Red Dust Oklahoma: A Poetic History

Red Dust Oklahoma: A Poetic History describes a “complex, vibrant Oklahoma previously unimagined” through the poetry and poets in Oklahoma from pre-statehood to 1941. Drawing from the Western History Collections’ unexpectedly rich resources about Oklahoma’s poetic past, the exhibition celebrates the achievements of Oklahoma poets, featuring published works and unpublished manuscripts, revealing history rich with authors, editors, and educators whose work shaped the state’s narrative and features themes of national impact. The poetry of Oklahoma through the 1930s evoked the entirety of its landscape from the prairie sky, to the earth, even down to its roots.

The exhibition is curated by Todd Fuller, associate director of OU’s Center for Research Program Development and Enrichment, and Crag Hill, English education coordinator for the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, and is sponsored by the Mark Allen Everett Poetry Series, the OU Libraries, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education.