The Park City Museum will host Wanted: Dead or Alive, a traveling exhibit from the Oklahoma History Center, from August 3 to September 29, 2024. This photography exhibit features images of some of Oklahoma’s most infamous criminals. Images from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the University of Oklahoma Western History Collections, the National Archives, and the Oklahoma Historical Society include mugshots, crime scene locations and group shots with criminals, and law enforcement officers. They span more than 70 years, starting before statehood in 1907 and reaching into the late 1950s.
While there may be a few familiar names, such as the Doolin and Dalton Gangs and Ma Barker, the exhibit showcases stories that might not be as well known. Visitors will learn about whiskey towns, the Tulsa Central Park Gang, Spencer State Bank, Wanda Bartram, Ralph Roe, and many more. Many of the people featured were born and raised in Oklahoma or moved there and began their lives of crime. Sometimes the stories are as much about the location as the individual. Although many of the tales feature truly despicable characters, others tell of people who temporarily went astray. Some of the accounts include strange twists and turns, and there is even an unsolved mystery.
This traveling exhibit had been made available by the Oklahoma History Center, a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
