First US tribal museum

The Oldest Tribal Museum in the U.S.

By Galen CulverKathryn is the current keeper of thousands of artifacts from Osage tribal past, everyday tools and ceremonial clothing combined.

Also here, thousands of photographs which bridge the gap from buffalo hunting past to oil boom future.

Of the more than two thousand original head right holders in 1906, the museum’s growing collection of photographs includes most of them, who lived through the tumult of the area’s rapid growth through the 1920s.

Red Corn points to an old photograph showing two men sitting together. “These are two brothers right here,” she describes. “And it shows you the difference in the way they’re dressed.”

On a windy May 2nd, 1938 the tribe organized a big parade and picnic on the grounds of the old school and chapel.

They dedicated the first tribal museum that day.

75 years later it’s the oldest tribally owned museum in the United States.Comment:  For more on the Osage Indians, see Docudrama About Hominy Indians and Maria Tallchief Dies.