Gilcrease Museum facts for kids
Gilcrease Museum main entrance
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| Former name | Gilcrease Institute |
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| Established | 1943 |
| Location | Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Type | Art Museum |
| Founder | Thomas Gilcrease |
| Owner | City of Tulsa |
The Gilcrease Museum is a fantastic place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It holds one of the world's biggest collections of art and artifacts from the American West. You can also find amazing pieces from Central America and South America here.
The museum is named after Thomas Gilcrease. He was an oil businessman who loved collecting art. He started this huge collection himself! In 1958, he gave his entire collection, the museum building, and the land to the City of Tulsa. Since 2008, the museum has been run by the City of Tulsa and the University of Tulsa working together. The Helmerich Center for American Research was added in 2014. It's a special, safe place where researchers can study over 100,000 books, documents, and maps from the museum's collection.
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The Museum's Story
Thomas Gilcrease grew up in what is now eastern Oklahoma. He was part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Around 1900, the government gave land to individual American Indian tribal members. Thomas received 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land near Tulsa. This land later became part of a huge oil field called the Glenn Pool Oil Reserve.
Thomas Gilcrease was a very smart businessman. In 1922, he started the Gilcrease Oil Company. He quickly made a lot of money and expanded his land. He traveled to Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Visiting European museums inspired him to start his own collection. He was proud of his American Indian heritage. He also loved the history of the American West. These interests became the main focus of his collection.
Thomas bought his first painting, Rural Courtship, in 1912. But he collected most of his art after 1939. The first Gilcrease Museum opened in 1943 in San Antonio, Texas. A few years later, he moved his oil company and his growing collection back to Tulsa. He opened a gallery for the public on his Tulsa estate in 1949.
Gilcrease collected art when not many people were interested in the American West. This helped his collection grow very quickly. In the early 1950s, he bought many artworks, artifacts, and documents. But then oil prices dropped, making it hard for him to afford new purchases. He offered to sell his whole collection to keep it together. In 1954, people in Tulsa worried the museum might leave. So, a group of citizens organized a vote. Tulsa voters agreed to pay Gilcrease's debts, keeping the collection in the city.
Thomas Gilcrease then gave his collection to the City of Tulsa in 1955. In 1958, the Gilcrease Foundation gave the museum buildings and land to the city. Thomas also promised money from his oil properties to help the museum. He continued to fund archaeological digs and buy new items until he passed away in 1962. He left all his final collections to the museum.
Many famous American artists have their work at Gilcrease Museum. You can see paintings by Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, Thomas Moran, and Joseph Henry Sharp. Works by Charles Marion Russell, Alexandre Hogue, and John James Audubon are also on display.
Thomas Gilcrease believed that art could tell the story of the American West. He also thought that painting, sculpture, and other art forms could show the history of Native Americans. He supported many Native American artists of his time. He bought over 500 paintings by 20th-century Native American artists alone.
The museum has a special, long-term exhibit called Enduring Spirit: Native American Artistic Traditions. This exhibit shows off the museum's strong collection of Native American art. It gives a full picture of these amazing artistic traditions.
Today, the museum owns about 10,000 pieces of art. This includes 18 of the 22 bronze sculptures made by Frederic Remington. Since 2008, the University of Tulsa has helped manage the museum.
Amazing Anthropology Collections
At Gilcrease Museum, the anthropology collections focus on the cultural history of North, Central, and South America. Anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures. The museum has 300,000 artifacts! These include items from prehistoric times and later periods. They cover archaeology and ethnographic materials. These come from Native American, Hispanic, pre-Columbian, and Anglo-American cultures.
These different items help tell the story of the many people and cultures that shaped the Americas. The archaeological collections are especially important. They include items from the Mississippi valley region (like Illinois and Arkansas). There are also pieces from the southwestern U.S. (like Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona). And don't forget ancient Mexico!
Gilcrease Museum has one of the most important collections of pre-Columbian projectile points. These are ancient arrow and spear heads. Archaeologists often visit the museum to study them. The museum also has a research area called the Kravis Discovery Center. It has sliding glass shelves for artifacts and a computer system to find pieces. This center also has many "touchable" items for a hands-on experience!
Special Archival Collection
The archival collection at Gilcrease Museum is huge. It has over 100,000 books, manuscripts, documents, and maps. These items date from 1494 all the way to today. Some very special items include:
- A letter signed by Diego Columbus (son of Christopher Columbus) from 1512.
- The Cortez Decree from 1521.
- Copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation (signed by Benjamin Franklin).
- A letter written by Thomas Jefferson on July 1, 1776.
The museum also has many important papers from Cherokee chief John Ross and Choctaw Chief Peter Pitchlynn.
The Helmerich Center for Research
The Helmerich Center for American Research is a special building on the museum grounds. It allows researchers to look at the many rare documents kept at the museum. These items can only be used in the Reading Room. This room is carefully controlled to protect the documents. The documents themselves are stored in a very strong concrete building. This building is designed to protect them from severe weather like tornadoes.
The special hallway connecting the Reading Room to the document storage area was inspired by the "Vasari Corridor" in Florence, Italy. The Helmerich Center also has a Great Hall. This hall is used for events, conferences, and short art displays. The center was finished in 2014. It has 32,000 square feet (2,973 m2) of space and cost about $14 million to build.
Beautiful Gilcrease Gardens
The museum has beautiful themed gardens on 23 of its 460 acres (1.9 km2). These gardens show different gardening styles from four time periods in the American West:
- Pre-Columbian (before Columbus arrived)
- Pioneer (early settlers)
- Colonial (early American colonies)
- Victorian (late 1800s)
There is also a rock garden. Gilcrease is the only art museum known to have these educational gardens all in one place. They are nestled in the Osage Hills. You can arrange special tours of the gardens by appointment.
Future Plans for the Museum
In 2016, voters approved a sales tax to help fund a big improvement project for Gilcrease Museum. The plan changed from expanding the old museum to building a brand new one. This is because updating the old building would have been too expensive. The old building is expected to be taken down in 2022. The new museum is planned to be finished by early 2025. The Helmerich Center, Thomas Gilcrease's house, and his mausoleum on the property will all stay.
See also
