Miniatures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum

Not too far up the road from my home is the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore Oklahoma.  Will Rogers was a stage and motion picture actor,vaudeville performer, cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, world traveler and social commentator.  He was born in 1879 and died in a plane crash in 1935.
I had the opportunity to visit the memorial and was surprised to find quite a few miniatures!  There was an entire room of miniature dioramas depicting the life of Will Rogers and also a display of miniature saddles the Will collected during his world travels.
The Dioramas are mostly made from wood and plaster by artist Jo Mora and were created in the 1940's.

The first scene depicts the birthplace of Will Rogers, in Oologah Oklahoma.  The house was affectionately called the white house of the Verdigris River

Here is a photo of the house today.

 

Here is a photo of the actual broadcast depicted above

Here is a photo of the great room in the families California home circa1935

The museum also has a life size recreation of Will's study from his California Ranch

The last scene depicts the wrecked plane were Will and his pilot Wiley Post lost thier lives off the coast of Alaska.

 Apologies in advance for the glare