Red Dirt to Rockets Space Exhibit

Oklahoma History Center

by Lori Oden 

Oklahoma is, and has been, the home of many individuals associated with the U.S. space program.  On May 25, 2011, the fiftieth anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's proclamation of sending a man to the moon, the Oklahoma History Center opened a new exhibit, "Red Dirt to Rockets."

Astronauts, engineers, support personnel, researchers and more are highlighted through the addition of banners, artifacts, graphics and life-size cutouts.  Some of the featured NASA personalities include Jerry Elliott and Carole Ann McLemore; and a featured artifact is a Mission Control console. 

Accomplishments in aviation are also included in the exhibit expansion, and include artifacts and historical information about Wiley Post and Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb.  Cobb, a pilot, was also involved with the NASA Mercury 7 project.  She was one of the first women to pass all of the tests for space travel. 

Bill Moore, author and aviation historian, released Oklahomans and Space this past May and the History Center museum store has copies available for purchase.

Plan to see this exhibit this summer. The museum is nice and cool this time of year!

Make a Difference and Support Farm Days 

Oklahoma History Center

October 2011

The Oklahoma History Center has developed a unique museum education program called Farm Days to help school-age children gain a basic understanding of the agricultural processes that are so important to Oklahoma's culture and history. This program teaches them about where the food they consume actually comes from.  This is a really fun program for the kids because they learn a lot and they get some hands-on fun doing things like shucking their own corn and learning about old fashioned water pumps. 

The Oklahoma History Center has previously partnered with the Oklahoma Farm Heritage Association to present the Farm Days program to over 2,000 fourth grade students with great success.

If we have available funding, we will be able to to provide this unique museum education program in October, 2011.  With your help, we will be able to provide this unique program and we hope to reach even more school-age kids since the program is now open to private, home-schooled and public school students, many of which have no relationship with or understanding of farming.
 

Please take this opportunity to help the Oklahoma History Center provide the Farm Days program to school-age kids this year.  If you have questions about the program or would like to become a sponsor, please contact Walter Eskridge, Curator of Education, at (405)522-0791 or waltereskridge@okhistory.org.  Your donation should be made to the Friends of the Oklahoma History Center, our 501(c)(3) support organization, and we will be pleased to recognize your support.