Will Rogers Memorial Museum
1720 West Will Rogers Blvd., Claremore, Oklahoma 74017
(918) 341-0719 or 1-800-324-9455
Map to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum - CLICK HERE
Open 365 Days a Year: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Admission by voluntary contributions.
Exhibits:
- Will Rogers' artifacts
- Memorabilia
- Saddle collection
- Photographs and manuscripts depicting a career as
• Trick roper
• Vaudeville and Ziegfeld Follies performer
• Movie star
• Radio commentator
• Syndicated newspaper columnist
• Author and philosopher - Rogers family tomb
- Research library and archives
Original art by:
• Charles Russell
• Jo Davidson
• Electra Waggoner
• Wayne Cooper
• Charles Banks Wilson
• Count Tamburini
• And others
Photo by Jim Hartz
Museum Construction
The 16,652-square-foot, eight-gallery museum was built of fossilized limestone quarried nearby. Opened in 1938, the main building was financed by a $200,000 appropriation by the Oklahoma Legislature. The east wing was added in 1982 using additional legislative appropriations. During the 1990-95 period, the entire museum was remodeled with $3 million in private and public funds.
The Site
The museum frames the family tomb in the sunken garden. Spread across the southern horizon is the Tiawah Valley. The twenty-acre museum grounds, purchased by Will Rogers in 1911 for $500 an acre, was his planned retirement home site. Following his untimely death, his widow and children donated the land, along with great parts of the collection.
The Library
The 2,400-square-foot library serves as offices for the staff of the Will Rogers Memorial. Research space also is available for scholars and writers. Included in the library are more than 2,000 volumes by, about or referencing Will Rogers, in addition to texts on Indians, vaudeville, early motion pictures and the 1879-1935 era.
The Archives
The carefully protected archives, the world's largest collection of documents related to Will Rogers, include 18,000 photographs and thousands of original manuscripts, private letters, contracts and personal papers.
Will Rogers Memorial Commission
James L. Hartz, Chairman
Steven W. Turnbo, Vice-Chairman
Paul H. Johnson
Stephen R. Pazzo, Jr.
James K. Rogers
D. R. Deacon Turner, II
Cara Cowan Watts
Will Rogers Memorial Museums
Steven K. Gragert, Director