Woody Guthrie Center

The Woody Guthrie Center at 102 East Reconciliation Way in Tulsa's Arts District is the definitive institution dedicated to one of America's greatest songwriters. Opened in 2013, it houses the world's largest collection of Guthrie's personal papers, manuscripts, artwork, and ephemera — over 10,000 items in total, including hand-drawn illustrations, song lyrics in his own handwriting, letters, and personal photographs. The collection was donated by the Guthrie family and the Woody Guthrie Foundation.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma, on July 14, 1912, and became the most influential American folk songwriter of the twentieth century. A Dust Bowl troubadour whose songs — "This Land Is Your Land", "Pastures of Plenty", "Do Re Mi" — gave voice to working people during the Great Depression and beyond. His guitar famously bore the sticker: "This Machine Kills Fascists." He drifted from Oklahoma through California and into New York's Greenwich Village folk scene, influencing Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, and virtually every folk and protest musician who followed.

The permanent exhibition traces Guthrie's life from his Oklahoma childhood through the Depression years, his radical politics, his time in New York, and his slow decline from Huntington's disease — the same illness that had claimed his mother. Alongside the Guthrie archive, the centre also houses the Bob Dylan Archive — an extraordinary pairing of two of American music's most consequential figures, both with deep Oklahoma and Midwest roots.

The centre is located in Tulsa's Greenwood District — the neighbourhood known as "Black Wall Street" that was devastated by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The museum's placement in this historically significant location adds a layer of meaning to Guthrie's legacy as a voice for social justice.

The Woody Guthrie Center is open Tuesday through Sunday and is one of the finest music museums in the United States. It hosts concerts, educational programmes, and events throughout the year. The Tulsa Arts District around it has grown into a genuine cultural hub, and the Guthrie Center is its anchor institution — a place that takes seriously the idea that folk music and protest art are as important to American culture as any other tradition.