Dickinson Research Center

From its beginning in 1997, the Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center has served as the library and archives of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Its mission is to preserve, document, and interpret the heritage of the American West for the enrichment of the public by collecting, arranging, describing, making available, and preserving library, photographic, and archival materials related to the West and its social and cultural history.

The Center collects, preserves, and provides access to materials in support of the Museum’s research, educational, curatorial, and exhibition activities. Secondly, it provides reference, research, photographic, and moving image services to both scholarly and general public users. Finally, it manages the institutional records of the Museum.

The Dickinson Research Center is actively pursuing collections of personal papers, business and organizational records, and photographs that reflect and document aspects of Western history, culture, and art. The Center seeks materials in the following five topical areas: Entertainment (Western popular culture), Western Art, Ranching, Native American, and Rodeo.

Archival and photographic collections, which have been processed and are available for use by researchers, are shown in the Finding Aids.

Please call the Center at (405) 478-2250, ext. 276 or 290 to discuss your research needs or to make an appointment to visit. The Research Center is open 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Friday. You can also contact us by
e-mail.

For a recent article about the center, click here.


		Shirley Finding Aid Online Portions of the Glenn D. Shirley Western Americana Collection finding aid can now be viewed online. Click on the link above to see the wealth of resources that is becoming available to researchers. New image and print Acquisitions See examples of the Research Center's 2008 print and image accessions.

• ART
Collections documenting historic and contemporary western painting and sculpture and Native American art.

• HISTORY
Collections dealing with the history of the American West, including family histories, cowboy and ranch life, town life, and material culture.

• NATIVE AMERICANS
Collections, both photographic and manuscript, documenting late 19th century and early 20th century American Indian life and material culture and Native American art.

• PHOTOGRAPHY
Collections that are primarily photographic, documenting early Oklahoma history, more than 75 years of professional rodeo, and American Indian life.

• RODEO
Collections, both manuscript and photographic, dealing with rodeo and the lives and careers of rodeo performers.

• WESTERN POPULAR CULTURE
Collections documenting the lives and careers of film, television, and musical performers and other aspects of popular culture.

See All Finding Aids

		Savior or Spoiler: Teddy Roosevelt as a Third Party Candidate in 1912 As this year's presidential election approaches, explore its similarities and differences with the election of 1912.
		Doubleday's Cowgirls: Women in the Rodeo See the virtual counterpart to this popular traveling exhibit featuring cowgirls as portrayed by prolific rodeo photographer Ralph R. Doubleday.