Oklahoma Archives and Libraries

United States Oklahoma  Archives and Libraries

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services helpful to Oklahoma genealogical researchers.

Oklahoma Department of Libraries 200 N.E. 18th Street Oklahoma City, OK 73105-3298 Telephone: 405-521-2502, 800-522-8116 Fax: 405-525-7804 Internet: www.odl.state.ok.us

The Oklahoma Department of Libraries includes two areas of particular interest to genealogists: the Oklahoma Room and the State Archives Division. The Oklahoma Room houses printed materials, while the State Archives Division maintains Oklahoma government records and other historical documents.

National Archives Southwest Region (Ft. Worth) 501 West Felix Street, Building 1 Fort Worth, TX 76115-3405 Telephone: 817-831-5620 Fax: 817-551-2034 Internet: http://www.archives.gov/southwest

National Archives—Central Plains Region (Kansas City) 400 West Pershing Road Kansas City, MO 64108 Telephone: 816-268-8000 Internet: http://www.archives.gov/central-plains/

Oklahoma Genealogical Society P.O. Box 12986 Oklahoma City, OK 73157 Internet: www.rootsweb.com/~okgs

Oklahoma Historical Society 800 Nazih Zudhi Drive Oklahoma City, OK 73105 Telephone: 405-522-5225 Fax: 405-521-2492 Internet: www.okhistory.org/research

A guide to family histories at the society is:

Huffman, Mary, comp. Family History: A Bibliography of the Collection in the Oklahoma Historical Society. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: The Society, 1992.

University of Oklahoma Western History Collection 630 Parrington Oval, Room 452 Norman, OK 73019 Telephone: 405-325-3641 Fax: 405-325-2943 Internet: http://libraries.ou.edu

The following lists manuscripts in their collection:

Southwell, Kristine L., comp. Guide to Manuscripts in the Western History Collections of the University of Oklahoma. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. )

An important part of the Western History Collection is titled The Indian-Pioneer Papers which is a collection of interviews done during the Depression. Biographical information is given for Indians as well as persons of all ethnic groups. Those interviewed may have been residents of either the Oklahoma Territory or the Indian Territory. There are about 80,000 entries in 112 volumes in the collection with free online access to both an index and the digitized transcripts of the interviews. Read the biographies and other topics found in the Indian-Pioneer Papers.

Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art 1400 North Gilcrease Museum Road Tulsa, OK 74127-2100 Telephone: 918-596-2700 Fax: 918-596-2700 Internet: www.gilcrease.org

Museum of the Great Plains 601 Ferris Lawton, OK 73507 Telephone: 580-581-3460 Fax: 580-581-3458 Internet: www.museumgreatplains.org

A useful guide to Oklahoma records is:

Koplowitz, Bradford. Guide to the Historical Records of Oklahoma. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1997. .) It contains a survey of records kept in counties and cities through 1920.

To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Oklahoma counties, use the eleven inventories of county archives published by the

Historical Records Survey around 1940. The Family History Library has inventories for: Atoka, Beckham, Cherokee, Cimarron, Haskell, Lincoln, McIntosh, Mayes, Muskogee, Pittsburg, and Pushmataha counties.