“Dig Deeper” pages on this website provide in-depth information about Stillwater history and events.

Payne County Council of Defense World War I
The Council of Defense was established in May of 1917, to increase patriotism and to support the war effort. The organization had a wide range of tasks, including publicity, conservation of food and fuel, military preparedness, and the promotion of Liberty Bonds, war savings stamps, and Red Cross campaigns. The Payne County council was headed by C. L. Burdick and John L. Bishop, who directed a war-bond sales campaign.

In 2009, The Payne County Historical Society gifted the Stillwater History Museum with a series of documents and correspondence from the Payne County Council of Defense.  These documents have been digitized and select documents are available at www.sheerarmuseum.org/council-of-defense/

Guide to Payne County History Online
Digital history resources for Payne County can be found in several online collections.

The Stillwater History Museum and Stillwater Public Library have collections on the Oklahoma Department of Libraries website, Images of Oklahoma as follows:

Stillwater History Museum at the Sheerar, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Associated collections:
Stillwater Chamber of Commerce
Stillwater Safety Council

Stillwater Public Library, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Associated collections:
United Spanish War Veterans and Auxiliary
Stillwater High School Yearbooks
Stillwater Woman’s Club
Stillwater City Directories

Other valuable resources can be found using the Oklahoma State University Digital Collections
There are seventy online collections!

For maps of Payne County, OSU's Oklahoma Digital Maps Collections is a good source. The Oklahoma Digital Maps Collection contains over 9,200 images from the period 1803-1925. Searching Payne County results in 484 items, including plat survey maps from Indian Territory.

Gateway to Oklahoma History Collections by the Oklahoma Historical Society and partners yield 119,463 results searching Payne County; including area newspapers. For the Payne County newspapers.

Collections from Payne County are added to the Digital Public Library of America through various partnerships; the Payne County collection is called OKHub.

Collections continue to be digitized and added to the resources above—and more! Check back as additional links to more resources are added.