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WHO WE ARE
Our backstory
The Museum of the Great Plains started with the formation of the Comanche County Historical Society, on December 12, 1952. A grant from The McMahon Foundation in 1958 enabled the organization to begin construction of the museum in the municipally-owned Elmer Thomas Park, adjacent to the McMahon Memorial Auditorium. The Museum of the Great Plains officially opened in 1961.
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The Comanche County Historical Society expanded its purpose and mission, transitioning to the Great Plains Historical Association (1961) and finally the Institute of the Great Plains (1970). The Association began publishing the Great Plains Journal in 1961, which continued until 2014. In 1972, the Museum of the Great Plains became the first facility in Oklahoma to receive accreditation from the American Association of Museums.
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In 1997, through a $2.5 million grant from The McMahon Foundation, the Museum of the Great Plains added 25,000 square feet of gallery space, a new foyer, and a new store. The same areas in the old building became offices, workrooms, a classroom, and research space, and permitted the expansion of collections storage, the library, and archives.
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The Institute of the Great Plains and the City of Lawton jointly operated the facility until January 1998, when the museum reorganized as a municipal trust. Today, the Museum of the Great Plains Authority serves as the governing board. Although a trust of the City of Lawton, the Authority also operates as a 501(c)(3).
In 2003 the Museum of the Great Plains became the first partner, along with Science Museum Oklahoma, in the Oklahoma Museum Network (OMN). This event marked the beginning of the Museum of the Great Plains' association with the Donald W Reynolds Foundation, the grantor behind OMN. The Museum of the Great Plains received a $4.2 million grant from the Reynolds Foundation in 2012. Over the next three years, working with Science Museum of Minnesota, the Museum of the Great Plains remodeled the entire main gallery, and separately the adjacent public areas.
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Today, the Museum of the Great Plains offers traditional exhibit presentation coupled with innovative discovery-based learning activities, as it continues its mission to “Explore the human history of the Great Plains.”