The Bob Dylan Archive Heads to Permanent Care of Tulsa University

Over 6,000 of the artist's items are rolling into Oklahoma.

Bob Dylan.
Photo: Courtesy of YouTube.

In an announcement that’s sure to excite fans of the legendary folk singer, the newly-compiled Bob Dylan Archive is coming to the Tulsa University in Oklahoma.

Acquired in conjunction with the George Kaiser Family Foundation, over 6,000 of the artist’s personal items will be rolling into the university’s Helmerich Center for American Research.

The archives, which includes everything from Dylan’s sentimental memorabilia to his personal correspondences, will be transferred to Tulsa from several sources over the next two years, according to a press release on PR Newswire. Already, 1,000 items are said to have made their way to the site.

Item in the Bob Dylan Archive.Photo: Courtesy of the Bob Dylan Archive.

Item in the Bob Dylan Archive.
Photo: Courtesy of the Bob Dylan Archive.

According to the Bob Dylan Archive’s website, which only recently went live, the items “will be made available to scholars and curated for public exhibitions in the near future.”

“It’s going to start anew the way people study Dylan,” Princeton historian Sean Wilentz told the New York Times.

This acquisition, which will be housed near the university’s Woody Guthrie Collection (procured in 2013), is part of an effort on the university’s part to turn the city of Tulsa into “a focal point for scholarly inquiry into American popular music.” If Dylan’s success on the auction block, where song lyric manuscripts have fetched large sums, are any indication, the archive could prove a draw for tourists.

“I’m glad that my archives, which have been collected all these years, have finally found a home and are to be included with the works of Woody Guthrie and especially alongside all the valuable artifacts from the Native American Nations,” said Dylan in a statement. “To me it makes a lot of sense and it’s a great honor.”


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