progress on the prairie

This one’s for the history, imperialism/colonialism, and religion buffs. Just an interesting fact about Tulsa I heard this evening: 1400 E Skelly Drive used to house the T. L. Osborn museum and ministry. What’s so interesting about this?

Many Tulsans in the 1970s and early 1980s visited the building’s extensive museum of art and cultural artifacts from around the world, collected by ministry founder T.L. Osborn and his wife, the late Daisy Osborn, on their missionary travels.

Sam Osborn, general manager of the ministry and a nephew of T.L. Osborn, said his uncle pioneered mass evangelism crusades in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe that drew crowds of several hundred thousand people to huge outdoor rallies. At that time, it was said of Osborn that he had preached in person to more people than anyone else in the history of Christianity, Sam Osborn said. Since then, others have conducted similar crusades.

The World Museum Art Center occupied 50,000 square feet of the building, with more than 5,000 pieces from more than 100 nations. The collection included more than 250 Renaissance bronze sculptures, about 100 marble sculptures and more than 150 old masters paintings, including one that was 22 feet tall.

Three shrunken human heads from South America, part of the primitive art collection, were a hit with the many school children who toured the museum.

I would have loved to have seen the “primitive art collection”! The Oklahoma Modern blog states,

The concrete complex was built in 1963 by the Osborn Ministries as a museum and “Interstate Temple.” Self-proclaimed minister, T. L. Osborn, and his wife, Daisy, traveled the world as Christian missionaries and collected art and artifacts on their journeys. The unusual La Concha-esque building housed their partial collection and distracted motorists touring along the new Skelly Bypass (aka I-44).

Detail of stylized Jesus holding lamb.The exterior of the building is adorned with maps of the world’s continents. In its heyday there was a good deal more- a giant outline of Jesus was on one wall. The inscription below it, “REX,” provided one of my earliest Latin lessons when I asked Dad why that building had my name on it. There was also a large globe that once stood out front as a visual reminder of the museum’s name.

Tulsa youngsters were treated to field trips to the museum throughout the Sixties and Seventies. Exhibits included paintings, large sculptures, a collection of music boxes, even a Rolls Royce. But the shrunken heads were by far the most talked about. Artifacts from native cultures from around the world were a prominent part of the museum. Jackie recalled a distinct “godless heathens” theme to most of the displays of African culture.

Lost Tulsa, featured in the links section, also has an entry about the building/museum.

Fascinated,
Beamish