About Us
What is Retro Metro?
Welcome to Retro Metro OKC, a project of the Oklahoma City/County Historical Society. From 2010 until 2024, Retro Metro OKC was a separate 501c3 non-profit. On February 26, 2024, the Retro Metro OKC organization joined the Oklahoma City/County Historical Society.
Retro Metro OKC’s origins go back to 2009 when a group of local historians and history enthusiasts spent the year talking about how to better present Oklahoma City history online in a way that would be both educational and entertaining. The result was Retro Metro OKC, which went live on July 15, 2010.
The goal was to create an online exhibit of thousands of photos and documents relating to our city’s history, culture and heritage. The debut with more than 1,200 such materials, and thanks to a cooperative effort with the Oklahoma Historical Society and other area historical organizations, the collections grew by thousands with the addition of videos, photos and documents.
The group hosted tours of historic sites and talks by those who saw history firsthand.
Retro Metro OKC operated differently from other organizations in that it had no museum, it kept no physical collections, and in most instances the materials displayed remained in private ownership. In a typical situation, our volunteer crews go to a home or business to scan an owner’s collection and the owner participates in the project by sharing information about the photos and documents as they are being scanned. The materials never have to leave an owner’s possession – the owner is simply asked to sign a release that allows for the materials to be displayed online.
The owner of such materials is given a disc of the digitized images and documents – and copies also will be given to the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Metropolitan Library System to ensure they will be preserved for future generations.
Under the auspices of a stronger, bigger combined organization, the mission of Retro Metro OKC remains the same; to make Oklahoma City’s history accessible to everyone to see and learn. Have something to contribute? Know an interesting part of Oklahoma’s history?
Email us at slackmeyer@oklahoman.com
Our Principles
- Members should have a passion and enthusiasm for Oklahoma City history. The group’s purpose is to highlight and bring attention to the history of Oklahoma City, not the historians who interpret the history.
- We are for free and open access to Oklahoma City history in its purest form. We encourage others to openly distribute and republish our images within limitations of copyright laws and owners’ agreements.
- We hope to empower people by providing support and access to historical resources, thereby enabling individuals to tell the story of Oklahoma City through books, films, presentations, and/or other media.
- We wish to work with and assist, and not compete with, other organizations promoting Oklahoma City history.
- We encourage members to volunteer their time and resources to fulfill our mission.
- We will have fun. We will share stories.
Activities
- Identifying caches of photographs and articfacts
- Scanning photographs
- Photographing and describing artifacts
- Collecting artifacts
- Finding secure homes for artifacts
- Promote OKC history at various public events (eg. fairs, festivals, conventions, etc)
- Provide presentations, talks, etc for civic groups and schools
- Establish or enable publishing by group members
- Fundraising: retro t-shirt sales, re-enactment presentations, tours
- Assist fellow local history groups
- Group membership outings
- Book clubs
- Create history videos similar to those done in Tulsa