trunk
This hands-on trunk includes a variety of objects from the many cultures of Latin America, a history examining Latinos in Oklahoma, a collection of individual stories, and a wide array of media from music to documentaries.
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E-Exhibit
Latino History in Oklahoma

Traveling exhibit
Exploring Oklahoma’s Latino(a) History

Migrations and Oklahoma trunk
This trunk explores the concepts of migration through the history of Oklahoma. Along with the hands-on object, there are several inquiry-based lesson plans, and a curriculum guide that includes information on different migrations to Oklahoma, immigration law, outmigration during the Great Depression, and refugees.
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Women of Oklahoma trunk
Learn about the notable women of Oklahoma through activities and items that bring to life not only the stories of Oklahoma women, but how they have shaped the state and the nation.
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Traveling exhibits
Women of Oklahoma
Votes for Women: 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage

E-Exhibit
Women’s Suffrage in Oklahoma

Online exhibit
Votes for Women: 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage