He had originally purchased the land the Memorial occupies today in 1911, a plot containing 20 acres (8.1 ha) that overlooks the Tiawah Valley, as a site for his retirement home.

Will's widow Betty donated the property in 1937, during the Great Depression, to the state of Oklahoma as the site of a memorial to her husband.

She also donated all of Will's papers and many personal effects as the core of the memorial's archives on Rogers [2] The Oklahoma legislature appropriated $200,000 for the construction of the museum on the site.

[4] An 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) addition was constructed in 1983 than added almost double the space for a theater, larger gift shop, offices and archives, and more spacious quarters for displaying the collections, grouped by the various arenas of Rogers' life and career.

This area covers 2,400 square feet (220 m2) and holds more than 2000 volumes relevant to Will Rogers, plus other topics such as Indians, genealogy, vaudeville, early motion pictures.

Museum archives also contain an estimated 18,000 photographs, as well as thousands of original manuscripts, private letters, contracts, and personal papers, as well as motion pictures, home movies, and audio tapes.

[6] There was little opposition to the merger, which was unanimously approved by the Joint Appropriations Budget Committees of both the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Senate.