October 9, 2015
Oklahoma History Center Family Tree Opportunities
Oklahoma History Center
As the Oklahoma Historical Society prepares to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma History Center, the development office is kicking off a drive for naming opportunities on the Oklahoma Family Tree. Commemorate your family name on a leaf or leaves of the Oklahoma History Center Family Tree and record your family history in the digital Oklahoma Family History Book. The Family Tree is a beautiful, original wall sculpture made up of gold and silver leaves, which are affixed to the wall around the base of the tree. Each leaf contains three lines of lettering on a 3" X 3" recognition plate. The first line lists the family name; the second line the first name(s), and the last line is the town and/or county. The corresponding family histories will be viewable on a digital format at the base of the tree.

The Oklahoma Family Tree wall is located just outside the Research Center Reading Room in the West Family Wing at the Oklahoma History Center. Each leaf is $1,000 with the option of paying throughout a 2-year pledge period. You may purchase a leaf on your own or you may get your family members together to purchase them. We just want to make sure you are aware of this special opportunity to preserve your family history. All proceeds will go into the Oklahoma History Center Endowment Fund to benefit future generations of Oklahomans. This is a great way for your family to make history and benefit the future at the same time. Contact Shelly Crynes at 405-522-0317 or scrynes@okhistory.org. You may also visit http://www.okhistory.org/support/familytree to purchase leaves today.
Oklahoma Historical Society Celebrates Contributions to Chronicling America's 10 Million Pages
The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) joins the Library of Congress (LOC) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in celebrating a major milestone for Chronicling America, a free, searchable database of historic U.S. newspapers. The Library announced today that more than 10 million pages have been posted to the site, which includes 300,000 historic Oklahoma newspaper pages selected to reflect the state's political, cultural and economic history. 
 
Launched by the LOC and the NEH in 2007, Chronicling America provides enhanced and permanent access to historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922. It is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint effort between the two agencies and partners in 40 states and territories.
 
The NDNP awards grants to entities in each state and territory to identify and digitize historic newspaper content. Awardees receive NEH funding to select and digitize 100,000 pages of historic newspapers published in their states between 1836 and 1922. Uniform technical specifications are provided to ensure consistency of all content, and digital files are transferred to the Library of Congress for long-term management and access. The first awards were made in 2005. Since then, NEH has awarded more than $30 million in support of the project.
 
The Oklahoma Historical Society received the initial NDNP grant in July 2009 and subsequent grants in 2011 and 2013. Through these grants 300,000 historic Oklahoma newspaper pages are available on the Chronicling America website. The OHS was organized in 1893 to collect newspapers. Because of that early start, the statewide organization has more than 95 percent of all newspapers ever printed in Oklahoma, totaling more than 33 million pages in the microfilm collection. Even today, the OHS preserves nearly 200 newspapers every day.  The earliest issues in the collection date to 1844 when the Cherokees published a newspaper with one column in English and one column using Sequoyah's alphabet.
 
"Chronicling America's success in bringing historic Oklahoma newspapers to life was a turning point for the Oklahoma Historical Society's mission to collect, preserve and share the history of the state of Oklahoma," said OHS Director of Research Chad Williams.  "Drawing on our experiences with Chronicling America, the OHS partnered with Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, created by Edith Kinney Gaylord, and the University of North Texas to create the Gateway to Oklahoma History," added Williams.
 
Launched in 2012, the Gateway is a free internet platform similar to Chronicling America. The goal of the Gateway is to make word-searchable all newspapers published in the Twin Territories and the State of Oklahoma from 1844 to 1922. On Oklahoma Statehood Day, November 16, 2015, the one million page mark will be surpassed on the Gateway to Oklahoma History.
 
Visit the Chronicling America website at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.
 
Visit the Gateway to Oklahoma History website at http://gateway.okhistory.org/.
  
Chronicling America facts:
  • Between January and December 2014, the site logged 3.8 million visits and 41.7 million page views;
  • The resource includes more than 285,000 pages in almost 100 non-English newspapers (French, German, Italian and Spanish);
  • More than 250 Recommended Topics pages have been created, offering a gateway to exploration for users at any level. Topics include presidential assassinations, historic events such as the sinking of the Titanic, inventions and famous individuals such as the Wright Brothers, and cultural or offbeat subjects such as fashion trends, ping-pong and world's fairs;
  • NEH has awarded a total of more than $30 million in grants to 40 partner institutions to contribute to Chronicling America, listed at  http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/awards/.
7th Annual Home School Day
Monday, October 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Oklahoma History Center| Oklahoma City, OK
The Oklahoma History Center will host our seventh Annual Home School Day on Monday, October 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Home School Day at the History Center is designed to offer family learners the chance to participate in a program specifically designed for mixed age groups. Activities run throughout the day allowing participants to stop by any time. The museum will offer a hands-on adventure into Oklahoma's past.

Visitors can explore the museum with the help of gallery guides, follow along with our scavenger hunt, take part in hands-on demonstrations, and enjoy a variety of historical interpreters. Visitors will find activities and demonstrations throughout the galleries. Home School Day is designed for family learners and home school groups to come, experience, and do!
No registration is required. The museum offers a number of outdoor picnic areas or you can drop by the Winnie Mae Cafe during your visit for lunch. Best of all, admission to the program is free. For more information on Home School Day please contact us at education@okhistory.org or (405) 522-3602. This program is sponsored in part by SONIC, America's Drive-in.
Oklahoma History Center

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Development Department

Oklahoma Historical Society

800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive

Oklahoma City, OK  73105

The OHS Annual Giving Campaign is off and running. Our goal by June 30, 2016 is $200,000.  Help us exceed our goal by donating today.
Gateway to OK History

Visitor Info  
From the Encyclopedia...

Though the scissor-tailed flycatcher officially became Oklahoma's state bird in 1951, there were other early contenders for that title.  Find out more with this entry.

Nicole Harvey, Editor

nharvey@okhistory.org
(405) 522-5202