The American Civil War is one of the most studied periods in American history, with over 60,000 books detailing numerous topics from the political saga leading to war to social history exploring the lives of civilians, enslaved, and soldiers in the field. More recently, historians have turned their attention to history for the public and the preservation of the war in an organizational setting. This study expands that literature by exploring the legacy of the Civil War through the evolution of institutional interpretation and memorialization of the Civil War and its aftermath by the Oklahoma Historical Society over the last 125 years.

Across the South, public spaces supported the evolving Lost Cause tradition while asserting power and authority over public memory by creating memorials to the perceived fight for independence from the Union. Historical memory is often linked to intentionally selected people, places, and objects. Over time, public interpretation shifted to explore new themes including the civilian's Civil War, the suffering of refugees, the lives of the enslaved people, the experience of African Americans as soldiers, the homefront, and the war's effect on the Native American population of Indian Territory and beyond.

It is within this larger framework of administrative preservation and continued interpretive change that this study examines the institutional memorialization of the Civil War in Oklahoma by the state historical society through its museums and sites, historical markers, and memorials. Over time, the OHS transformed their analyses of this seminal event to recognize greater diversity in the narrative of the war beyond the Lost Cause by recognizing the war was a multifaceted and transformative event in the development of Indian Territory and later the state of Oklahoma. Throughout its history, the OHS worked to protect historical resources and developed ever changing constructs of the war and Reconstruction for the public. The early conciliatory view, fully adopted by the 1910s, was maintained until significant changes were made in the last decades of the twentieth century to include new voices and legacies in the society's interpretation across the state. The efforts to memorialize the Civil War in Indian Territory culminated with the creation of the Honey Springs Battlefield and established a blueprint for future preservation efforts moving forward.