Bob Dylan fan? Tulsa's museum offers rarely seen and heard look at his iconic career

You’re not alone if you've wondered why the Bob Dylan Center is housed in Tulsa. Dylan wasn’t from the city or even Oklahoma. He didn’t live there, wasn’t born there, didn’t retire there.

But in 2022, a museum housing his personal collections and honoring the singer/songwriter opened in the Tulsa Arts District next to the Woody Guthrie Center and that is the link.

Early on, Dylan was influenced by Woody Guthrie, and it is fitting that these two musicians who left their mark on American music are side by side — so plan to visit both.

The museum came about because in 2016, the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Tulsa purchased Dylan’s collection. George Kaiser is a Tulsa billionaire who, along with the University of Tulsa, established the Woody Guthrie Center in 2013. Dylan was supposedly so impressed with the center, that he sold them his archives to establish a museum in his honor.

Tulsa is also centrally located, so it was a good spot for fans far and near to visit. If you are a Bob Dylan fan it is a must stop. Plan to spend anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours, depending how much you love his work and how much you enjoy reading or listening to every piece.

What you'll find inside the Bob Dylan Center

The center is in an old warehouse and there’s 29,000 feet of exhibition space to wander around and immerse yourself in the past. It’s interactive with a plethora of audio to listen to.

At the entrance, there is a towering 16-foot photo of Dylan, hands tucked in his jeans, gazing off to the side, which sets the tone of the artist.

Dylan is a Minnesota native and this collection spans everything from photos, guitars, song lyrics to personal artifacts and telegrams from celebrities congratulating him on his Grammy awards. There’s a letter from George Harrison congratulating Dylan on one of his albums.

There are a lot of handwritten lyrics, some look like scribbles. His handwriting is tiny, and he was constantly writing song lyrics. He kept notebooks everywhere and it’s cool to see the scratches on paper that became iconic songs. The star of that collection is the blue notebook where there are early drafts of his songs from Blood on the Tracks. You get a sense of his creative process.

The audio is a huge part of this tour and includes a headset when you check in. Aside from songs, you will hear previously unreleased recordings, television interviews and even film performances that were not released until now. There are spots in the museum to sit down and watch clips and even a book nook where you can tuck away and read for a bit. Wear comfortable shoes.

Then there are tangible items like the leather jacket he wore at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he went electric for the first time and the crowd booed him. He crossed over from acoustic folk to rock ‘n’ roll and performed the iconic “Like a Rolling Stone” but it was not well received. Dylan had many confrontations with fans over the years as some rejected his desire to experiment with music. His life was full of experimentation and while he was hurt by rejection early on, he developed a “to hell with you” attitude.

If you enjoy black and white photography, be sure to visit the second floor where you get a rare glimpse into a young Dylan. Ted Russell, a photographer, followed Dylan before he was particularly famous and captured gorgeous, candid moments of him smoking a cigarette, hanging with his girlfriend, strumming the guitar and more. It is a beautiful exhibit and a glimpse into the life of a young aspiring artist. It’s fitting that this is at the end because you see all that the man goes through and then see this boyish figure who has no idea what is in store for him.

There are reproductions of his oil paintings and a letter from when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. A Dylan fanatic would enjoy the richness of this collection because he was elusive, so to see so many snapshots from his past gives you a better sense of the person and the evolution of this iconic American musician.

Want to go?

Where: Bob Dylan Center, 116 E. Reconciliation Way, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Hours: Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday

Tickets: $15 adults; $12 seniors and military with ID; free to ages 17 and younger. Dual admission tickets are $22. Teachers (K-12) with an ID get in free and include a plus one admission (this applies to Woody Guthrie Center, too). Teachers must fill out a form and provide email. Call 918-392-3353. To reserve tickets in advance online go to https://bobdylancenter.com/.

Make it a double and see Woody Guthrie Center

While you are in Tulsa, be sure to stop at the Woody Guthrie Center, which is next door.

Like the Bob Dylan Center, the Woody Guthrie Center has an expansive collection of 10,000 items and is interactive. Guthrie is an Oklahoma native, named after President Woodrow Wilson. He was a musician and activist. He actually wrote more than 3,000 songs but only a fraction were recorded. He had a tragic life. His sister and daughter were killed in unrelated fires, many years apart. His father was severely injured in another fire and his mother was committed to a mental institution.

Aside from chronicling his life, this museum offers you a glimpse of other aspects of history that affected him, such as the Dust Bowl. Like the Bob Dylan Center, there’s a collection of his handwritten lyrics, the most famous being to This Land is Your Land. You’ll also find photos, guitars, interviews and so much more. He died of Huntington’s disease, which also killed his mother.

There is a special exhibit at the Woody Guthrie Center through January 14, 2024: Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic. This is the largest collection of images — more than 50 — from any single Billie Holiday club engagement. The exhibit was developed collaboratively by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition and the Jerry Dantzic Archives. Visiting both museums before January 14 is a great chance to learn about multiple American music legends. Get more information at https://woodyguthriecenter.org/.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Tulsa's Bob Dylan Center a perfect day trip for Springfield fans