7 Top-Rated Museums to Visit in Norman (2024)
If you are looking for the deeper meaning of Norman’s culture, then you should head to the museums Norman has to offer. Here you get to know the cultural, artistic, and vintage aspects of the city.
7 Top-Rated Museums to Visit in Norman
We have gathered some of the best museums in Norman, Oklahoma below where you can spend quality time with your pals as you explore them.
1. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History:
On the grounds of the University of Oklahoma, there is a natural history museum called the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. About 7 million artifacts and exhibits are housed in the museum in 12 collections. Comprising five galleries and exhibits, it boasts about 50,000 square feet (4,600 square meters) of exhibit space and gives visitors a thorough tour of Oklahoma’s natural history. It is one of the biggest university-based natural history museums in the entire world. Some of the notable specimens here include the biggest Apatosaurus skeleton ever discovered. The Cooper Skull, a bison skull discovered in 1994, is North America’s earliest painted artifact. The largest skull of any known land animal measures 3.1 meters in height and is found on the skeleton of the PentaCeratops.
Timings: Monday – closed; Tuesday to Saturday – 9 am to 5 pm; Sunday – 1 pm to 5 pm.
2. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art:
About 20,000 items belong to the permanent holdings at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. Here you can find French Impressionism, American art and sculpture from the twentieth century, traditional and current Native American art, Southwest art, pottery, photographs, conceptual art, Asian art, and designs from the 16th century to the present day are also included in the collection of the museum. In order to expand the museum, the construction started in 2003 and by 2005 it was completed. The museum also contains 32 paintings by Taos society’s members.
The museum acquired the disputed Advancing American Art collection in 1948 and used it as the source for the State Department Collection. This traveling exhibition, which is a component of the “Cultural Marshall Plan,” was developed by the Department’s Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs to showcase the ethnic differences and globalism of the United States in the middle of the 20th century. The display was criticized for portraying an unfavorable view of American life and for having leftist overtones in many of the paintings. After just two years, Congress removed the display in 1947 and gave it to different institutions.
Timings: Monday – closed; Tuesday to Saturday – 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday – 1 pm; 5 pm.
3. National Weather Museum and Science Center:
The National Weather Museum in Norman, Oklahoma was opened in 2016 and features old meteorological equipment, has interactive exhibits, and is a place to find out about science and the climate. The objective was to safeguard the past while highlighting the potential for weather observation, forecasting, and study in the future. Do not miss out this place while you are in Norman, take a walk into this beautifully constructed museum and get an opportunity to discover more about weather and technology.
Timings: Sunday to Friday – closed; Saturday – By reservation only.
4. Jacobson House Native Art Center:
Oscar Brousse Jacobson (1882–1966), a Swedish-born artist, lived in Jacobson House. Together with the Kiowa Five painters, they organized the ground-breaking exhibitions of American Indian fine art in the 1920s. The house is now dedicated to a collection of native artworks and hosts a variety throughout the year cultural exhibitions and events, such as the May Indian Market and The Scandinavian Indian Christmas. It is identified on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s free to enter.
Timings: Tuesday – Friday: 12 pm. to 5 pm. Saturday – Monday: 1 pm. to 5 pm.
5. Norman Historical Museum:
Housed at 14-20 Norman Lindsay Crescent in the Blue Mountains area of Faulconbridge, in the City of Blue Mountains local government area of New South Wales, Australia, the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum is a cultural and historical former residential building and farmlet that is now a popular destination, art museum, and art gallery. Other names for it include Maryville and Springwood. The National Trust of Australia (NSW) owns the property (Community Group). On March 1st, 2002, it was included in the New South Wales State Heritage Register. The stone home is located on a 17-hectare parcel of land that belonged to Australian author and artist Norman Lindsay. The site also has a few smaller structures, including two used as studios for etching and oil painting. Plan a trip to this beautifully built museum with your friends or family.
Timings: Monday and Sunday – closed; Tuesday to Saturday – 11 am to 4 pm.
6. 21c Museum Hotels:
Contemporary art museum and boutique hotel chain 21c Museum Hotels is situated in Louisville. Condé Nast Traveler readers selected the 21c Museum Hotel as one of the top 10 hotels around the world in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In addition, it won the 2012 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Award for Best Hotel in the South. In 2013 Conde Nast Traveler’s annual reader survey ranked the 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati as the top hotel in America and the 11th best hotel worldwide.
The 21c Museum is the only museum in North America devoted to gathering and displaying contemporary works of art from the twenty-first century. Every day of the week, the museum is open for no charge.
You can enjoy the following exhibitions: Creating Identity: Portraiture Today; Imagining Conflict: All’s Fair in Art and War; Hybridity: The Evolution of Species and Spaces in 21st-Century Art, and Tangled Up in You: Connecting, Coexisting, and Conceiving Identity. Other traveling exhibitions have been Constant World: The Work of Jennifer and Kevin McCoy and Marc Swanson: Beginning to See the Light, both of which were organized by the Beall Center for Art and Technology and Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum.
Timings: it is open 24/7.
7. Historical House Museum of Cleveland County:
The Cleveland County Historical Society includes a sizable collection of goods, artwork, photos, papers, textiles, furniture, crafts, and handmade things from the Victorian territorial era. On display in 2,000 square feet of the total 2,400 square feet are 30% of the antiques and 98% of the furniture. All of the house’s rooms—aside from the office and the space for changing exhibits—are filled with relics. The remainder of the collection is kept in storage and rotated every three months. One of Norman’s notable families constructed the home in 1899, and it is still standing on the same plot of land in the original Norman town site. One of the rare remaining unaltered specimens of Victorian Queen Anne architecture in the neighborhood is the house.
From 1850 until 1910, the museum’s furnishings and fittings span this time period. It’s like entering a time machine and going back 100 years to a middle-class home. So, join us and see what it was like to live comfortably in Norman at the turn of the 20th century.
Timings: Open on Wednesday to Saturday – from 11 am to 4pm.
These are some of the best museums that you can find in Norman, Oklahoma. Be sure to visit these museums the next time you visit Norman with your family or friends, where you can enjoy, as well as become knowledgeable about everything these museums have to offer.
