Local History & Special Collections
The library collects local history materials at a research level. Our collection includes some duplicate items that are available for check out, but the bulk of the collection is available for research inside the library.
Collections
Special Collections items online
- Stillwater Public Library Digital Collection on Images of Oklahoma
- United Spanish American War Veterans and Auxiliary, Robert A. Lowry Camp #24, 1926-1971
- 1910 Stillwater City Directory
- 1907 Payne County Atlas
- Stillwater Black History Project
General Stillwater History
- Stillwater High School annuals (nearly complete)
- OSU Redskin annuals (nearly complete)
- Stillwater City Directories (1910, 1922, 1928, various editions for 1930-1945, nearly complete after 1945)
- Stillwater Telephone Directories
- OSU Campus Directories
- Archives for Lions Club
- Archives for Rotary Club
- Archives for Stillwater Woman's Club
- 1905 Payne County Atlas
- 1898 to 1908 County Agricultural Census
- Clarence Bassler Newspaper Scrapbooks
- Newspapers on microflm for Stillwater, Perkins, Cushing, Yale and Glencoe
- Stillwater Church histories
Contributing to the Special Collections
Please contact andrea.kane@stillwater.org to discuss donating local materials that might fit in our collection.
Learn about Stillwater
If you are interested in learning about the history of Stillwater, we recommend reading the following titles:
- 976.634 NEW - Stillwater: a Cradle of Oklahoma History by D. Earl Newsom
- 976.6 CUN - Stillwater, Where Oklahoma Began by Robert Cunningham
- 976.6 CUN - Stillwater through the Years by Robert Cunningham
- 976.6 CHA - The Founding of Stillwater, a Case Study in Oklahoma history by Berlin Chapman
You can also take a self-guided walking tour with our Downtown Stillwater Walking Guide.
Resources for further Information:
- Sheerar Museum of Stillwater
- OSU Special Collections & University Archives
- OSU Library Digital Collections
- Payne County Historical Society
Websites for local history:
- OSU Redskin 1910 to 1991
- Daily O'Collegian Archives 1895 to present
- Oklahoma Historical Society Online Newspapers - Very early searchable, full text scans of the Daily Gazette, Stillwater Gazette, Payne County Populist, The Populist and Oklahoma Eagle.
- Payne County Historical Society Review Index - past editions of the PCHS Review are shelved in the Genealogy room.