Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Okla. - Photo Courtesy of Will Rogers Memorial Museum

Will Rogers Memorial Museum
1720 West Will Rogers Blvd.
Claremore, Oklahoma 74017
(918) 341-0719 or 1-800-324-9455

Open 365 Days a Year: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. 
Admission by voluntary contributions.

Nine galleries. Three theaters. Interactive television.
Special children's museum.

Exhibits:

Original art by:

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

Information courtesy of the Will Rogers Memorial Museum, http://www.willrogers.org.