Oklahoma Fast Facts and Key Resources

• Statehood: 1907

• US territory status: part of Missouri (1812) and Arkansas (1819) territories; became Indian Territory in 1830, then Oklahoma Territory split off in 1890

• Available territorial and state censuses: 1890, 1907

• First federal census: 1860

• Statewide birth and death records begin: 1908

• Marriage records: in county clerks’ offices from county formation

• Public-land state

• Counties: seven originally, 77 today

• Contact for vital records:

Vital Records Section

State Department of Health

1000 NE 10th St.

Box 53551

Oklahoma City, OK 73152

Web Sites

• Access Genealogy: Oklahoma Indian Tribes

<www.accessgenealogy.com/native/oklahoma>

• Cherokee Heritage Center

<www.cherokeeheritage.org>

• Chronicles of Oklahoma

<digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles>

• Civil War in Indian Territory

<rootsweb.ancestry.com/~itcivwar/civilind.htm>

• Cyndi’s List: Oklahoma

<cyndislist.com/ok.htm>

• FamilySearch: Oklahoma Research Outline

<www.familysearch.org/eng/search/rg/guide/oklahoma.asp>

• Oklahoma GenWeb

<www.okgenweb.org>

• Oklahoma History

<www.state.ok.us/osfdocs/stinfo2.html>

• Oklahoma Lawmen and Outlaws

<marti.rootsweb.ancestry.com/law/law.htm>

• University of Oklahoma Indian-Pioneer Papers Collection

<digital.libraries.ou.edu/whc/pioneer>

Resources

• 1890 Cherokee Nation Census CD by Barbara L. Benge (Heritage Books)

• Guide to the Historical Records of Oklahoma, revised edition, by Bradford Koplowitz (Heritage Books)

• Guide to Manuscripts in the Western History Collections of the University of Oklahoma by Kristine L. Southwell (University of Oklahoma Press)

• Historical Atlas of Oklahoma by Charles Robert Coins (University of Oklahoma Press)

• Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries by Arrell Morgan Gibson (University of Oklahoma Press)

• The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 by Stan Hoig (Oklahoma Historical Society)

• Oklahoma: The Land and Its People by Kenny Arthur Franks (University of Oklahoma Press)

• Oklahoma Place Names by George H. Shirk (University of Oklahoma Press)

• Red Book: American State, County and Town Sources (Ancestry)

• Voices from the Trail of Tears edited by Vicki Rozema (John F. Blair)

Organizations and Archives

• Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico Office

Box 27115, Santa Fe, NM 87502, (505) 438-7400

• Cherokee National Historical Society

Box 515, Tahlequah, OK 74465, (918) 456-6007, <www.powersource.com/heritage>

• Indian Territory Genealogical and Historical Society

John Vaughn Library, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK 74464, (918) 444-3221, <rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okitghs>

• Lawton Public Library Family History Room

110 SW Fourth St., Lawton, OK 73501, (580) 581-3450, <www.cityof.lawton.ok.us/Library/genealogy.htm>

• Oklahoma Genealogical Society

Box 12986, Oklahoma City, OK 73157, <www.okgensoc.org>

• Oklahoma Historical Society

2401 N. Laird Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73105, (405)521-2491, <www.okhistory.org>

• Oklahoma State Archives and Records Management

200 NE 18th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73105, (800) 522-8116, <www.odl.state.ok.us/oar>

• University of Oklahoma Library Western History Collection