Three Rivers Museum among top five 'True Western Museums of 2022'

Cathy Spaulding, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.
·2 min read

Aug. 13—Three Rivers Museum is getting some national media exposure as a "true" Western museum.

"True West" magazine named Three Rivers among its top five "True Western Museums of 2022" in its September issue, which hit news stands earlier this week.

"It's exciting," museum executive director Angie Rush said. "We're a little museum, but we're getting our name out there. And it's perfect for the Muskogee 150th Anniversary."

The article named Oklahoma City's National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum as the nation's top True Western Museum, and put Three Rivers in fifth place.

"Oklahoma is such fertile ground for Old West history, especially law enforcement and outlaws," magazine editor Bob Boze Bell said in a media release. "The Three Rivers Museum is using exciting new technologies to tell the stories of those people and times."

Part of the "True West" article praised Three Rivers' exhibit on early law enforcement, as well as the annual Bass Reeves Western History Conference."

The section reads as follows:

"'Then Came the Law,' an exhibit focused on the early law enforcement history of Muskogee and Indian Territory, features original artifacts, historical photographs, interactive elements and an audiovisual presentation on law enforcement legends Bass Reeves and James Franklin 'Bud' Ledbetter. This exhibit will have further enhancement during 2022 and in future years. Visitors can now learn more about law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the Muskogee area by using a new digital interactive program that incorporates their stories."

Rush said the Muskogee area was home to most of the U.S. Marshals, "and a majority of the outlaws."

"And so, because of people like Bass Reeves and Bud Ledbetter and Marshall Tolbert and many more, they were able to clean up Indian Territory," she said. "Without our exhibit and our history and heritage, we would not have made it to the Top Five."

Muskogee Tourism nominated the museum for the honor, Rush said.

Bell was a main speaker at a recent Bass Reeves conference held in July, she said, recalling that Bell seemed very impressed when he visited the museum.

"We loved meeting him, we loved having him here, and we had no clue that he was nominating us for this award," Rush said. "He was very impressed that, even though you walk in the door you don't realize it's such a big museum. When he saw the whole museum, he was just ecstatic. People don't know what they get until they get back here."

This is the 17th year True West has presented the annual award. Editors base their selection on exhibits, multi-media, online accessibility, events, and promotion of historic/cultural resources.