ob L. Blackburn is the first- the digital portal, Gateway to Bborn child to Bob Blackburn, Oklahoma History, everyone has Sr., a World War II veteran and access to millions of searchable Oklahoma Highway patrolman, newspapers, photographs, and and television personality Ida family records. Blackburn, known as Miss Ida In 1998 Blackburn, commonly on Romper Room and later Ida referred to as Dr. Bob, announced B on the show named for her. plans for a new state museum. Blackburn grew up in Edmond, Leading the planning efforts, graduated from Putnam City High construction, and exhibit School, and earned his bachelor’s acquisitions, the Oklahoma degree from Southwestern History Center opened to the Oklahoma State University and public in 2005. An affiliate of the his masters and doctorate degrees Smithsonian and the National in history from Oklahoma State Archives, to date more than three University. million visitors have explored the He joined the Oklahoma 215,000-square-foot Museum Historical Society in 1979 and Research Center. One of his as editor of The Chronicles of last endeavors with OHS was the Oklahoma before being named planning for and announcement of deputy executive director and the Oklahoma Museum of Popular executive director, a position Culture in Tulsa. he held until his retirement in The state’s preeminent historian, 2021. With more than 30 sites Blackburn takes great pride in statewide, the OHS system of sharing Oklahoma’s rich history museums has experienced higher and heritage. He is the authority DR. BOB L. BLACKBURN standards and greater efficiencies for state historical documentaries, OKLAHOMA CITY under his leadership, while the as well as a much sought-after research collections have grown keynote speaker. For decades Dr. exponentially. Today, through Bob has spoken to groups and organizations an average of 85 times per year. He instills in others the importance of understanding all of our history to make the greatest positive impact on the “Dr. Bob Blackburn, as executive Oklahoma of tomorrow. director of the Oklahoma Blackburn says, “We have to Historical Society for more than make sure we embrace all of our history, and not selective parts that two decades, transformed the way serve our particular purposes at the we learn, thus understand and time. The minute we start taking pieces of this puzzle out, I call the appreciate, our state’s history.” state a mosaic really . . . everyone’s story, your story, my story, it’s a little piece of the mosaic. But once CLARK MUSSER you get more pieces of the mosaic in and the farther away you get, ahh, the more clear the picture becomes. The minute you start taking pieces out, because it’s not happy history, it’s not something we necessarily are proud of, you Dr. Bob L. Blackburn, left, can’t connect the dots. You start was presented for induction losing the focus on the real story, by Clark Musser. and then we lose the ability to 3434