About OHEHS

The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society (OHEHS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the heritage of higher education in Oklahoma. The Society chronicles the progress of Oklahoma's higher education from territorial days through the present. Annually since 1991 the Society has sponsored the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. In partnership with the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) and the State Regents for Higher Education, the Society established the Archives of Oklahoma Higher Education.

A Tripartite Partnership

The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and the Oklahoma Historical Society share a common goal of developing and maintaining comprehensive higher education archival records and artifact collections. Cultivating a comprehensive archive will facilitate research opportunities for teachers and students of higher education, administrators and policy makers, economic development theorists, philanthropic individuals and organizations, and businesses pursuing relationships with higher education. Part of the work with the archive includes public exhibits and interpretations pertaining to the history and development of higher education in Oklahoma. In the spirit of mutual support and collaboration, the three aforementioned organizations agree to collaborate as equal participants to develop a world-class archival collection.


The Oklahoma History Center

History

The Friends of Old Central was established in 1991 as a non-profit support group to strengthen and enhance, through private funding, the development and maintenance of the exhibits of the Oklahoma Museum of Higher Education. Housed in Old Central, one of the oldest restored higher educational structures in the state, the museum encompassed the history of more than one hundred forty public and private Oklahoma colleges and universities. In 1993, Friends of Old Central was renamed The Friends of the Oklahoma Museum of Higher Education. In May of 2003 the Friends of the Oklahoma Higher Education changed their name to the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society and adopted a new mission: To preserve the history of higher education in Oklahoma and to promote enhanced awareness of higher education's vital role in the social, cultural, and economic development of our state.