Tulsa Press Club presents $20,000 gift to OSU-Tulsa

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The Tulsa Press Club presented Oklahoma State University-Tulsa with a $20,000 gift Tuesday night at their annual Headliners reception.

Earlier this fall, the Tulsa Press Club honored best-selling author Michael Wallis as a 2007 Headliner, an award that recognizes outstanding civic, business, professional and industrial leaders of the Tulsa area whose contributions have made them headliners in the community, state and the nation.

Wallis chose to designate the proceeds from the award dinner to benefit the special collections department in OSU-Tulsa’s Library. The department houses his literary manuscripts, personal photographs, correspondence, book and movie promotional materials and the entire Route 66 research collection.

Beth Freeman, director of the OSU-Tulsa Library, said they plan to use the donated funds to digitize portions of Wallis’ unique collection to help make the materials accessible to researchers worldwide.

“Michael’s collection provides important opportunities for future generations who may want to use his research, photos and memorabilia to study historical figures and other aspects of Oklahoma history,” Freeman said. “We hope people all over the world will look to Michael’s research collection here at OSU-Tulsa to learn about Oklahoma’s colorful and distinctive history.”