Dr. Bob Blackburn is a 1969 graduate of Putnam City High School whose love of history was inspired by his English and history teachers. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, where he met his wife Debbie, and completed a master’s (1976) and doctorate (1979) in history at Oklahoma State University. After serving as editor of The Chronicles of Oklahoma starting in 1980, he became executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1999. In that role he planned and oversaw the financing and construction of the 215,000‑square‑foot Oklahoma History Center, a combination museum and research library that opened in 2005. He has authored or co‑authored more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on Oklahoma history, serves on multiple civic boards and committees, and has been inducted into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame and the OSU College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. He and his wife Debbie have one son and live in Oklahoma City.
Dr. Bob Blackburn
Historian and executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society who planned and built the Oklahoma History Center and authored many books on Oklahoma history.
