The Manuscripts Division
The Manuscripts Division holds more than 2,000 collections varying in size from a single
item to more than 400 linear feet, and covering American history from the period of discovery
to the present. Types of materials include diaries, journals, literary manuscripts,
business and personal correspondence, business records, scrapbooks, broadsides, posters,
and sound recordings.
Among its outstanding collections are the papers of early Cherokee Indian leaders Stand
Watie and Elias Boudinot; the letters of Patrick J. Hurley, American ambassador to China;
the records of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad; official records of the
Cherokee and Choctaw Nations; and records and memorabilia from the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch
and G. W. "Pawnee Bill" Lillie Wild West Shows.
The Manuscripts Division also preserves more than 5,000 maps of Indian Territory, Oklahoma
Territory, and the entire Trans-Mississippi region. It is also custodian of more than
1,500 sound recordings which include the Doris Duke Indian Oral History Collection,
the Indian-Pioneer Papers, and interviews with leading Oklahomans and Oklahoma pioneers.
Please send questions or comments to the
Western History Collections
Last update: January 23, 2003
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