Gilcrease Museum

Gilcrease Museum, also known as the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, houses the world’s largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West, as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America.

The museum is named for Thomas Gilcrease, an oil man and avid art collector, who began the collection. He deeded the collection, as well as the building and property, to the City of Tulsa in 1958. Since July 1, 2008, Gilcrease Museum has been managed by a public-private partnership of the City of Tulsa and the University of Tulsa. The Helmerich Center for American Research at Gilcrease Museum was added in 2014 at a cost of $14 million to provide a secure archival area where researchers can access any of the more than 100,000 books, documents, maps and unpublished materials that have been acquired by the museum.

Thomas Gilcrease purchased his first oil painting titled ‘Rural Courtship’ by Daniel Ridgway Knight in 1912 for $1,500, but most of his collection was amassed after 1939. The first Gilcrease Museum opened at his oil company headquarters (at that time located in San Antonio, Texas) in 1943.

Wallace Design Collective is providing civil engineering and landscape architectural services for new 83,500 square foot facility that will replace the outdated existing building built in 1949. The new facility will transform the visitor experience and ensure visitors can enjoy more of the museum’s permanent collection alongside traveling exhibitions.

Wallace Design Collective