Bob Dylan’s written at least two songs about Kansas City, and others that mention New York, Kingsport, Colorado, New Orleans, the North Country, California, New Orleans, Mozambique, Laredo, Durango, Brownsville, East Texas and even the Garden of Eden—but who would have guessed that Tulsa, Oklahoma would be home to the first museum dedicated to his life and work?
But there it is, housed in an old paper warehouse in an area that’s becoming the city’s Arts District, and filled with collected and purchased artifacts of his career—about 100,000 items in all.
The Bob Dylan Center, as it’s called, was built by Tulsa billionaire oilman George Kaiser, who bought the Woody Guthrie archives in 2011 and built a Tulsa center dedicated to Guthrie, an Oklahoma native.
Dylan then offered his archives to Kaiser, who bought them in 2016 for an undisclosed sum. They form the heart of the new center. The archives include notebooks, handwritten and typed lyrics, letters, clothing and instruments, along with interactive displays and a jukebox full of Dylan songs selected by Elvis Costello, and a screening room.
Tickets go for $12 adult, $10 senior and under 17 free. A $20 dual ticket includes the Woody Guthrie Center as well.
