Centered

A Cody Enterprise Publication | summer 2018

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Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 1
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 Dan Miller’s
COWBOY MUSIC REVUE
presented by the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Dinner & Show

Dinner and Show: $41 + tax june 1 - october 6

Dinner buffet 5:30 p.m., show 6:30 p.m.
Best Value/Combo Ticket: $59.50 + tax
Tour the Center – stay for the dinner show
Six nights a week, Monday - Saturday
Kuyper Dining Pavilion, Center of the West
(use main entrance)

Show Only: $17 + tax tickets: tickets.centerofthewest.org

(Limited Seating) 307-578-7909 | 720 Sheridan Ave
 Letter from William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody..................6
Albert Bierstadt, Witness to a changing West...... 8-11
Monarch of the Skies.......................................... 14-17
Buffalo Bill timeline........................................... 20-23
Buffalo Bill's family home.................................. 24-26
Bury Buffalo Bill in Wyoming...................................28
Special publication of the
Index

Great Equestrian Statue Race............................. 30-35

Buffalo Bill's spurs torched.......................................36 CODY ENTERPRISE
Buffalo Bill Memorial Association...................... 38-39 EDITOR: Amber Peabody
PUBLISHER: John Malmberg
Billboards, Buffalo Bill-style....................................40
DESIGN/PRODUCTION: Cassie Capellen,
Amelia Earhart was here..........................................42 Stephanie Tarbett, John Sides
Buffalo Bill Center of the West timeline............ 46-47 ADVERTISING: Megan Barton,
Jana Cardew, Shannon Severude,
Five museums of the Center............................... 48-49 Sonya Steggall
Center Collection................................................ 50-52 (All images are from the Center of the
West collection unless otherwise noted.)
Plains Indian Museum Powwow......................... 54-56
3101 Big Horn Ave., Cody, WY • 587-2231
Celebrating the Smithsonian....................................57 codyenterprise.com

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 5


Sharing the beauties of the West
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Permit me to introduce myself. I am William F.
Cody, but more than likely, you know me as Buffalo
Bill.
I am fortunate to know the West as few people
– dead or alive – have known it: Its strong charac-
ters, its colorful history, and its vast landscapes will
never be blotted from my mind. All of my life, it has
been my pleasure to show its beauties, its marvels
and its possibilities to those who, under my guid-
ance, saw it for the first time.
I’m about to take the back trail, looking through
the eyes of memory of the West I have known and
loved. It will give me great pleasure to take you
with me.
6 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody,
ca. 1900. P.6.0229
I will share some of my favorite tales about the
buffalo and the pony express and the stagecoach
– I’ll show you some of the humors, as well as the
stirring scenes of the frontier. I’ll try to vary the
pace, for I know that travelers appreciate frequent
changes of scenery.
Now, for Americans – and for all people – the
American West is a priceless possession. If, in fol-
lowing me through some of the exciting scenes of
the old days, your interest is awakened, I should
feel richly repaid.
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
the
Coeur d’Alene
Art Auction
Fine Western &
American Art

The 2018 Coeur d’Alene Art Works featured in the 2018 Auction to be held
at the Grand Sierra Resort are now online.
Auction will be held July 28 Visit our website at www.cdaartauction.com
in Reno, Nevada. tel. 208-772-9009 info@cdaartauction.com
William R. Leigh (1866–1955), Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town – Cody, Wyoming) (detail)
painted circa 1910, oil on canvas, 30 × 40 inches, Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000
[Fig. 1] "The Last of the Buffalo," ca. 1888. Oil on canvas. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Trust Fund Purchase. 2.60
Albert Bierstadt:
Witness to a Changing West
I
By PETER HASSRICK, PhD
n summer 2018, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is
proud to present "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing
West," an extraordinary exhibition of the works of nine-
teenth-century artist Albert Bierstadt [1830-1902], on
view June 8-Sept. 30, 2018. Here, noted western art scholar
Dr. Peter H. Hassrick shares a fascinating tale about this artist.
(Unless otherwise indicated, all paintings are from the hand of
Albert Bierstadt [1830-1902] and are in the collection of the
Buffalo Bill Center of the West.)
Throughout the summer of 1888, William F. “Buffalo Bill”
Cody camped with his Wild West troupe on Staten Island, New
York. It was not unusual for artists of all sorts to wander the
grounds and attend the performances, but that year there was
a particularly distinguished painter frequenting the show. His
name was Albert Bierstadt, perhaps America’s most celebrated
landscape artist.
Bierstadt was there, however, not to refresh the giant land-
scape backdrops that Cody used to surround his arena. Instead,
8 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
he wanted to gain inspiration for a pair of monumental history
paintings he planned to create, each symbolizing the demise of
the bison and the Native cultures of the Plains that depended on
them. The resulting works are both titled "The Last of the Buffalo"
[Fig. 1].
Today, one version graces the walls of the National Gallery
of Art in Washington, DC, and the other belongs to the Buffalo
Bill Center of the West. It is the Center’s Whitney Western Art
Museum’s centerpiece of this first major Bierstadt exhibition and
book in more than a quarter century, "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to
a Changing West."
Going West
Bierstadt [Fig. 2] had first seen the Northern Plains Indians
during his maiden voyage west in 1859. At age 29, he had
recently returned from several years of art studies in Germany
where he concentrated on landscape and figure painting. The
West offered stunning mountain geography and fascinating
indigenous cultures. In his paintings, he relished in combining
grand vistas with Native people like Sioux and
Shoshone Indians. For excitement, he often Saving the buffalo
introduced a buffalo hunt into his pictures as What subsequently began to happen to the
well buffalo with the hide hunters of the 1870s
Bierstadt’s first highly acclaimed canvas – devastating the herds to the point of near
of the period, "Base of the Rocky Mountains, extinction – could be seen in a collateral way
Laramie Peak" [1860, now lost], was such with Native populations. In the late 1860s
a work. Shown at the National Academy of and throughout the 1870s, the Indians were
Design in New York, it was touted as truly relegated to smaller and smaller reservations,
remarkable and “the largest and most elabo- and the slaughter of the bison became com-
rate picture in the exhibition.” It merged three monplace. Bierstadt painted a series of three
elements: western mountain majesty, dramatic seminal narrative oils to tell the story. His 1867
Plains hunters and the frontier’s iconic bison. "Buffalo Trail" [Fig. 4] spoke of the halcyon days
However, subsequent grand-manner of the buffalo as it showed a healthy herd of
paintings like his masterpiece "The Rocky bison crossing the Platte River and arriving in
Mountains, Landers Peak," 1863, attracted a lush meadow of verdant grass. The message
critical censure. Denounced for combining two was regeneration and promise for the future.
powerful fundamentals into one composition, Bierstadt’s "Buffalo Trail: The Impending
Indians and mountains, Bierstadt diverted Storm" followed in 1869, the year the Trans-
from portraying his beloved Indians and forced [Fig. 2] Albert Bierstadt, ca. 1870. continental Railroad was completed, and
himself instead to focus on sublime mountain Photograph by Napoleon Sarony. divided the western buffalo herds in two. In
panoramas like Yosemite, Colorado’s Rockies Albumen silver print. National the painting, the herd is greatly reduced and
and Yellowstone National Park [Fig. 3]. appears to be in great peril. Then in 1876, in
Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian sardonic recognition of the nation’s centen-
In addition, as the Indian Wars developed
during the 1860s, Indians became less and Institution, Washington, DC. Gift nial, he painted a work for a huge, celebratory
less viable as subjects. Rather than picturing of Larry J. West. NPG-2007.23 exhibition in Philadelphia. Instead of exalting
the Native people of the West in a bad light, the country’s illustrious past, however, "Western
Bierstadt turned his artistic attentions to what Kansas" dramatized its gloomy present.
he considered a fitting surrogate – the buffalo. The Plains people In that work, the bison follow in somber procession along a
were a buffalo culture. Everything in their world depended on the darkened stream with an ominous sky in the background. The
bison, from their economic and social structure to their spiritual title was appropriate to the moment too, as the state of Kansas
and political life. It was therefore appropriate for Bierstadt to was the center of the western hide trade. In one year alone,
conflate the two. 1873, nearly a million hides were shipped from its railheads to

[Fig. 3] Geysers in
Yellowstone, ca.
1881. Oil on canvas.
Gift of Townsend B.
Martin. 4.77

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 9

[Fig. 4] "The Buffalo Trail," ca. 1867. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. Gift of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M.
Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815 – 1865. 47.1268
the East to be used as the mechanical belts that drove insatiable
American industry. His final masterpiece, "The Last of the Buffalo"
[Fig. 1], is emblematic of those continuing tragic times. In that
painting, the buffalo and the Indian die together in a heartbreak-
ingly dire pictorial culmination.
In the mid-1880s, Buffalo Bill made his voice heard about
what was happening. He lamented the shoddy treatment of the
Indians by the government and the virtual extinction of the West’s
grandest mammal, the bison. There was a small remnant herd of
buffalo still alive in Yellowstone National Park, and they were be-
ing systematically poached to death. Cody called on Congress and
the American people to rally behind these survivors, and to pass
laws to protect the animals in this unique natural sanctuary.
The Last of the Buffalo
By January 1888, a group of conservation-minded gentle-
men calling themselves the Boone and Crockett Club formed

10 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered


in New York to press for the same measures. Theodore Roos-
evelt was the president of the organization and conservation-
ist George Bird Grinnell, an officer. Roosevelt had a strong
political voice and Grinnell, as chief editor of Forest and
Stream magazine, enjoyed an influential editorial voice.
Bierstadt was a charter member of the club as well and no
doubt wondered what he might do to further the cause. His
solution was to paint those two grand-manner history paint-
ings, "The Last of the Buffalo" [Fig. 1], and bring the issue to
the forefront nationally and internationally through art.
One of the two works was shown at New York’s fashion-
able Union League Club, and then in Paris at the 1889 Sa-
[Fig. 5] "Studies of Bison," ca. 1859. Oil on paper. Gilcrease Mu-
seum, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gift of the Thomas Gilcrease Foundation,
1955. 0126.25
lon, the same year Buffalo Bill took his Wild West to France
in conjunction with the world’s fair, the Exposition Univer-
selle. It received broad press coverage as a result. The other
version was displayed three years later in a London sales
gallery where it commanded $50,000, the largest price ever
paid for an American artwork in the nineteenth century.
The works had made a monumental splash and, given
their powerful theme, helped the club win a victory in
Congress when it passed the Yellowstone Protection Act in
1894, providing legal recourse for Park personnel to handle
poachers in proportionate and summary fashion. The Indians
in Buffalo Bill’s troupe had watched Bierstadt make sketches
of buffalo [Fig. 5] and themselves during the artist’s 1888
Staten Island summer visits. They also saw both versions of
"Last of the Buffalo," first in Paris in 1889 and then again in
London in 1891.
The artist had returned to the theme of his first master-
work, "Base of the Rocky Mountains, Laramie Peak," cel-
ebrating the union in life and death of the three great forces
of the early West – the vast geography, the vibrant Plains
people, and the noble bison.
Comprised of 72 objects, "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a
Changing West" is a joint venture with Gilcrease Museum in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. The exhibition is on display at the Center
of the West, June 8-Sept. 30, 2018, and then at Gilcrease,
Nov. 4, 2018-Feb. 10, 2019
(Recognized as one of the foremost art scholars in the
country today, Dr. Peter Hassrick is a former 20-year Ex-
ecutive Director of the Center of the West and has served
tenures directing the Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute
of Western American Art, the University of Oklahoma’s
Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the Ameri-
can West, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, as well as
working as collections curator at the Amon Carter Museum.
He is currently Director Emeritus and Senior Scholar for the
Center.)
Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 11
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A new exhibit takes flight in the
Draper Natural History Museum

East of Cody, with Heart Mountain as the

backdrop, a golden eagle alights on a
branch. (Moosejaw Bravo Photography)
Monarch of the Skies:
the Golden Eagle in Greater
Yellowstone and the American West
By CHARLES R. PRESTON, PhD and BONNIE

I
LAWRENCE-SMITH
t was truly a dark and stormy night. The storm brought torren-
tial rain, sleet, snow, golf-ball-sized hail and wind – Wyoming-
level wind. It had driven us from the field the afternoon before,
and now we were back to discover the storm’s effects on the
newly-hatched golden eagles we had documented in several nests the
previous week.
The morning was cool and damp, and the sky was still drenched
with gray clouds. The first nest we checked left us worried for the rest
of the nesting population. We scrambled, slipped and scrambled again
up a nearby hill overlooking the nest site. After focusing our powerful
spotting scope on the distant nest, it became clear that the two downy
eagle nestlings we had seen the day before were now missing.
Neither was there any sign of the parents, and a portion of the nest
had broken away from the cliff face. This nest site was particularly
vulnerable to weather because there was only a small rock outcrop to
protect it from above. After observing the nest for a few hours without
detecting any activity, we searched the muddy area below the nest.
Nothing. We presumed the nestlings dead and the nest abandoned for
this breeding season.
We moved on with a growing sense of gloom that matched the sky.
As we approached the next site, we observed one adult eagle flying
just below the clouds nearly a mile away from the nest that had been
home to two eagle nestlings a few days earlier. We placed our scope
several hundred yards away for a good view into it without disturbing
any eagles that might be nearby.
At first, the nest appeared empty. But, as we watched in dread,
we detected a distinct movement at the very back of the nest. Soon,
two white, downy eaglets came into view. They were alive, but looked
weak and a little ragged. We could not see any prey remains in the
nest and worried that the parents may have abandoned the nest in the
aftermath of the storm.
Suddenly the big, adult female appeared from the low-hanging
clouds and perched on a nearby limber pine snag. She had brought a
freshly-killed cottontail for breakfast. We watched as she delivered the
rabbit to the nest and began tearing bits of flesh from the carcass to
feed her little offspring.

The sagebrush-steppe environment near Cody is home to numer-

ous golden eagles. (C.R. Preston photo)

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 15


Golden eagle country. (Nancy McClure photo)
It turned out that most of the nests and eagle nestlings we sur-
veyed that day had survived the freak June storm – a testimony to
well-placed nests, dedicated, attentive parents and eons of natural
selection.
This is only one of countless dramas that members of the Buffalo
Bill Center of the West’s Draper Natural History Museum research
team have experienced since 2009 when we began our long-term
golden eagle/sagebrush-steppe ecology study.
The golden eagle is an apex predator in the Bighorn Basin and
other sagebrush-dominated landscapes that have been disappearing,
shrinking, and changing during the last several decades. Unfortu-
nately, this iconic western landscape that once dominated much of the
American West is often overlooked and undervalued in the shadow of
the dramatic heights and gaudy majesty of the Rocky Mountains.
But when you work daily in the sagebrush landscape – if you’re
paying attention – you can’t help becoming enchanted by its dynamic
nature, unexpected beauty, and the complex stories and mysteries it
reveals.
And the golden eagle is the fascinating and charismatic celebrity of
this place. It is also ecologically significant, providing a barometer for
detecting environmental integrity and change. Recent studies have in-
dicated that while golden eagle populations in some areas of western
North America are declining, others are stable. Wildlife managers and
scientists are concerned, however, that even this stability will be short-
lived with the rapid loss of habitat and increasing sources of mortality.
To help prevent significant population declines and crisis manage-
Artist drawings of some of the features of the Monarch of the Skies exhibition.
16 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
ment in the future, it is important to document and better evaluate the
status, population dynamics, and ecological role of the golden eagle in
local study areas across the species’ range.
The saga we began unraveling in the Bighorn Basin went far
beyond the golden eagle; it encompassed the complex interactions
among predator, prey and environment and the influence of human
land use changes on these interactions. Early in our study, it became
clear that we had a compelling story to tell. We now had an excep-
tional opportunity to share our field-based experiences and discoveries
to the public through field tours, programs, publications and possibly
an exhibition.
While many museums traditionally build exhibitions focused on
artwork, artifacts and other materials, natural history museums typi-
cally create exhibitions around stories or ideas using specimens and
other materials to help illustrate the stories. When research assistant
and photographer Nick Ciaravella (aka Moosejaw Bravo Photography)
joined the Draper Museum field crew in 2015, we asked him to use
much of his time and his exceptional photographic skills to help docu-
ment the subjects of our research and our work in the field. Initially,
we thought we could tell our story exclusively through photographs.
But, as national interest grew, and we strengthened existing partner-
ships and established new collaborative relationships with all levels
of government agencies and other researchers, we realized this story
warranted a more robust and lasting vehicle.
By the end of the 2013 season, we had decided to create a major
interdisciplinary and multidimensional exhibition to extend the Alpine-
to-Plains Trail exhibits in the Draper.
The initial concept took on a new, exciting dimension, when we
recognized that we had a unique opportunity to partner with the Cen-
ter’s Plains Indian Museum. The plan would enrich our story with the
addition of eagle-related ethnographic materials and insights of Plains
Indian cultural associations with the golden eagle and its environment.
The Draper crew in the field (from left), Nate Horton, Dr. Charles
Preston, Melissa Hill and Bonnie Lawrence-Smith.
A golden eagle feeds her hungry nestlings. (Moosejaw Bravo Photography)

And, we decided on a title – "Monarch of the Skies: The Golden

Eagle in Greater Yellowstone and the American West."
The exhibition features replica sandstone cliffs like those found in
the golden eagle habitat east of Cody. Video content introduces the
study area with its wildlife and Draper researchers in action, both
staff and volunteers. Beyond the introductory area, the exhibition
features sections highlighting golden eagle ecology and natural history,
sagebrush-steppe distribution, other wildlife in the area, changes in
Greater Yellowstone and Plains Indian associations with eagles.
The exhibition is designed to engage, satisfy and excite curious
minds of all ages. One of the simplest and most popular elements of
the exhibition is sure to be a life-sized silhouette of a soaring golden
eagle positioned so that you can compare your “wing-span” to that of
this magnificent aerial predator. This and other elements in the exhibi-
tion provide splendid photo opportunities.
The exhibition is a wonderful connection to our highly popular
Draper Museum Raptor Experience, too. We now feature 11 live rap-
tors – including Kateri, our own golden eagle – in both in-house and
outreach programs. And because the display becomes a permanent
exhibit in the Draper, we can update and enhance the experience for
years to come.
"Monarch of the Skies" is a natural addition to the Draper Museum,
highlighting our own original research in the broader context of explor-
ing and celebrating the profound relationships binding people with
nature in Greater Yellowstone and the American West. The exhibition
opens June 10, 2018.

(Dr. Charles R. Preston is the Founding Curator/Curator-in-Charge

of the Draper Natural History Museum. Bonnie Smith is the Draper’s Brandon Lewis, raptor program assistant, introduces a Center of
Curatorial Assistant.) the West audience to Kateri, the Center’s resident golden eagle.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 17

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Life and times of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody

W
illiam F. “Buffalo Bill”
Cody was the consum-
mate storyteller and
enthusiastic student
of history. More than a century ago,
as his Wild West played in arenas
around the world, Buffalo Bill con-
templated his legacy. He dreamed
of a new arena that would “teach
people by seeing history.” For more
than 100 years, the Buffalo Bill Cen-
ter of the West has nurtured Cody’s
dream, teaching and sharing the
West he loved. Learn more about our
namesake with this timeline.

William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, 1915. P.6.0840

Arta Lucille Cody, 1882. Kit Carson Cody, 1876.

P.69.1797 P.6.1654

Family

William F. Cody family portrait, ca. 1882. Standing, Arta and her Orra Maude Cody, 1880. Irma Louise Cody, 1886.
father. Seated, Orra and her mother, Louisa. P.6.813 P.69.0210 P.69.1731
20 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
 William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody
• Born: Feb. 26, 1846, Le Claire, Iowa
• Died: Jan. 10, 1917, Denver, Colorado
• Buried: June 3, 1917, Lookout Mountain, Colorado

1867
Hunted buffalo for the 1879
Kansas Pacific Railroad. Publishes first
autobiography,
1863 The Life of Buffalo
Army scout 1872 Bill: or the Life and
1859 1868 Adventures of William
Participated for the 7th Army scout Scout and guide for
Kansas Cavalry Russia’s Grand Duke F. Cody, as Told by
in the and guide
through 1865. Alexei Alexandrovich’s Himself.
Colorado for the 5th
gold rush. Cavalry. hunting trip.

1850 1860 1870

1872 1876
1858 1866 Dime novel Scouted for
Worked on a Married Louisa 1869 writer Ned the Fifth
wagon train Frederici in St. Buffalo Bill Buntline Army.
headed to Louis, Missouri, appears persuades
Fort Laramie, March 6. in popular Cody to be a
Wyoming. “dime stage actor.
novels.”
1861 1874
Reportedly 1872 Forms
rode for the Awarded U.S. Buffalo Bill
Pony Express. Congressional Combination
Medal of to perform
Honor, April on stage,
26. (Declared including Wild
ineligible in 1917, Bill Hickok.
but reinstated in
1989).

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 21

 1899
Establishes
1892 the
1887 Introduces
newspaper,
First tour of the Congress
the Cody
Europe; performs of Rough
Enterprise.
for Queen Victoria Riders of the
in London. World.

1888
1886 Adds
Wild West plays “Custer’s
in New York’s Last Fight” 1896
Madison Square as a regular Founder
1880 Garden. act in the of Cody,
In the 7th Cavalry. Wild West. Wyoming.

1880 1890
1886 1893
1883 Purchases Scout’s Sets up
Launches Rest Ranch in North independent
Buffalo Bill’s Platte, Nebraska. exhibition near
Wild West the Chicago
in Omaha, World’s
Nebraska, on Columbian
May 19. Exposition.

1882 1885
Old Glory Annie Oakley
1895
Barnum & Bailey’s
Blowout in North joins Buffalo
James A. Bailey
Platte, Nebraska, Bill’s Wild
joins Buffalo Bill
on July 4, West.
and revolutionized
precursor to Wild
the Wild West’s
West show.
travel arrangements.

22 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered

 1906
Final 1916
European Buffalo Bill in
tour of Wild West Arena.
Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West.
1913 1920
Obtained An
backing to make Autobiography
the film, The of Buffalo Bill
1900 1904 1908 Indian Wars.
Buffalo Bill in the backlot. Tours Joins with is published
England, Pawnee Bill posthumously,
Scotland, for the Two illustrated by
and Wales. Bills show. N.C. Wyeth.

1900 1910-20

1901 1913
Cody, Wyoming, Wild West goes
incorporated. bankrupt in July.
1905
Completes Cody
1902 to Yellowstone
Embarks on lodging, Wapiti 1917
second European Inn and Pahaska Cody dies on
tour, 1902-1903, Tepee. January 10 in
Great Britain. Denver.
1903
U.S. Bureau
Reclamation assumes
Buffalo Bill’s and his
partners’ plan to irrigate
the Big Horn Basin.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 23

On the Move:
Buffalo Bill’s Family Home
By ANNE MARIE SHRIVER in Wyoming. In 2004, it made its fourth creating fond memories of growing up

M
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
y father did not make a
successful farmer, and
when I was 5 years of age
he abandoned the log cabin
of my nativity and moved the family to
a little village 15 miles north of Daven-
port, [Iowa] on the Mississippi, named
LeClair [sic]. ~William F. Cody from "The
Life of Buffalo Bill"
Buffalo Bill’s boyhood home is one of
the oldest and most traveled buildings
and final move to the Buffalo Bill Center
of the West’s Cashman-Greever Garden
where the charming, two-story, yel-
low clapboard home is now in a setting
reminiscent of its original surroundings in
1850s Iowa.
Built in 1841 in LeClaire, Iowa, the
building was home to Isaac and Mary
Cody, and their children for two years
before the family moved to the Kansas
Territory in 1854. By that time, William
F. Cody, or “Willie” as he was called by
his family, was only 7 years old, already
along the banks of the Mississippi.
At LeClair [sic] I was sent to a
school where, by diligence and
fairly good conduct I managed
to familiarize myself with the al-
phabet. But further progress was
arrested by a suddenly developed
love for skiff-riding on the Missis-
sippi, which occupied so much
of my time thereafter that really I
found no convenient opportunity
for further attendance at school,
though neither my father nor

Buffalo
24 Bill’sBill
• Buffalo Boyhood
Center ofHome asCentered
the West it appeared on the banks of the Mississippi at LeClaire, Iowa, ca. 1890. P.6.1697
 mother had the slightest idea of
my new found, self-imposed, em-
ployment, much to my satisfac-
tion, let me add.
When I was thrown in the society
of other boys, I was not slow to
follow their example, and I take
to myself no special credit for my
conduct as a town-boy, for, like
the majority, I foraged among
neighboring orchards and melon
patches, rode horses when I was
able to catch them grazing on
the commons, trapped innocent
birds, and sometimes tied the
exposed clothes of my comrades
while they were in swimming and
least suspicious of my designs
or acts. I would not like to admit
any greater crimes, though
anything may be implied in the
confession that I was quite as
bad, though no worse, than the
ordinary every-day boy who goes
barefoot, wears a brimless hat,
one suspender and a mischie-
vous smile.

In the early days of Yellowstone Na-

tional Park, a steady stream of tourists
– 500-800 in its heyday – arrived by train
to Cody, and then piled into Yellowstone-
bound tour buses. To accommodate the
influx, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad built a hotel north of Cody,
named the Burlington Inn, alongside their
depot. Since it was a little over a mile
to downtown Cody, the Inn was always
on the lookout for ways to interest their
guests. When they learned of the avail-
ability of Buffalo Bill’s Boyhood Home,
they believed it was a perfect addition to
their site.
In 1933, the Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy Railroad purchased the house,
moved it 1,200 miles from Iowa to
Cody, Wyo., and placed it adjacent to
the Burlington Inn. In subsequent years,
as tourism by rail subsided, the railroad
made plans to tear down the Burlington
Inn, but donated the boyhood home to the
Buffalo Bill Memorial Association in 1948
instead.
The house made its second move –
down two long hills, across the Shoshone
River, and back up two more long hills
– to be placed alongside the Buffalo Bill
Museum. In 1969, the Buffalo Bill Memo-
rial Association moved across the street
into the then new Buffalo Bill Historical
Center and the old boyhood home went
along on its third trip. It remained there
for more than three decades until its
recent move to the core of the museum
campus.
The boyhood home was a typical town
Buffalo Bill’s Boyhood Home arrives at original Buffalo Bill Museum under the watchful eye
of Curator Mary Jester Allen, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s niece, 1948. P.69.1381
house on the agricultural frontier, built
according to the memory and skills of
the carpenter, with no written plans. The
house was made from sawed lumber with
hand-hewn beams and corner posts.
The walls are comprised of hand-split
oak lathe covered with a homemade
plaster of lime, sand and cement. The
floorboards were leveled with an adze and
smoothed with hand planes. The out-
side of the house was covered with pine
clapboard and even today, one can see
some of the original siding and some of
the square nails.
The building was placed on the Na-
tional Register of Historic Places in 1975.
In the application, Ned Frost wrote:
The building is rectangular in
shape, approximately 25 feet
long, 18 feet wide and 20 feet
high at the gable peak. A “lean-
to” kitchen was attached to the
back of the house, but was not
moved from its original Iowa
location. In the upstairs were two
or three bedrooms; on the ground
floor were two multi-purpose
rooms, divided according to use.
One portion of the downstairs
was used for eating, wash-
ing, and dirtier chores, such as
candle making.
The other side served as the par-
lor, which was not only a place to
entertain visitors, but was also a
“living’” room, a “family” room,
and a “work” room. Here Mrs.
Cody and the oldest daughters
would spin wool or flax, sew
quilts and clothing, and do the
mending while the younger chil-
dren worked on school lessons,
played or napped. The family
slept in two or three rooms on
the second story of the house.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 25

Today, just like Buffalo Bill and his siblings 165 years ago, children enjoy playing in the “front yard” of Buffalo Bill’s family home, situated
in the Center’s Cashman-Greever Garden. (Gift of Burlington Northern Railroad)
These were heated by warm
stove pipes running up to the
chimney on the roof.
With its last move, the facilities man-
ager at the time, Paul Brock, noted that the
Center’s staff exercised “care and caution”
during the move of the old and somewhat
unstable structure. It was the start of a
long-term stabilization process to restore the
building’s historical integrity. Funded by Buf-
falo Bill Museum Advisory Board members
Bill Garlow and Naoma Tate, the move and
now its continued restoration is a team
effort between the Buffalo Bill Museum and
the Facilities Department.
As local artist and carpenter Ty Barhaug
performed the initial restoration carpentry,
he began with the roof and worked his
way down. As he went through the house,
Barhaug noted that he was constantly learn-
ing more about it, including the discovery
of traces of what is thought to be original
wallpaper.
To transport the house to Cody in 1934,
the house was sawed in two – causing
weakness in the structure’s frame. Brock
and Barhaug documented any telltale signs
of mistakes in the reconstruction and used
standards of the National Trust for Historic
26 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
Preservation. The initial stage of restoration
was completed in September 2005.
By using historical photos, the team was
been able to approximate the setting of the
house when young William F. Cody and his
family lived there in the 1850s. The house
remains yellow – its original color, and
during the 1980s, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) was enlisted to test chips
of paint to determine the building’s original
hue.
The Center reproduced the stone and
picket fence seen in photographs, as was
the cottonwood tree that was placed in its
original orientation. Lake Valley limestone
from Iowa was used for the fence. Inter-
estingly, without knowing its origins, the
sample was Brock’s first choice; the color
and texture seemed right. When he was told
it was from an Iowa quarry, it was the only
option. Research has shown that a house
built in Scott County, Iowa, by Isaac Cody
in 1847 also had an unusual limestone and
picket fence, leading the staff to believe that
Isaac Cody built the fences at both houses.
While they want to bring visitors back
in time, the Center had to also consider the
long-term preservation of the house and
whether surrounding plants would grow in
Wyoming. A cottonless cottonwood tree,
which is already more than 15 feet tall,
was planted next to the house with room for
future growth so as not to affect the founda-
tion or siding.
The cottonless narrowleaf cottonwood
(Populus angustifolia) is fast-growing and
adaptable to a variety of soils and water
levels, and it does not release potentially
damaging cotton in the spring. Crested
wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum), inter-
mixed with native wildflower seed, was
planted on the perimeter of the house. The
crested wheatgrass requires significantly
less water than Kentucky bluegrass and is
tolerant to hot and cold temperatures – a
good choice for Wyoming’s high, arid condi-
tions. Less water means less risk of damage
to the house.
In the future, depending on funding,
Buffalo Bill’s boyhood home will see more
work on the interior with new programs and
activities using the building as its focus.
Proudly positioned within the Center’s
Cashman-Greever Garden, a hundred yards
from its previous location in front of the
Center, the little yellow house has become a
popular exhibit for visitors.
(Additional information for this story
came from the Center archives)
 Wyoming
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BBMA says, “Bury Buffalo Bill in Wyoming”
T
his Is A Preliminary State-
ment … We feel that the time
has come when the people of
Wyoming and the nation will
suffer an irreparable loss unless steps are
taken at once to strengthen and enlarge
the activities of the Buffalo Bill Memorial
Association, Inc.
And such are the words of a ca. 1930
pamphlet of the Buffalo Bill Memorial As-
sociation, formed in 1917 upon the death
of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. In the
document, the group laid out some of its
basic principles, including the wishes of its
namesake.
We feel that the Buffalo Bill
Museum, together with adjoining
grounds and the Gertrude Vander-
bilt Whitney statute, with its 52
acres, and the selected burial site
of Col. W.F. Cody on Cedar Moun-
tain, consisting of forty acres, all
should be thrown into the hands
of a national organization and
developed in a large way.
Furthermore, we feel that Wyo-
ming, with all of her interesting
geological formations and
prehistoric fossils, should have
28 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
some place as a home for these
treasures. Where could a more
appropriate and fitting place be
found than here in Cody, Wyo-
ming, in connection with the Buf-
falo Bill Museum and the Buffalo
Bill statute? As an explanation for
securing the forty acres of land on
Cedar Mountain, we quote from
Col. Cody’s last will and testa-
ment:
It is my wish and I hereby direct
that my body shall be buried in
some suitable plot of ground on
Cedar Mountain, overlooking the
Town of Cody, Wyoming, in order
that my mortal remains shall lie
in close proximity to that sec-
tion of my native country which
bears my name and in the growth
and development of which I have
taken so deep and loving an
interest, and to which where-
soever and to whatever parts of
the earth I have wandered I have
always longed to return.
I further direct that there shall be
erected over my grave, to mark
the spot where my body lies, a
monument wrought from native
Red stone in the form of a mam-
Ned Frost stands at
Buffalo Bill’s cho-
sen burial spot on
Cedar Mountain west
of Cody, Wyoming,
undated. P.71.1477
moth buffalo, and placed in such
apposition as to be visible from
the town, in order that it may be
a constant reminder to my fellow
citizens that it was the great wish
of its founder that Cody should
not only grow in prosperity and
become a populous and influen-
tial metropolis, but that it should
be distinguished for the purity
of its government and the loyalty
of its citizens to the institution
of our beloved Country. I give to
my said executors the sum of Ten
Thousand dollars for the cost of
the monument and its erection
and to carefully keep the ground
about it in proper order.
The document was signed as follows by
six women:
BUFFALO BILL MEMORIAL ASSOCIA-
TION, Inc. Cody, Wyoming
The Town of Cody and the Museum and
Relics Committee
Mary Jester Allen
Effie Shaw
Mary Forst
Lucille Nichols
Ada Greever
Mary Dacken
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 The Great
Equestrian
Statue
Race

The popular Scout statue as

it stands today at the end
of Cody’s Sheridan Avenue.
Gertrude Vanderbilt
Whitney (1875-1942),
"Buffalo Bill–The Scout,"
1924. Bronze. Gift of the
artist. 3.58
 Theodore Roosevelt and the efforts
to memorialize Buffalo Bill
By JEREMY JOHNSTON, PhD

F
Buffalo Bill Museum Curator
or many years, it was assumed
that immediately following the
death of William F. “Buffalo Bill”
Cody in 1917, the great battle
over his final resting place began. Howev-
er, Cody, Wyo., and Denver, Colo., did not
immediately fight over the location of Buf-
falo Bill’s grave site. Wyoming held some
resentment that Buffalo Bill’s body would
remain in Denver, but they accepted the
loss of the grave site as inevitable. The
Park County Enterprise, Cody’s hometown
newspaper, surprisingly spoke highly of
the Colorado location: “Internment will be
on beautiful Lookout mountain [sic] which
overlooks the city.”
Residents of Cody gave up on becom-
ing the site of Buffalo Bill’s grave and
decided instead to be the first to erect an
equestrian statue as a memorial to their
city’s founder. They soon found them-
selves in competition with Denver’s effort
to memorialize Buffalo Bill by also erect-
ing an equestrian statue – this one near
the grave site. Thus began a race of sorts
between Cody and Denver to complete a
suitable memorial honoring the memory
of Buffalo Bill, with Theodore Roosevelt
assisting – and deterring – both communi-
ties’ efforts.
On Jan. 14, 1917, Denver hosted Buf-
falo Bill’s funeral with John W. Springer
delivering the eulogy. Springer noted, “It
is fitting that his tomb should be hewn
out of the eternal granite of the Rockies,
and it is to be hoped that a magnificent
equestrian statue shall be erected by the
people of the great West ...” Springer, a
man of significant wealth and at one time
a leading Republican of Colorado, now
found himself on the public stage after a
long silence that followed a sensational
scandal. "Gone to Join the Mysterious Caravan, Jan. 11, 1917. Boyhood’s Greatest Idol.” Purchased
A close friend of Roosevelt, Springer by the BBMA from Mary Jester Allen, niece of Buffalo Bill. 227.69
formed the Roosevelt Club to support
Roosevelt’s 1904 presidential campaign a former lover, Tom von Phul. When von made headlines across the nation. Spring-
and nearly became his vice-presidential Phul blackmailed Isabel with their love er quickly divorced his wife and withdrew
candidate. Springer also focused on local letters, one of Springer’s business associ- from an active public life. Delivering the
politics and ran unsuccessfully for mayor ates and close friends, Frank Henwood, eulogy at Buffalo Bill’s funeral brought
of Denver. Despite this political loss, shot and killed von Phul in the bar at the Springer back into the center of atten-
Springer remained one of the foremost Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. Henwood tion. Using his newfound fame as Buffalo
political and social leaders of the Denver also managed to kill an innocent bystand- Bill’s friend, Springer organized the Col.
community until an infamous scandal er and severely wound another bar patron. W.F. Cody Memorial Association (CMA)
interrupted his political career. When the newspapers learned of the to erect an equestrian statue on Lookout
It seems Springer’s second wife, Isabel, reason behind the killings, Isabel and Mountain.
was secretly involved in a love affair with John Springer’s troubled relationship Meanwhile, on the same day the of-

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 31

President Theodore Roosevelt, Oct. 25, 1910. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. LC-DIG-
ppmsca-35658
ficial funeral occurred in Denver, efforts
to memorialize Buffalo Bill in the town
of Cody began with a memorial service
hosted by the Society of Big Horn Pioneer
and Historical Association. The organiza-
tion’s secretary, William Simpson, sent out
letters requesting members gather at the
Irma Hotel and then march to the Temple
Theater for the memorial service. In the
days leading up to the memorial service,
members of the association, possibly still
stewing over losing the burial location for
the Great Scout, likely discussed ways to
honor their town’s namesake.
On the very day residents of Cody
met for Buffalo Bill’s memorial service,
L.L. Newton sent a telegram to Theodore
Roosevelt and other notable personages
on behalf of the newly formed Buffalo Bill
Memorial Association (BBMA). His hope
32 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
was that Roosevelt and the other notables
would lend their support to the BBMA,
thereby generating publicity for the group.
The membership of this new organization,
led by William Simpson’s wife, Margaret,
included prominent Cody citizens Charles
Hayden, W.T. Hogg, Sam Parks, and L.L.
Newton. The Park County Enterprise
reported on the BBMA’s efforts:
It is proposed to erect a monster
memorial to the colonel which will cost
anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000, and
negotiations are already under way toward
the selection of some noted sculptor in
order to get a model. It is also proposed
to follow the lines of the famous Rosa
Bonheur picture as closely as possible. [To
raise funds, the new association ordered]
several thousand beautifully colored post-
ers of the colonel, which will be given to
those who make a donation of any kind
for the statue. It is proposed that all the
school children of the United States send
Buffalo nickels for the fund.
The BBMA’s efforts soon met a signifi-
cant setback when Roosevelt declined to
participate. In a letter to Newton dated
Jan. 18, 1917, Roosevelt wrote, “I sin-
cerely regret that it is not in my power to
take part in the movement you propose.
If I could join any new societies for any
purpose whatsoever at the present time,
I would join this one, but it simply is not
possible.”
He did, however, indicate his support
for the project. “Buffalo Bill was one of
the great scouts in the Indian wars that
opened the West. He typified, as emphati-
cally as Kit Carson himself, one of the
peculiarly American phases of our western
development and most certainly should
have a monument.”
Despite Roosevelt’s protestations,
he soon found himself as an honorary
vice-president for Denver’s CMA led by
his friend, John Springer. On Feb. 5,
1917, Roosevelt received a telegram from
Springer requesting an audience for Sam
Dutton, vice-president of the association;
Buffalo Bill’s adopted son, Johnny Baker;
and former Wild West show manager,
Louis Cooke. Springer noted the proposed
meeting with Baker and Cooke “pertains
[to] proposed memorial to Colonel Cody.”
Roosevelt replied, “Of course I will give
the audience you request, but it is impos-
sible to make any speeches at present.
Will gladly write letter for Colonel Cody
Memorial [sic].”
Shortly before the meeting, the New
York Times ran an article announcing Roo-
sevelt’s acceptance of the vice-presidency
for the CMA. The article quoted Roos-
evelt’s praise of Buffalo Bill, “whom he
described as ‘the most renowned of those
men, steel hewed and iron nerved, whose
Alexander Phimister Proctor’s sketch of a Buffalo Bill equestrian statue for Lookout Moun-
tain. P.242.2035.27.1
daring opened the West to settlement and
civilization.’” The Times article described
the proposed memorial:
Denver has donated a plot for the
monument on Lookout Mountain and has
offered to become the custodian of the
memorial. The peak chosen for the memo-
rial is to be renamed Mount Cody and
on it will be erected a mausoleum, the
interior of which will contain the tomb,
as well as the trappings, relics, paintings,
personal souvenirs, gifts and collections of
Buffalo Bill. Sculptured groups illustrating
episodes in the life of the frontier will flank
each corner of the monument. There will
also be a heroic equestrian statue of the
Scout as he looked in youth.
With Roosevelt joining Denver’s asso-
ciation, it appeared the residents of Cody
had lost their chance to erect a memorial.
Clearly, Denver had more resources for
their fundraising ventures, starting with
its population. In 1910, Denver’s popu-
lation stood at 213,381 and by 1920,
it had grown to 256,491, ranking it as
the twenty-fifth largest city in the United
States. The city of Cody’s 1910 popula-
tion stood at 1,132, growing to 1,242 by
1920.
Roosevelt assisted the Denver organiza-
tion with their plans to erect an equestrian
statue by collecting funds and suggesting
potential artists. In a letter to Springer
dated March 8, 1917, Roosevelt recom-
mended Alexander Phimister Proctor be
the artist for the Buffalo Bill equestrian
statue. Springer wrote back to Roosevelt
noting the association agreed with Roos-
evelt’s choice.
On April 2, 1917, Woodrow Wilson
called for a declaration of war against
Germany and her allies and the demands
of the Great War quickly overshadowed
efforts to erect a Buffalo Bill memorial.
Despite this, Albert Mayfield, the secre-
tary of the CMA, remained optimistic. He
reported to Roosevelt, “Contributions are
coming in very satisfactory, considering
the ‘war times,’ and with the concerted
aid of Col. Cody’s admirers, we will be
able to raise a large and sufficient fund
with which to erect a magnificent PIO-
NEER monument to his memory, and to
the memory of other frontiersmen who
helped blaze the trail.”
Roosevelt continued to collect funds
after the declaration of war, including
$100 from English author, B. Cuninghame
Graham who wrote Roosevelt:
I saw by chance today in Harper’s
Magazine that a national monument is to
be raised to my old friend Colonel Cody;
that it is to take the form of a statue of
himself on horseback (I hope the horse
will be old Buckskin Joe), that he is to be
looking over the North Platte ... If in an-
other world there is any riding – and God
forbid that I should go to any heaven in
which there are no horses – I cannot think
that there will be a soft swishing as of the
footsteps of some invisible horse heard oc-
casionally on the familiar trails over which
the equestrian statue is to look.
By the end of April, the Colorado
newspapers reported the Cody Memorial
fund had raised $6,630.72 despite the
entry of the United States into World War
I. The cost of the project, however, would
be over $200,000.
On April 17, 1917, Springer’s scandal-
ous ex-wife passed away in New York,
and once again Springer’s connection to
the infamous murder reappeared in print.
The Park County Enterprise also reported
the death, but it is unclear if this was an
attempt to discredit the CMA or simply to
inform Cody residents who were certainly
familiar with the past scandal. Despite the
war and his personal life again making the
headlines, Springer still remained optimis-
tic about the memorial. Springer wrote to
Roosevelt thanking him for his services,
Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 33
The Buffalo Bill Memorial Association originally had this popular
Bonheur painting in mind as the model for its equestrian memorial
to its namesake. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), "Col. William F. Cody,"
1889. Oil on canvas. Given in Memory of William R. Coe and Mai Sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney with her bronze "Buffalo Bill–
Rogers Coe. 8.66 The Scout," ca. 1923. P.69.0185
but now Springer seemed more consumed are now getting out; we expect to send it that the funds raised would also assist in
with the building of the mausoleum. to the confines of this country and we ex- the completion of the equestrian statue in
“Within a few days we will have a pen pect to raise the money within a year and Cody. Now Cody and Denver joined hands
sketch of the proposed memorial temple to start at once the first unit.” Roosevelt to complete not one, but two equestrian
... and it will be a magnificent structure,” did not record his feelings regarding the statues honoring Buffalo Bill in addition
proclaimed Springer. “The equestrian increased cost. However, when Springer to completing the mausoleum at Lookout
monument which Mr. Proctor has in mind later attempted to arrange a face-to-face Mountain.
will form part of the temple.” Enclosed in meeting with Roosevelt in Kansas City to Despite the joint efforts of Cody and
the letter was a brochure with the proc- discuss “personal business,” Roosevelt Denver, public support for any Buffalo Bill
lamation, “In times of war the Nation’s declined. Clearly something was amiss – memorials quickly vanished as America’s
people should remember those who gave probably Roosevelt had privately indicated involvement in the Great War increased.
their services in the past.” The brochure his disapproval of attempting to raise In December 1917, The Denver Post
described plans for a “great mausoleum” $1 million during a time of America’s announced its opposition to any future
containing Cody’s relics adorned with an involvement in a world conflict. fundraising for Buffalo Bill memorials until
equestrian statue and surrounded by a Springer and the CMA began to worry after the war.
park complete with live buffalo. Springer about the future success of the more On Dec. 7, 1917, Roosevelt wrote to
declared, “This is going to be the great- costly project. In October 1917, the CMA the secretary of the CMA to relinquish his
est thing of its kind ever erected in the began raising funds in Cody from an status of membership in the association.
world and if the proper call can be made office located within the Irma Hotel. To “I do not feel that while we are at war I
through the influential channels, I am sure raise money, the association distributed wish to be engaged in soliciting funds for
that the response would be spontaneous a school play called “Civilization’s Course any memorial, or for any purpose not con-
and overwhelming.” in America,” which local schools would nected with the war,” Roosevelt explained.
In September 1917, Springer reported produce for the community with proceeds He did offer some hope for the future
to Roosevelt that the group now wanted to going toward the completion of Proctor’s though, writing, “When the war is over, if
raise $1 million for the project instead of statue and a mausoleum on Lookout you should desire me again to become a
the $200,000 as originally planned. The Mountain. When Cody residents com- Vice President of the Association, I will be
letter also introduced Mr. A.S. Hill who plained the money would be used only in very glad to take the matter up. I believe
“will show you some beautiful work we Denver, the association quickly announced in a monument along the general lines

34 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered

proposed to me a year ago in connection
with Cody and the pioneers of the west
but I would wish to know exactly how the
proposal is to be carried into effect.”
Due to the public outcry, Mrs. Cody
asked that no money be raised for any
memorial until the successful completion
of the war. Mrs. Cody noted that “Buf-
falo Bill was first, last and always an
American, and he would not wish a cent
diverted which could be used for the de-
fense of the country he loved so well.” For
the duration of the war, all statues were
put on hold.
After the end of World War I, the likeli-
hood of completing any grand memorial
for Buffalo Bill in either Cody or Denver
seemed doubtful. Agricultural prices
dropped severely with an end to wartime
demands, plunging the western region into
an economic depression. Tourism, though,
remained a solid economic resource,
partly due to the end of wartime ration-
ing of gasoline and the growing use of
the Model T Ford. Both Denver and Cody
quickly realized any memorial would be a
money-maker, but the funds to build such
a project were not readily available. In
addition, Theodore Roosevelt passed away
on Jan. 6, 1919, and the CMA lost its
primary spokesman.
Unveiling the Scout,
July 4, 1924. P.6.1680.
(All images from the
Center of the West's
MS 006 William F. Cody
Collection.)
Johnny Baker, Buffalo Bill’s adopted
son, did open a small museum at Lookout
Mountain and named it Pahaska Tepee.
Soon thousands of tourists flocked to see
not only Buffalo Bill’s grave but also the
museum. With the death of Mrs. Cody in
1921, the residents of Cody panicked,
fearing the loss of potential tourist trade
connected to the memory of Buffalo Bill.
Many residents believed that with Mrs.
Cody’s passing, the Irma Hotel would
lose its collection of Buffalo Bill paintings,
bringing an end to tourists stopping in
town.
It was probably at this time that
Colorado feared Cody residents would
steal Buffalo Bill’s body, since the grave
needed to be reopened to inter Mrs. Cody.
Stories later burgeoned about the “posse”
who tried to steal Buffalo Bill’s body from
Colorado. However, the Cody newspaper
does not indicate any such posse ever left
Cody at this time. Without any viable way
of getting the body moved back to Cody,
its residents needed to find some way
to continue the work of completing the
equestrian statue.
Under the vestiges of the BBMA, resi-
dents of Cody reorganized their efforts and
continued working for an equestrian statue
to honor Cody. Buffalo Bill’s niece Mary
Jester Allen, who arrived in the Cody area
in 1921, used her experience with the
Roosevelt Women’s Memorial Association
to plan a future memorial for her deceased
uncle. Working closely with the BBMA, Al-
len sought to rejuvenate the plans to erect
an equestrian statue in Cody. The asso-
ciation selected New York artist Gertrude
Vanderbilt Whitney to sculpt the statue.
Ironically, Whitney’s daughter, Flora, was
previously engaged to Roosevelt’s son,
Quentin, who died in World War I.
On July 4, 1924, Whitney’s statue,
"Buffalo Bill – The Scout," was unveiled
to a large crowd of Cody residents. Mary
Jester Allen continued her efforts to me-
morialize her uncle and later opened the
Buffalo Bill Museum. Cody finally secured
its equestrian statue in addition to a lively
and growing museum that would become
the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
(Dr. Jeremy Johnston is the Center
of the West’s Curator of the Buffalo Bill
Museum and Western American History,
as well as Managing Editor of the Papers
of William F. Cody. A descendant of John
B. Goff, a hunting guide for President
Teddy Roosevelt, Johnston grew up hear-
ing many a tale about Roosevelt’s life and
times, including the “Great Race” story.)
 "Buffalo Bill–The Scout" watches over the
Buffalo Bill Center of the West – complete
with new spurs.

Buffalo Bill’s spurs torched … on purpose

F
or nearly all 100 years of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Asso-
ciation, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s memorial to Buf-
falo Bill has stood at the end of the main street in Cody,
Wyo. But it did suffer an unfortunate case of vandalism
in the 1950s.

Sometime around 1959, Cody’s iconic statue sustained a

mishap due to vandals. Evidently, some nefarious ne’er-do-wells
nabbed the spurs off the monumental sculpture of William F. “Buf-
falo Bill” Cody.
Since 1924, the Scout has stood watch over Sheridan Avenue,
with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West – and the town of Cody –
growing up around it. Not long after the spur-cutting deed, a local
repairman welded the spurs back where they belonged on the heels
of Buffalo Bill’s boots.
Unfortunately, they were upside down. No one with the Buffalo
Bill Memorial Association realized that Bill rode spur-impaired for
some 20 years. Apparently, not many of the Center’s visitors did
either.
Gene Calhoun adds patina to match original finish on "Buffalo Bill–
“Museum officials knew about the inverted spurs, but anticipat- The Scout" in 1979.
ing further vandalism, the decision to correct the error was de-
layed,” Carol Hill, editor of the Center’s quarterly newsletter wrote to do the “spur inversion project” as a favor to the museum.
in 1979. “Most visitors did not notice, but one who did was Dick “Cody Gas Company loaned a portable power unit, and Calhoun
Spencer, publisher of the Western Horseman. His letter to Gene and Schaner completed the work in about four hours,” Hill contin-
Ball, the Center’s public relations director at the time produced ued. “As a final step, they added a patina to the spurs to restore
some immediate action.” their appearance to match the coloration of the rest of the statue.”
Ball enlisted Gene Calhoun and Mike Schaner of Calhoun’s So, spurred on by one who knew a thing or two about spurs, the
then newly-opened Caleco Bronze Foundry in Cody who agreed Scout has had his spurs in the upright position ever since.

36 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered

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Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 37

A display case of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West memorabilia in the “Buffalo Bill Memorial Association Building,” (Buffalo Bill Museum), April 13,
1954. PN.89.05.1083b.10

Buffalo Bill
Memorial Association
S
eattle Metropolitans win Stanley
Cup. U.S. take formal possession
of the Virgin Islands. America
enters World War I. Women’s
suffrage gains momentum. Einstein
publishes his first paper on cosmol-
ogy. Houdini performs first buried alive
escape.
And William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
dies in Denver on Jan. 10.
Indeed, 1917 was an unforgettable year
with each of these events on that calendar
just over a hundred years ago. Against this
extraordinary backdrop, a group of Buffalo
Bill’s family and friends sought to memo-
rialize their town’s namesake and banded
together to make it happen:
We, the undersigned, residents
of the Town of Cody, in the
County of Park, in the State of
Wyoming, desiring to form a
corporation and to associate

38 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered

 ourselves together under the provisions of Chapter No.
280, of the Compiled Statutes of Wyoming, 1910, do
hereby certify and declare the objects and purposes for
which this corporation and association is formed, is to
establish and maintain a historical society for the pres-
ervation of the history and antiquities of [Cody, Park
County, Wyoming]; to build, construct and maintain an
historical monument or memorial statue in honor of and
to perpetuate the memory of our late, lamented fellow
townsman the Hon. William F. Cody, (Buffalo Bill).

The Corporate name of the association shall be: Buffalo

Bill Memorial Association…The term of the associa-
tion’s existence shall be perpetual … The principal
place of business of said association, shall be Cody, in
the County of Park, in the state of Wyoming.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands
and seals this first day of March, A.D. 1917.

And so was the beginning of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Asso-

ciation a 101 years ago. Signing the Articles of Incorporation as
the organization’s first Board were Charles E. Hayden, William T.
Hogg, Len L. Newton, Dwight E. Hollister, S.C. Parks, Jr., Jacob
M. Schwoob, Dave Jones, Maggie L. Simpson and Minnie Wil-
liams.
Today, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West diligently continues
the work of those original members of the Buffalo Bill Memorial
Association with a mission that William F. Cody himself would
have embraced, and one that’s changed little since 1917:
The mission of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is “to
inspire, educate, and engage global audiences through an Loving Cup presented to Buffalo Bill on his farewell tour from the
authentic experience with the American West.” citizens of Newark, New Jersey, May 4, 1911. Museum purchase.
With the experiences our namesake, Buffalo Bill, amassed
in the West, he is the very embodi-
William Cody Boal Collection. 1.69.96
ment of how the Center approaches
the West – enthusiastic, passionate,
global and authentic. Cody always
envisioned what could be: a town
here, a dam there, a fancy hotel
down the street. Nothing in the
present, including the Center that
now bears his name, would have
been far from his imagination or
experience.
Indeed, by 1900, this Pony
Express rider, prospector, buffalo
hunter, army scout, hunting guide,
actor, Congressional Medal of Honor
winner, producer and town builder
may well have been the most fa-
mous, living person on earth.
In 30 years of traveling with
his Wild West show, Buffalo Bill
connected with a host of diverse
individuals who loved the West, too.
Throughout the Center’s 100-plus
years, hundreds of those people
and their descendants have become
valuable supporters and generous
donors – exactly like those early
members of the Buffalo Bill Memori-
al Association – and the reason such
an extraordinary facility came to be
located in a small town in northwest Certificate of Membership, Buffalo Bill Memorial Association, March 2, 1917. MS327.
Wyoming. OS1.01.003.01
Long live the Wild West.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 39

Buffalo Bill Wild West poster. Her Majesty Queen Victoria at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West London, May 11, 1887, 1888. Museum purchase. 1.69.6354

Billboards,
Buffalo Bill-style
I
n its 101-year history, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West has
acquired literally thousands of items for its collection beginning
with the original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection amassed by the
Buffalo Bill Memorial Association, especially Buffalo Bill’s niece
Mary Jester Allen. Through monetary donations or gifts from private
collections, generous donors have made a world class museum pos-
sible in Cody, Wyo.
And each of the art and artifacts has a tale to tell, like this back-
ground of one of the largest objects the Center has: a super-sized
Buffalo Bill Wild West poster.
Just in time for the Center of the West’s unveiling of its reinterpret-
ed Buffalo Bill Museum in 2012, it acquired a poster commemorat-
ing an 1887 performance of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show for Queen
Victoria of England. At first blush, the staff was quite impressed with
the 10 x 28 foot poster when they first saw it. When they learned
the intricacies of its production from historic printer Mike Parker, they
were even more amazed.
For example, the very first step is engaging an artist to create this
elaborate image. After that, an engraver carved the image into blocks white would have to be cut away since the color white was simply
which were placed in the “form” to print the individual sections of the the paper showing through. Shaded or tinted areas were created with
poster. (Parker estimates that at least a year was needed to create the hash marks that weren’t cut as deep as the other carving, and so
image and carve the printing blocks.) The printing press applied ink didn’t absorb as much ink.
to the blocks in the form that would transfer the image to paper. And This was one complicated print job – and all for a billboard! Like
to think that each sheet of paper comprising a poster measured only outdoor signs today, these creations for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
20 x 40 inches. weren’t intended for long-term installation. Usually plastered on the
The Queen Victoria poster consists of 32 separate sheets! Since side of a building, the Wild West advance team installed them to
four base blocks were needed for each of the four colors for each alert residents of the upcoming performance. By the time wind and
sheet, a total of 512 base blocks (4 blocks x 4 colors x 32 sheets) weather took their toll on the signs, the show had moved on. So, to
were needed to produce this poster. With additional blocks for special find one in near pristine condition is simply extraordinary.
areas, Parker estimates that 763 blocks were used for this poster. Clearly, this poster was never mounted. The question is: Where
The carved image had to be upside down and backward in order has it been for 129 years? It appears that more research is in order
for it to be the right orientation off the press. In addition, anything for that one …

40 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered

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 Amelia
Earhart
was here
A
viatrix Amelia Earhart, almost 40 at the time, disap-
peared on July 2, 1937, on an around-the world flight
in her twin-engine Lockheed Electra.
She and navigator Fred Noonan’s last transmission
(“We are running north and south …”) was near Howland Island
in the mid-Pacific. No trace of Earhart or her plane was ever
found.
But before she took off on that ill-fated journey, the aviatrix vis-
ited the Double D Ranch on the Upper Wood River, near Meetee-
tse, about 45 miles southwest of Cody, sometime between 1934-
1936. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West has photos of Earhart
with ranch owner Carl Dunrud, enjoying a western vacation.
Eventually, Dunrud would donate two coats that belonged to
Earhart to the Center’s Buffalo Bill Museum. He identified the
leather flight jacket as the one she wore on her solo trans-Atlantic
flight in May 1932.
“While there’s no reason to doubt that the jacket belonged
to Earhart, it’s definitely not the one she wore on that flight,”
explained Dr. John Rumm, former Buffalo Bill Museum curator.
“Photographs in her papers at Purdue University indicate that she
wore a different-style flight jacket [on that flight].” Clearly, further
research is needed to determine whether or not Earhart wore
“our” flight jacket on a different flight.
Dunrud also donated an 1870s buffalo coat, which he as-
serted “had been presented to Amelia Earhart by William S.
Hart.” According to Rumm, Hart made Earhart’s acquaintance
in the mid-1930s when he became annoyed with a small plane
buzzing over his house. He learned it was Earhart, and, being
chivalrous, decided to invite her to dinner to complain about her
plane’s noise.
Ironically, Hart and Earhart became fast friends. In the fall of
1936, Hart decided to present a gift of a buffalo coat “so that
when she climbs far up into the sky, this old buffalo coat of the
Indian wars and prairie seasons will hold her tight and keep her
warm,” according to a letter he wrote her on Oct. 8, 1936 (Pur-
due Archives). The coat was U.S. Army issue, given to soldiers
during the mid-1870s “to fight the Plains Indians during the
winter months.”
After the Indian Wars ended, there were scores of leftover buf-
falo overcoats consigned to cold storage. Sometime around 1920,
“they were then taken out and disposed of,” and, as Hart told
Earhart, “I was so fortunate as to get hold of a few.”
The Center doesn’t really know whether Earhart ever wore the
coat, but as she prepared for her around-the-globe flight, she sent
many of her personal possessions to Wyoming – including the
buffalo coat. She attached a note that read, “For you Carl. I know
of no one who can put this to better use than you.”
Dunrud gave the coat to the Center of the West in 1966 – one
of the hundreds of donors who built the Center’s collection since
1917. Amelia Earhart at the Double D Ranch on the upper Wood River,
Wyoming, ca. 1934. Gift of Mrs. Verna Belden. P.67.1477
42 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
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 Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Celebrating 100 years of history
1917 - 1930
1917
Buffalo Bill
Memorial
Association
established.

1917 Col. William F. “Buffalo Bill”

Cody’s dies January 10 in Denver.

1924 Buffalo Bill–The Scout, a statue 1927 Buffalo Bill

by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Museum opens
unveiled. July 4 with Cody’s
niece Mary Jester
Allen as curator.

1931 - 1970
1933 Buffalo Bill’s
childhood home
moves from Le
Claire, Iowa, to 1935 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney donates
Cody. the Center’s current 40-acre site.

1959 Whitney Western Art

1969 Buffalo Bill Museum opens June 3;
together with the Whitney, becomes the
Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
46 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
Museum dedicated.
1970 Buffalo Bill’s childhood is home
moved to the Center’s current site.
 1971 - 1990
1977 First
annual
Patrons
Ball, the 1976 Winchester Collection arrives in Cody.
Center’s chief
fundraiser.
1978 W.H.D. Koerner Studio in the
Whitney dedicated.
1979 Plains Indian Museum dedicated.
1980 Winchester Collection installed;
1981 Remington Studio in the McCracken Research Library dedicated.
Whitney dedicated.
1986 Buffalo Bill Museum rededicated.
1987 Whitney Western Art
Museum rededicated.
1991 - 2017
1991 Cody Firearms Museum
1994 McCracken Research opens to the public.
Library rededicated.
1998 Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale
moves to Center of the West.
2000 Plains Indian Museum rededicated.

2002 Draper
Natural History
Museum opens.

2005 First online collection, Plains Indian

Museum, is uploaded to the web.

2007 Papers of William F. Cody launched.

2008 Center becomes Smithsonian Affiliate.
2011 Draper 2009 Whitney Western Art
Museum Museum redesigned.
Raptor
Experience
launched.

2012 Buffalo Bill Museum

remodeled and rededicated.
2013 Buffalo Bill
Historical Center
becomes Buffalo Bill
Center of the West. 2017 Buffalo Bill Memorial Association is
100 years old.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 47

 The Center of the West is:
N
oted western artist Frederic Remington (1861-1909)
once wrote, “I knew the wild riders and the vacant
land were about to vanish forever ... and the more I
considered the subject, the bigger the forever loomed.
Without knowing how to do it, I began to record some facts
around me, and the more I looked, the more the panorama un-
folded.” After 100 years, the Center of the West’s five museums
and research library continue to diligently embrace Remington’s
notion of preserving the West – unfolding that great panorama
of land, people and culture for another 100 years. Long live the
Wild West.

Whitney Western Art Museum,

Buffalo Bill Museum, est. 1927
Prospector. Bullwhacker. Trapper. Pony Express rider. Buffalo
hunter. Army scout. Guide. Producer. Is it any wonder it takes a
whole museum to tell the story of the legendary showman Wil-
liam F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody? The Buffalo Bill Museum shares tales
of Cody, his Wild West show and the West he loved.
est. 1959
With their tools of the trade – sketch pads, canvases and pa-
per, or clay to sculpt – artists chronicle the marvelous sights they
encounter throughout the American West. The Whitney Western
Art Museum touts some of the most stunning, priceless master-
works of the American West.

48 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered


Plains Indian Museum, est. 1979
The Plains Indian Museum shares life stories of the Northern
Plains Indian peoples using Native voices, music and unique col-
lections. Carefully passed from one generation to the next, these
narratives tell about family, the land, beauty and celebration from
the past to the present.
McCracken Research Library,
est. 1980
It’s been said that a library is “the delivery room for the birth
of ideas – a place where history comes to life.” Nowhere is that
more truer than in the McCracken Research Library. There,
original historic documents, one-of-a-kind photographs and a
collection of all things western await scholars, researchers and
western enthusiasts alike.
Cody Firearms Museum, est. 1991
Firearms manufacturing – factory workers, business competi-
tion, production innovations – had as much to do with the cul-
ture of the West as did the firearm itself. Still, a gun was a gun,
and on the Frontier, it provided security to the sure shot, protec-
tion for his family and dinner for his table. The Cody Firearms
Museum tells the story.
Draper Natural History Museum,
est. 2002
The Draper’s interactive trails replicate the sights, sounds
and, yes, even the smells of the Greater Yellowstone region. Fea-
turing specimens of grizzlies, wolves, bighorn rams, moose, elk
and other wildlife, the Draper Natural History Museum sets the
stage for Yellowstone visitors.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 49
For historic firearms enthusiasts, the Winchester Model 1873 rifle
was the “gun that won the West.” This .44 caliber model belonged to
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. The receiver on the right side features
an engraved standing buffalo and scroll work; on the left, along with
scroll work, a buffalo hunter on horseback chases buffalo.
▲
(Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection. 1.69.372)

In the spring of

▲
2001, Grizzly
Bear 104 was struck
by a vehicle and
killed on the highway.
Through the coopera-
tion of the U.S. Forest
Service, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service,
and Wyoming Game
and Fish Depart-
ment, Grizzly Bear
104 now resides in
the Draper Natural
History Museum to
engage, inform and
inspire visitors about
the natural legacy
of Yellowstone and
the American West.
(DRA.305.5)
▲

Before written records, Plains Indians recorded one notable

event for each year on a “winter count,” a kind of pictorial cal-
endar. Early on, keepers painted or drew illustrations on buffalo
hides; when buffalo became scarce, they substituted muslin, linen
or paper. Here, Lone Dog’s count, painted and drawn on muslin,
records the years 1800-1871, beginning in the center and spiral-
ing out counter-clockwise. (NA.702.5)
50 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
 Center
What sets a museum apart
from any other institution is its
collection. And when a facility
collection
like the Buffalo Bill Center of
the West has five extraordi-
nary museums and a research
library, one can imagine the
difficulty to choose only a few
to highlight. But, it’s easy to
find out more at the Center’s
homepage, centerofthewest.
org, with a click on “Online
Collections” or “Photographs.”
Check them out today – better
yet, visit the Center and see
for yourself! Long live the Wild
West … for another 100 years.
▲ Edgar Samuel Paxson (1852-1919). came to Montana in 1877, a year after the Battle
of Little Bighorn. He took nearly 20 years of research – and then in 1895, he started painting
"Custer’s Last Stand." Amazingly, the 6x9-foot painting includes more than 200 figures, each
one sketched separately before adding it to the canvas. (Museum purchase. 19.69)

▲ It’s been said that “God created

all men; Samuel Colt (1777-1850) made
them equal.” Throughout his career, the
events that molded American history
had a huge effect on the products that
Colt manufactured. He marketed his
guns through presentation models and
even had a major display at the first
World’s Fair in London in 1851, where he
displayed nearly 450 revolving firearms.
Pictured here are Sam Colt's personal
cased pair of Colt Model 1851 Navy
Revolvers, 1860. (Gift of James H. Woods
Foundation. 1979.4.1)
▲ Kateri, the golden eagle, is one of the
Draper Museum Raptor Experience’s birds of
prey. A vehicle hit her and broke her wing. Repair
surgery was unsuccessful, and she can no longer
fly. The Center provides proper care and a lifelong
home to 10 birds of prey – none of which can re-
turn to the wild. Eagles are featured in "Monarch
of the Skies: The Golden Eagle in Greater Yellow-
stone and the American West," a new exhibit at
the Center.
▲ William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody used
this Deadwood-Cheyenne Stagecoach in
his Wild West show for his “Attack on the
Deadwood Stage.” The manufacture of
the coach took place in 1867, and it was
originally used as a hotel coach in Little,
New Hampshire. (Gift of Olive and Glenn
E. Nielson. 1.69.2726)

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 51

 ▲ For Plains Indian people in 1890,
the sacred Ghost Dance meant renewal
of the world. They believed that if they
▲ Artist Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) loaned this ca. 1881 painting, "Geysers in Yellow- performed the dance, the buffalo and
stone," and four others to the White House to convince Congress to purchase them for the other game would be plentiful, dead
President's residence. Even though the plan wasn’t successful, Bierstadt’s work inspired relatives and old friends would return,
President Chester A. Arthur to travel to Yellowstone in 1883 to see the natural wonders. (Gift of and white men would disappear. This
Townsend B. Martin. 4.77) See "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West," summer 2018, dress is Southern Arapaho, ca. 1890.
at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. (Gift of J.C. “Kid” Nichols. NA.204.1)

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 Native American dancers circle
the arena during the grand
entry last year.
Plains Indian Museum Powwow:
a celebration of culture and tradition
“At the heart of every family tradition is a meaningful
experience.”
Nowhere is this truer than for Native American families
and nowhere more evident than at powwow.
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s annual Plains Indian
Museum Powwow is the Center’s longest-running public
program. The Powwow began as a small gathering of dancers,
a single drum group and mostly local spectators at the Cody
High School football fields.
The Powwow Garden, its present location on the southeast
corner of the Center’s campus, didn’t exist, and the stage
consisted of a flatbed trailer. The story of the lone drum group
has become somewhat of a Center legend: The group’s car
broke down in Cody; they heard about a powwow in town,
asked if they could join in, and the rest – as they say – is his-
tory.
54 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
In 2018, the Center celebrates its 37th Annual Powwow,
traditionally scheduled the third weekend of June each year
(June 16-17 this year). The event attracts some 200 danc-
ers from 28 tribes throughout the United States, and nearly
5,000 visitors attend one or both days of the event.
One of the oft-asked questions for Plains Indian Museum
staff is “What makes your powwow different from other pow-
wows?” First, it’s not held on or near an Indian reservation, as
are most Plains powwows. And, in the beginning, it wasn’t an
Indian community event or a large-scale competitive powwow
on the summer “powwow circuit.” Dancers had to travel to a
small town for a little-known event – reasons that should have
kept them away. But the dancers continued to come, enjoying
the Powwow’s relaxed, low-key atmosphere.
Those gathered in 1981 truly began an amazing synthesis
of culture and community as the Powwow began to grow and
take on an identity – the “Cody Powwow.” It became known Powwow dance
as a family event, one where attendees could enjoy the com- styles include Men's
pany of friends and relatives in a special setting. In fact, orga-
nizers and participants suggest that what makes this Powwow
Traditional, Fancy
so special isn’t measured in years, numbers or aesthetics, but (pictured) and Grass,
in the relationships fostered since its founding. and Women's Jingle
Originally, the dancers and the Indian community were Dress, Traditional and
the priority for the Center staff and the group of volunteers Fancy Shawl.
helping with the event. As the annual Powwow became es-
tablished within the regional Indian communities, it has also
maintained its status as a competitive, intertribal powwow.
Although the size of the Powwow increased exponentially
since 1981, it is still a celebration of cultural traditions for
the dancers, drummers and their families. The difference to-
day lies in the fact that the participants share their traditions
with a much wider audience of thousands of visitors.
The addition of the Robbie Powwow Garden in 1987 con-
tributed immeasurably to the expansion of the Powwow. The
late Joe Robbie, former owner of the Miami Dolphins football
team, donated funds for the construction of a powwow arena
along with surrounding gardens and buildings. The setting
with its beautiful outdoor amphitheater, stage and concession
stand opened for the Seventh Annual Plains Indian Museum
Powwow. Moving the Powwow to the Center campus ce-

Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered • 55

mented its status as both a celebration for participants and a
cultural event for visitors.
Historically, powwow has always been a celebration for
multiple generations, and remains that way today. The gather-
ings often marked important milestones, achievement and
good news such as recovery from a lengthy illness. Partici-
pants renew family ties and friendships, and share traditions
with one another.
“This was the occasion for the people to adorn themselves
in traditional beauty and dance regalia, thereby affirming
their identities and pride in who they were,” adds Arthur
Amiotte, Plains Indian Museum Advisory Board member. “In
the beginning, these gatherings were not called nor known as
powwows. This term would not become popular until the late
1950s. Competitive dancing did not take place; these were
tribal gatherings, shows of solidarity, affirmation and renewal
of relationships.”
The Center’s Powwow is truly multi-generational with
Mikaylee Old Coyote of Ethete, a member of the Northern Arapaho
tribe, does the fancy shawl dance during the 2017 Powwow.
56 • Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centered
dance categories for all ages, tiny tots (6 and under) to golden
age (65 and over), as well as social dances. Curator Rebecca
West says, “It’s not unusual to see entire, extended families
attending and participating in one way or another. Mothers
and siblings accompany babies, toddlers and preschoolers in
tiny tots, and grandparents, if not competing, are watching
the dancers and supporting their families from outside the
dance arena.”
Maintaining a balance between a powwow that provides a
positive experience for Indian participants, and an exciting, edu-
cational experience for an audience of thousands is challenging.
“The Powwow may seem to many onlookers as a colorful
and entertaining performance featuring singers and dancers
in beautiful regalia,” Curator Emerita Emma Hansen explains.
“The Powwow, however, has a deeper significance for Plains
Indian people as a powerful manifestation of their heritage,
cultural histories, and traditions as well as a contemporary
expression of their arts.”
For a powwow to be truly authentic, traditional aspects of
the powwow must remain intact. There are important spiritual
and ceremonial aspects to be respected with any powwow. To
aid in their understanding of the various activities, Powwow
officials share the history of the modern-day powwow, which
originated from more than a hundred years of ceremonial and
social dance traditions and gatherings of Plains tribes. By
understanding the history and values behind what they’re wit-
nessing, visitors can better appreciate the role of the powwow
in Indian cultures.
The Powwow has given both Indian and non-Indian
peoples the opportunity to connect to something beyond their
everyday life experiences. Whether it’s a family connection, a
new or renewed friendship or an appreciation of one’s own or
another culture, the Powwow is a celebration of these oppor-
tunities.
The Plains Indian Museum Powwow continues to be a
living tradition that the Center happily carries forward into its
second century.
Learn more about the Plains Indian Museum Powwow at
centerofthewest.org/explore/plains-indians/powwow-dances.
LaVor Thomas (right) of Tuba City, Ariz., and Seth Johnson of Cody
play Native American flutes together at one of the Powwow booths.
Celebrating the Smithsonian
Buffalo Bill Center of the West is
Wyoming's only Smithsonian Affiliate
I
’m so pleased to be here in Cody to welcome the wonder-
ful Buffalo Bill Center of the West as the first Smithsonian
Affiliate in Wyoming. It’s a great opportunity to kick off the
collaboration between our two institutions.”
And such were the words of Laura Hansen, National Out-
reach Manager for Smithsonian Affiliations, who, on June 20,
2008, announced the Center of the West’s new status as a
Smithsonian Affiliate, a designation that Center staff, volunteers
and board heartily endorsed.
The goal of Smithsonian Affiliations is to establish meaningful
relationships with its affiliate partners to maximize the cultural
and educational benefits to a community. The program allows
organizations across the country the opportunity to access
Smithsonian collections and resources.
But how did those resources come to be?

Smithsonian History
Englishman James Smithson (1765-1829) never traveled
to the United States, but his legacy is American through and
through. It was Smithson whose bequest created what we know
today as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Smithson’s will was tricky: He had no children, so upon
his death, he left his estate to his nephew. According to the
Smithsonian, Smithson wrote in his will that if his nephew died
without an heir, the money would go “to the United States of
America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith-
sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffu-
sion of knowledge…” His nephew did indeed pass away without
an heir, and Smithson’s estate – $500,000 or 1/66 of the entire
U.S. budget in 1836 – came to the America.
Since Smithson hadn’t shared his unusual idea with anyone
while he was alive, an eight-year debate began in Congress after
his death about his intentions for this new “institution.” Finally,
an Act of Congress on Aug. 10, 1846, established the Smith-
sonian Institution as a trust administered by a Board of Regents
and a Secretary of the Smithsonian. Today, it has become the
world’s largest museum and research complex, with 137 million Short Man, Sioux, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, 1900-1901. Photograph
objects, 19 museums, the National Zoo and nine research facili- by Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934). In 2010, the Center collaborated
ties. with the Smithsonian to host an exhibition of Käsebier’s Wild West
photos. P.71.948
Smithsonian means partnership of artifacts from the Smithsonian’s more than 136 million
Smithsonian Affiliates are chosen from cultural organiza- object collection. Such loans enable the partner to incorporate
tions whose missions are parallel to the Smithsonian’s and who Smithsonian collections into exhibitions, educational initiatives
demonstrate a strong commitment to serving their local com- and research programs. In addition to borrowing objects, many
munities. partners incorporate Smithsonian educational resources into
For the Smithsonian, the program fulfills its outreach mis- curriculum development for local schools, lectures, traveling
sion of sharing artifacts, programs and expertise. Established in exhibitions, workshops, study tours and other programs.
1996, the affiliations program includes more than 150 muse- In 2010, the Center hosted the exhibition "Buffalo Bill’s Wild
ums and educational and cultural organizations in 39 states, West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier," a partner-
Panama and Puerto Rico. The Center of the West is the only ship between the Center and the Smithsonian. Most recently,
Smithsonian Affiliate in Wyoming. the Center hosted the long-term exhibition "Journeying West:
For the Affiliate, the advantages of a Smithsonian partner- Distinctive Firearms from the Smithsonian."
ship are many. First, the program permits the long-term loan …James Smithson would be proud.
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