Land Run Books

Land Run Books occupies one of the finest Victorian commercial buildings in Guthrie, Oklahoma's original territorial capital, a city whose entire downtown is a National Historic Landmark. The store was founded in 1991 by a retired Oklahoma Historical Society archivist who recognized that Guthrie's extraordinary history deserved a dedicated literary home. The Land Run collection is unmatched, featuring first-person accounts, historical analyses, and reproductions of original claim documents from the 1889 run that opened the Unassigned Lands to settlement. The genealogy section serves the many Oklahomans tracing their ancestors' paths through the territorial period, and the rare books room houses original territorial-era newspapers, antique maps, and first-edition accounts of early statehood. The ornate pressed-tin ceiling, original wooden floors, and gas-lamp-style lighting transport visitors to the era the store documents. Land Run Books is as much a museum as a bookstore, and a visit is essential for anyone seeking to understand how Oklahoma came to be.