Nobel Laureate, poet, a folk-music revivalist with a paradoxical preference for the electric guitar, and a protest songwriter-cum-singer. These are only some of the accolades the legendary Bob Dylan has garnered over the years.
Not surprisingly, numerous books, films, odes and eulogies have been dedicated to the man. The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the latest tribute to Dylan and his works. The centre, with an exhibit space of 29,000 square feet and an archive spread across 5,000 square feet, opened on May 10, 2022. According to the official website, “it serves to educate, motivate and inspire visitors to engage their own capacity as creators.” It further adds, “While the center is anchored by a permanent exhibit on the life and work of Bob Dylan, it also offers additional exhibits, public programs, performances, lectures, and publications, through which it aims to foster a conversation about the role of creativity in our lives.”
Run by the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), which acquired Dylan’s archive in 2016, the Bob Dylan Center will feature “1,00,000 items spanning Dylan’s career, including handwritten manuscripts, notebooks and correspondence; films, videos, photographs and artwork; memorabilia and ephemera; personal documents and effects; unreleased studio and concert recordings; musical instruments; and many other elements.” Some of these include letters from fellow poets and musicians Pete Seeger and The Beatles, a leather jacket he wore at the Newport Folk Festival, 1965, the tambourine that inspired the song “Mr. Tambourine Man”, the notebooks and the guitar from the famous Blood on the Tracks album, and more.
The centre also has a section called the Church Studio Control Room, where aficionados will be able to mix and listen to a variety of Dylan hits—”Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, “Like a Rolling Stone”, and more. Then there’s the Columbia Records Gallery, sponsored by Dylan’s own record label, which explores the “cultural impact” of the maestro’s career and legacy.
The centre was inaugurated with performances from renowned artists such as Patti Smith, Mavis Staples and Elvis Costello. But, what about the man himself? Even though Dylan was not present at the ceremony, he did contribute a 15-foot-tall iron statue of himself to the centre. The statue, showing him in what seems to be a wonderful James Dean/Jack Kerouac imitation from his younger days, now graces the entrance to the museum.
You can find more details on the museum here.
