Exhibits and Programs

The museum education programs includes exhibits, tours, demonstrations, briefings, publications, audio-visual projects, and assorted other public programming. These are all methods of communicating the museum's purpose to the audience.

Currently, there are five exhibit buildings and three outdoor exhibit areas dedicated to the history of Fort Sill and Field Artillery. In addition, there are several special exhibits scattered around post in McNair Hall, Snow Hall, Searby Hall, I-See-O Hall, and Poolaw Hall that reflects specialized subjects within the museum's story line.

Volunteers regularly present tours of the National Historic Landmark Area for school groups, Boy Scouts, organization reunions, and various other groups. Museum staff routinely conduct tours for specialized audiences such as command level staff, visiting dignitaries, university classes, Native Americans, scientists, and others. The latter tours may focus on a broad range of topics relating to the history of Fort Sill and Field Artillery.

In addition, special training sessions on Field Artillery history are given to Officer's Basic and Advanced Classes as a part of the School curriculum. Professional Development programs are also presented on a variety of subjects by the museum staff for specific groups of soldiers and sometimes their spouses. Volunteer training programs are conducted regularly to ensure the development of a knowledgeable auxiliary work force to support the staff.

The all-volunteer, Fort Sill Gun Detachment provides regular loading and firing demonstrations on the parade ground in front of the museum, and participates in special living history events at historic military posts in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Utilizing a reproduction 1841 six-pounder Gun and a twelve-pounder Howitzer, this group of museum volunteers has served as a role model for similar groups in the southwest and has also demonstrated an important link to the past for today's artillery soldiers.

Each year, the museum also sponsors a number of educational programs and special events. These living history events are designed to provide interpretation of the military, civilian, and Native American skills and lifestyles related to nineteenth-century Fort Sill. Thousands of spectators and participants come face to face with the past in a very realistic setting.

Other educational outreach programs include audiovisual projects and publications. In recent years, the museum has provided major support for, or has directly participated in, the production of over 35 documentaries for educational television: A&E, Discovery, History, PBS, TBS and TNT, as well as the Japanese, British, and Norwegian Broadcasting Networks. These efforts have helped to create a new recognition of the Army's educational role for the public, as well as greatly enhancing the reputation of the museum. Museum staff have served as consultants on many feature films such as "Dances with Wolves", "Windtalkers", "Geronimo" and others.

Nine publications are currently produced by the museum, on subjects such as the history of Sherman House, Buffalo Soldiers, Troop L 7th U.S. Cavalry, Rockets and Missiles of the Field Artillery, and the prehistory of Fort Sill, including how the Medicine Bluffs and the ancient tar pit were formed.