Collections
The Museum of the Red River is home to art and archaeology from around the world and the Oklahoma State Dinosaur, Acrocanthosaurus atokensis.
When the Museum opened in 1975, it focused on preserving material culture from local native American groups. However, that focus soon grew beyond Southeast Oklahoma. By the late 1980s, the collection included material from most of North America, South America, and all of Central America. By the early 2000s, the Museum’s collection had grown to include art from around the world.
During this time, it also acquired a cast skeleton of a large Cretaceous-era predator, Acrocanthosaurus atokensis or Acro. (The original fossil was unearthed less than twenty miles away from the Museum.) As a result, the Museum began collecting natural science specimens, mostly to inform the public’s understanding of Acro.
Today, the Museum has over 33,000 objects from around the world and across time. The bulk of its collections is from the Americas. In fact, it houses one of the world’s most extensive collections of Amazonian featherwork, Southwest ceramics, and Southeast basketry. It also has a significant collection of art from East Asia, West Africa and the Pacific Islands. Several hundred items are added each year, thanks to donors from across the country.
For a more in-depth look at a specific area within collections, click here or on the “explore” button above. Contact Daniel Vick, the Mary Herron Keeper of Collections (collections@motrr.org) for more information. [Pictured: Pastel Painting, Coming to Oklahoma (2018) by Bill Baker (American, b. 1961).]