Enter the Will Rogers Little Museum through a “time tunnel” down halls lined with drawings of prehistoric man animals, past Sequoyah, creator of the Cherokee alphabet and a wagon train. Pause and watch the fish in the huge aquarium and see the bird and wildlife sanctuary.
“This place just goes on and on,” said a visitor to the Claremore Will Rogers Museum with his two youngsters. Especially designed for children, but equally entertaining for adults, the Little Museum features a wall drawn with facades of the childhood days of Will Rogers in Oologah, Indian Territory — a smithy, general store and newspaper. There’s a school room and library, toys, puppet theatre, radio studio, pictures of Will and his family. Old Will Rogers’ movies play continuously in the Will Rogers Theatre.
Interactive terminals allow visitors to learn more about Will Rogers with a touch of the finger.
Probably the most popular is the dressing room behind the “stage door” where there are costumes — then step onto the vaudeville stage for a performance reminiscent of Will Rogers’ days in the Follies.
The Will Rogers Museum in Claremore is open 365 days a year, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., filled with artifacts of the life of the famous cowboy, humorist and most famous actor of his time when he died Aug. 15, 1935 in an Alaskan plane crash. Admission is by donation.